THE RHYMING FORTUNES OF THE FIFTY-TWO CARDS
Employing all fifty-two cards, this obviously isn’t an ‘Egyptian’ game. The beauty of this very simple divination game is you don’t have to form a circle of people. It can be a drop-by thing. It can generate much indignant protestation and laughter, so it has high-amusement-potential for the perpetrator of this game (what I term the MC, the Master/Mistress of Ceremonies), especially if you’re dealing with people who have been drinking. This is the sort of divination game which would be good to play at those holidays where people are wanting to know their future, such as Halloween, New Year’s, Birthdays, or Name Days.
- Remove the two Jokers from the deck, because there isn’t a fortune connected with the Joker. Shuffle the remaining cards and lay them out face-down on a table.
- Each participant is supposed to close their eyes, place their right hand over their heart and say the following: “A reading true I seek to find, and take what comes with quiet mind.” (A good invocation to use for many a divination method).
- The participant will then open their eyes and chose, with their left hand, whatever card in the spread appeals to them.
- They turn it over and the MC for the game will note the card, then read their fortune from the list (see PDF attachment below).
- Every few people, the MC should switch a bunch of the cards around, so nobody memorizes a particular spot where a particular card is positioned. You want to keep participants guessing here, not choosing a particular card because so-and-so said it was a good fortune.
- If someone is unhappy with their first card, they may draw again. Really, any participants may choose up to three cards, but don’t permit the selection of more than three cards total. Yes, they have to do the recitation each time before choosing. More than three tries, the spirits may consider them a pest and start messing with them by directing their hand to less-desirable cards. It may be that a person’s true fortune is an amalgamation of two or three cards. But if someone chooses three cards and considers each accompanying fortune ‘lousy’, they likely need to give serious thought to their life choices.
So how long a time period are the 52 rhyming fortunes good for? I don’t recall the rules being very clear about that. For a very few, their fortune could manifest right there at the same party. For some, it could manifest in a week, still others a month, three months, or a year. If you offer this game on New Year’s Eve, knowing full-well you’re going to do it again at Easter, then you can tell them it is for the time between now and Easter.
The PDF with the 52 rhyming fortunes appears below. Pages 5 and 6 are signage I developed which you can use to assist you in drawing people to the game and using it.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Actually, you could make all three of these games passive, drop-by activities by posting the rules and the meanings, then leaving a deck of cards right there (or spreading them out face-down on a table with the third game), and inviting passersby to have-at-it. They’re simple enough that anyone who can read, can figure ‘em out. They’ll certainly make fewer enemies (one hopes) than Three-Card Monte, and they get people focused on the most fascinating subject in the world—themselves. The drawback with the drop-by approach is, the group doesn’t get to share in the amusement when someone chooses the Seven or Eight of Spades, or the Ten of Diamonds.
You might want to stress to participants that this is for entertainment purposes only, that you make no guarantees their fortune will or will not come true, and that they are playing at their own risk. The law can be particular about divination. All that being said, I hope you have fun with these three divinatory card games, and that they bring you years of entertaining memories.
EXERCISES
- Try the Egyptian Romantic Rhyming fortunes game, either alone or with a group. Note the answer you receive (or answers, if you’re playing twice), then return to your notes in a week’s time. Did what the cards tell you actually transpire? Consider the card(s) you drew and it’s attendant meaning in terms of your whole life–does it tell you a fundamental truism about your life?
- Try the Egyptian Day-of-the-Week fortune the traditional way, by reading your fortune using the day of the week you were born, and note the answer you receive.
- Try the Egyptian Day-of-the-Week using Euphonia’s Corollary, where you read your fortune based on the day of the week either your last or next birthday will fall, and note the answer(s) you receive.
- Return to these answers later, say, your next birthday, or three months, six months, or a year later. Did they come true? If you chose to read your fortune, based on the day of the week your most-recent birthday fell, did what it predict actually transpire? In your opinion, is the ‘Egyptian’ Day-of-the-Week fortune too-general to be of any meaningful use?
- Try the 52-Cards Rhyming Fortunes on yourself. If others are available, have them try as well. Note the answers you all receive, and return to them at some time in the future. Did they actually transpire?
- Look at the answers you received for all three games. Considered as a whole, what picture do they paint of your life right now? In your opinion, would anybody benefit from these games, or are they strictly for amusement, and not to be taken at all seriously?
- EXTRA CREDIT: Try these three games again next year. Did you receive the same answers, or different ones? Did the answers seem to reflect your personal development? If you experimented with these three divinatory card games with others and they’re available next year, have them try as well. Did they receive the same answers, or different ones? What did those answers tell you about their lives?
Bibliography:
Miall, Agnes. The Book of Fortune Telling. Canoga Park, Calif: Major Books, 1997. (Original copyright, 1951).
I have this book to thank for finding these three little gems, so it’s only right to cite my source.
Next Week: The Piquet Deck