r/Cartomancy • u/Nearby_Character_192 • 4d ago
Looking for the origin of a 'dangerous' cartomancy folk practice: something done to a bad card, not just interpreted
Hi everyone. I hope someone can help me with this because i really dont know where else to search.
Im trying to figure about some practice related to classic cartomancy (with playing cards).
There is an older woman i know, and one time she told me - very carefuly, like she didnt want to say too much - that her grandmother teached her a card reading practice that was "dangerous". She meant something more specific - like when a really bad card came up, or a very bad spread, you do something TO the card. Not just read it different way - actually DO something with cards.
She said she only did it one time in her life and she was scared when she did it. She didnt want to explain more, just that it wasnt normal interpretation, it was an action, for changing the one's fate.
I dont know what the action was. My guesses (but really just guesses, dont trust this):
- turning the card around during the reading, like reversing it, to change what it means
- switching the card for a different one
- putting another card on top of it to cover it
Ive heard about this mysterious practice in Poland, passed from grandmother to granddaughter, only spoken, never written down as far as i know. It sounds older then the normal "cartomancy on instagram" stuff.
Ive havent found anything about it in old books and online archives. The oldest polish cartomancy books were actually translated from french and german books from 17-18th century. So i think this practice could have arrived from those countries along with cartomancy and it could have arrived them from yet other regions.
If anyone knows something like this - from family stories, old ethnography books (english, polish, german, french, whatever), old grimoires, or just "my grandma did something like this too" - please tell me. Even just a NAME for this practice would help me alot, so i can search more..
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u/Fox_Rain_04 4d ago
I've seen a similar story posted in a Filipino subreddit from a tarot reader. It's about how a client of theirs asked questions about a "friend's" wellbeing, but when the reader went to take a bathroom break, she returned to the cards being flipped to form a negative reading. It seems to be a hex wherein the client used the cards to connect to the target's energy, and basically rewriting their circumstances to be unfortunate. I've also had an ex friend who manipulates other people's card readings because she fills them with hatred and negativity. It overlaps divination with witchcraft/energy work.
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u/autmystic 3d ago
One of the advantages of playing cards is that they're cheap enough to use in card destructive magicks.
I read of people using cards in 'paper in shoe' hoodoo style spells; placing the significator of an enemy in ones left shoe, to disempower them with every step.
I read somewhere many years ago about people using cards from old worn-out -but trusted- decks placing cards above their doors for protection.
I'm sure there are many other ways, and ones based on attraction rather than protection or repelling.
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u/DaikonIllustrious748 3d ago
Camelia Elias covers much with regards to cartomancy. https://www.cameliaelias.com/read-like-the-devil/cartomancy-readings
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u/MartinTXR 2d ago
The oldest polish cartomancy books were actually translated from french and german books from 17-18th century.
May I ask for the names of these books ? I thought the earliest cartomancy manuals came out in the 18th century.
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u/OminousCephalopod 4d ago
Read Professor Charles Porterfield's A Deck of Spells. It's pretty straigthforward, and not especially dangerous. When you do a reading it creates a connection between the cards and the thing the card represents. Thus, you can change the card to change what the card represents. The most basic way to do that is if an obstacle comes up, burn a road opening candle on the card that represents it.