Fortune Telling: The Principle of Card Reading [2/3]

Okay, so, we clarified that there are some issues with fortune-telling, still, it would be nice to do it nonetheless. You can still avert one or the other disaster or maybe it's nice to know it to tell the difference between fake and real much better or to understand how it works out of curiosity. Whatever the reason may be, let's get into it.

Requirements

To be able to do card reading you need to do some preparation. You need to take care of two things. First of all, you need cards. Card reading isn't card reading without cards, duh. :P Second of all you need a system on where to place the cards. Let's go into the cards first.

Famous Cards

The most famous cards used for card reading are tarot cards. This deck features 22 cards. Each of these cards features a completely different theme. The themes are^[1][2]:

I.	The Magician		XII.	The Hanged Man
II.	The High Priestress		XIII.	Death
III.	The Empress		XIV.	Temperance
IV.	The Emperor		XV.	The Devil
V.	The Hierophant		XVI.	The Tower
VI.	The Lovers		XVII.	The Star
VII.	The Chariot		XVIII.	The Moon
VIII.	Strength		XIX.	The Sun
IX.	The Hermit		XX.	Judgement
X.	Wheel of Fortune		XXI.	The World
XI.	Justice

Each card has its own meaning that is taken from what is represented in the picture. To be able to do card reading you need to familiarize yourself with the meanings of each card. Keep in mind that - as always - your own interpretation also plays a certain role in their meaning. It is very important to realize that you don't need to know the cards in and out but you do need your unconsciousness to know them.

The System^[3]

The system in card reading is the way you place the cards. Here each position where a card will be placed has a meaning. Multiple ways can be found all over the internet. The Celtic cross, for example, has a layout where you lay the cards like this:

The positions share the following themes:

1.	Present		Perception, state of mind of the current happening and the happening
2.	Challenge		An immediate challenge, issue or problem that makes life harder
3.	Past		What lead to the present and maybe the challenge as well
4.	Future		What will happen in the next weeks or months; the next step on the journey
5.	Above		The goal, aspiration or the best outcome of the current situation
6.	Below		Underlying feelings, motivation, drive associated with the situation
7.	Advice		Takes everything into  consideration and gives advice for the challenge
8.	External influences		Represents people, energies or events that have influence on the challenge (things where there's no control over)
9.	Hopes and/or  fears		What is hoped for and/or what is feared
10.	Outcome		Represents the current direction the challenge or situation is taking

The Reading

Now that you are familiar with one way for the system and one deck of cards you could potentially do card reading already. To do this you mix the cards randomly - actually you can make the person whose future or fortune you want to read mix them, especially if they know the meaning of the cards and positions unconsciously. Then you draw a card and place it in the first position. You could stop here to interpret it as is, I think it's better to keep on going as not to mix up your conscious and unconsciousness during the reading. So, place the cards in order until you're done without thinking too much about it. Once you're done the meaning of the cards should be taken into the context given by the position as well as within the context of the relationship between each other. (What does the present show? Does the challenge match the present?). Then the result of that can be presented in the context given by the person to further clarify possibilities and details.

Breaking the Tradition

Maybe you noticed it by the way I wrote this post. You are not required to pick existing cards or an existing system. You can actually make your own. The only important part here is that you need to familiarize yourself enough with the meanings of the cards and positions. It helps to assign certain directions to certain meanings. Like for example having a card placed higher could mean older age, in the future, later in life or maybe a superior thought, idea or body part. You can see in the Celtic cross tarot spread that the challenge is placed on top of the present. These types of symbolism play a huge role in the system you use to place your cards.

To prove this to you I'm gonna give you an example and tell a story in the next and last fortune-telling post of this on-going post-series.

^[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
^[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana
^[3] https://www.biddytarot.com/how-to-read-the-celtic-cross-tarot-spread/