Jeu de Cartes Divinatoire
French Restoration · 1815 – 1830
⬆ The Consultant — this card represents you, the seeker of fate.
⬆ A lawyer willing to sincerely look after your interests.
⬇ He will deceive you if you entrust him with your affairs.
⬆ A blonde woman. Excellent heart; agreeable in society; a sincere friend; able to keep a secret.
⬇ A dangerous, jealous, and shameless rival; a quarrel caused by her.
⬆ A blond young man; frank, constant, a man in love, a pleasant face. Happy is the woman he will love!
⬇ Pregnancy, inconstancy, loss at gambling.
⬆ The home. Great joy in your home; gifts, celebration.
⬇ Unfaithful servants.
⬆ Marriage. Mismatched spouses; charivari.
⬇ Great rivalry; duel.
⬆ Success, achievement. Reliable friends; pleasant reunion; prosperity, health.
⬇ Separation of spouses. A delay.
⬆ A blonde girl. Agreement between relatives; filial piety.
⬇ Rupture; military service, cloister, tears.
⬆ Pregnancy. Lineage coming to fruition; husband in friendship. Heart lovers.
⬇ Sterility, second marriage.
⬆ A courtier who will work for you and procure you a rapid advancement.
⬇ Courtly holy water; a position hoped for in vain.
⬆ Hope. Success in love; unexpected happiness; fortune.
⬇ Betrayal by a woman who is very close to you.
⬆ A soldier. He will save you from great danger; he will request leave to marry; saving fortune.
⬇ Duel, robbery, argument; very unfortunate event.
⬆ A letter. Unexpected news.
⬆ Trap. People who seek to surprise you; infamous betrayal.
⬆ Travel. News that will require an advantageous trip; good friends reunited, promotion.
⬆ News. Surprising things you will learn.
⬆ Gossip. Female politicians, birth of twins, abundant hunting.
⬇ Bitter mockery, women's quarrel.
⬆ A widower. He will be pleased in your company; his death will be worth a good inheritance.
⬇ A relative who will disinherit you; an unexpected and disastrous death.
⬆ A widowed woman. Solitary life; devotion; generous though not rich; play the lottery with her, her ideas are fortunate.
⬇ New marriage; children from two marriages who will sue; losses.
⬆ A countryman. Deceitful mind beneath a simple air; Norman cunning.
⬇ Bankruptcy, prison, suicide.
⬆ Love; rendezvous, declarations, libations to Bacchus, ravished flower.
⬇ Betrayal, drunkenness, argument.
⬆ Night or prudence. Serenade; jealous deceived; misunderstanding, servant vindicated.
⬇ Treason; enemy women.
⬆ Illness. Destiny, bankruptcy.
⬇ Unfortunate death, anger, domestic storm.
⬆ Sorrow, sadness. Loss at gambling; unfortunate event.
⬇ Tomb, mourning, shame, dishonor.
⬆ Inconstancy. Discomfort that will cost many tears; despair.
⬇ War of tongue and pen.
⬆ A dark-haired, philanthropic man, a friend of virtue, of excellent counsel; he will open his purse and his heart to you.
⬇ A deceitful person who will incite you to bad actions; beware of lending him money.
⬆ A dark-haired woman. Loving, faithful, cheerful, inclined to be helpful.
⬇ Jealous, fickle, impetuous; flee from her, for her company will be disastrous for you.
⬆ Young, dark-haired man. Marriage of inclination; inheritance, success in business.
⬇ Parents opposed to a marriage; legacy that will frustrate an heir.
⬆ Money. Multiplied benefices; considerable gains; numbers drawn.
⬇ Loan not repaid, insolvent farmer.
⬆ A merchant. Advantageous speculation; well-paid supplies, intelligent clerk.
⬇ Protest of bill of exchange, hail, fire.
⬆ Surprise; a present. Gift, birth, joy, legacy.
⬇ Passing setbacks.
⬆ A dark-haired girl. Large dowry; abundant harvest.
⬇ Nasty neighbor; gossip, chatter.
⬆ Love letter. Tenderness, confessions, rendezvous, pleasant visit.
⬇ Intercepted correspondence, seduced girl; lawsuit.
After shuffling and cutting, five cards are drawn at random and placed around the Consultant card: one across (what the heart feels), one above (what they think), one below (what they trample underfoot), one to the left (what they are fond of), and one to the right (what they disdain).
Although the encounters are reversed, they still have the same meaning.
Kings
Queens
Jacks
Aces
Tens
Nines
Eights
Sevens
The Standard Method
The deck consists of thirty-two cards, plus one blank, which is the consultant. You shuffle the cards well, you have the person for whom you are drawing them cut the deck with their left hand; you take them three at a time, and you remove from these three cards the one closest to the thumb, or the highest card of the same suit: it's their choice. You do this three times with the cards that have not yet been drawn.
If by chance you find yourself with three cards of the same rank, such as three aces or three queens or three eights, or of the same suit, such as three hearts, three clubs in sequence, such as seven, eight, nine, or jack, queen, and king, you take all three.
After the three rounds, count the cards drawn; if there was an even number, including the blank card, draw one at random from the remaining cards to always make an odd number.
Then spread out the drawn cards in order. Count from the blank card to seven, and explain the image represented by this seventh card; continue in this way, counting by sevens until you return to the blank card as the seventh card. After that, take one from the right and one from the left, and explain their images, up to the last three.
Another Method — Three Piles
You take the thirty-three cards, shuffle them well; you make three piles, of eleven each. You give one of the piles to be chosen; you spread out the cards that are part of it.
If the white card is not in the chosen pile, you designate one of the eleven to represent the person for whom you are drawing them, according to their suit and age, in order to start from that one to count by sevens. You proceed as above, and you repeat this last operation up to three times, and even four, if there is any doubt.
If each time the white card is in the chosen pile, and the cards present roughly the same patterns, the success is infallible.
To Know Someone's Thoughts
After shuffling and cutting the cards, have five drawn at random and place them as follows: the first should be placed across the white card representing the person for whom the reading is being done; this is what their heart feels or experiences. Place a second above their head; this is what they think; another below, this is what they trample underfoot; one to the left, this is what they are fond of; and one to their right, this is what they disdain.
A gallant man should always pay homage to the Ladies for the fruits of his labors. One might think I am merely gallant upon seeing this dedication; one would not have quite guessed. However, I have yet another purpose: our fate is in the hands of the Ladies, thus it is only right to dedicate to them a work whose sole aim is to question fate about its secrets.
Another motive should also guide me in this. Often, when a beautiful woman takes up the magic cards, she tries to lift a corner of the veil that covers the future. She is moved to this impulse of curiosity only by pure tenderness, a praiseworthy sentiment: it is for a father, a son, a husband, that she wants to read the future.
How she trembles when the ominous card appears before her eyes! How she rejoices when a happy omen appears in favor of her beloved!
O women! You are more sensitive than we are, and that is why you want to know this future. How happy must he be who sees his beloved divine his destiny in the symbolic figures, and assure him, with a smile, that happiness awaits him!
At that moment, he believes not in the cards, but in his friend's smile.
VIOLET, PUBLISHER
Printing House of Felix Malteste and Co.
15 and 17, Rue Traînée, St.-Eustache
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / National Library of France