Old World Fortune Telling Deck

[filmgirl]

Hi everyone!

I am wondering if anyone is even remotely familiar with an old deck that I have that has been in my family for about eighty years. It is from the Czech Republic and consists of 32 cards. The suits are leaves, hearts, bells, and acorns. There are no females in the court cards. The court cards consist of an Upper Jack, a Lower Jack, and a King. The numbered cards in each suit consist of the ace and then the numbers seven, eight, nine, and ten. Any number below seven (with the exception of the ace) does not exist in this deck.

I have some basic information on the card meanings (gleaned from my mom and the internet) but no information on any kind of a layout for them. My mom has some vague recollections of the card meanings and their layout from childhood but we need something a little more concrete! My mom showed me a layout that used all of the cards, it was something like four horizontal rows of cards with eight cards per row. To read the cards it seems that a card that represents the central issue is focused on and the cards surrounding it deepen the story. The cards do not have to be from the same row - they can be horizontal, diagonal, vertical, etc...etc...Somehow, all cards in the spread can be a part of the reading. If anyone knows anything more I would be so appreciative! Thank-you very much.

 

[Little Hare]

they sound very intriguing. Would you by any chance have any scans of them you could post?

 

[filmgirl]

Scans of Old World Fortune Telling Deck

Hello Pixie,

I do have scans of a few of the cards. Bear with me if I don't post them correctly here. I don't have much experience with posting photos to forums. But, let's try it. It might, at least, give you the link to the photo.

They are really neat, I guess mostly because they have that mystique of being rather old and well used. They, definitley, have personality! My mom's aunt had read the cards for her many times when she was a child. These cards had been hidden away in my belongings for about fifteen years. They just showed up in the back of a drawer one day when I was doing some spring cleaning. Oddly, I can't remember how I got them and neither can my mom! My mom was so excited to see them again. She took them and, immediately, started reading them. She was a little fuzzy on specifics but she laid them out and read them like a pro! I was flabbergasted because I've never known my mom to read cards. Quite simply, she doesn't! But, they really spoke to her even though the specific details on many things eluded her, it didn't matter at all! I would, really, like to get these into use in North America and would like to produce a deck and companion book to publish. Even though I don't know how to use them, exactly, I still use them for readings in my own fashion and they seem to "specialize" in relationship issues. I always use them to confirm, clairfy, or support something that I'm getting from one of my tarot decks on an issue. Again, this is kind of fascinating to me because I can't help but wonder if the deck, being so old, was predominantly used for relationship readings and it maintains the energy from that. I just love this deck and would love to know how to use it "properly"

 

[HearthCricket]

Those are lovely and quite a treasure! I wonder what divination they follow? They look like playing cards with a touch of Lenormand to them, but not quite. Very intriguing. Have you considered contacting Karen at Magic Realist Press (in Prague). She might be familiar with them and have more information for you! I think it is also wonderful that you have been able to create your own divination system with them and the history of them being read in your family is fascinating!

 

[filmgirl]

Playing cards with the Old World Fortune Telling Deck

Hello Cricket

Thank-you for your thoughts. All of the "elders" in my Czech family tell me that these cards would have been, predominantly, used to play a card game called Marias which is, to this day, one of the most popular card games in the Czech Republic. Yet many recall having had an older female relative that always seemed to be versed in using the cards for telling fortunes. Using the cards as an oracle seemed to be as popular among the women folk as playing card games with them was among the men folk. It wasn't taboo or shrouded in mystery. It was pretty much a regular part of life. Although, I don't think that everyone took it very seriously. My mother recalls thinking that her aunt lost her marbles when she read the cards and told my young mother that she would cross the water and live in a land far away when she grew up. And here's my Mom, living in Canada, in a land far away LOL.

Thank-you so much for telling me about Karen. I am not familiar with Magic Realist Press at all but I am going to look into it. That is a great lead and could be most helpful. I have never found english books on the subject but Karen might know of Czech books that were published on the subject. Have you been in contact with Karen yourself?

 

[BrightEye]

It's reminiscent of a card game from southern Germany called Tarock. As far as I know, it's still a popular game in Bavaria today. Those decks, too, have acorns and the number sequence that you mention. You might want to google that.

 

[filmgirl]

Lenormand and the old world deck

Cricket, it's funny that you mention Lenormand because I can see now from doing some research that my Mom read these cards just as one would read the "gypsy" fortune telling cards that are based on Lenormand's deck. And, from looking at one of my own gypsy decks I can see that the definitions have a lot of common themes to the ones my mom mentioned. This is, definitely, a system that was based on Lenormand's style and, apparently, passed down from generation to generation. I wonder if these are the types of cards that Lenormand read with prior to coming out with her own deck?

It's funny, I have a couple of the gypsy fortune telling decks but never paid any attention to them! They just weren't my thing. They always felt so elementary, almost insulting in their simplicity! I am a Tarot Reader and maybe a bit too jaded by that!

I found a great page here on how the gyspy cards are read "a la Lenormand":
http://www.serenapowers.com/lenormand.html It includes definitions for every card too.
Thank-you! I think you solved my mystery!

 

[Little Hare]

What gorgeous cards and how special they must be! I really love the artwork. The little monster on the right hand side card reminds me of the book 'where the wild things are'

Thanks for such wonderful posts, there great to read!

 

[Venus Moon]

Yes those images look very similar to the images scattered throughout the Tarot of Prague! And the companion book mentioned they were taken from an old czech deck.

 

[filmgirl]

My old deck and the Tarot of Prague

That's really interesting Venus Moon. I will have to have a look at the Tarot of Prague. Of course, it would make perfect sense that they would use the imagery from an old system of divination in a newer tarot deck!

Thank-you everyone for your thoughts and comments. I've learned so much so quickly!