Superstition (Cartomancy) Essay Examples

Cartomancy is a form of divination that lets the reader or practitioner use a deck of cards in the process of fortune telling. This practice started in Europe, after the introduction of card playing during the fourteenth century. Around the mid fifteenth century, Fernando de la Torre of Spain presented how a player can tell fortune by using what was then called naïpes. This is the earliest account of using cards as a means of fortune telling, though the use of cards became prevalent only during the next century.
During the earlier times, it was not clear how fortune telling was done with the use of cards. It was accounted, however that in the early 16th century, cards was cited by Italian Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola as a form of fortune telling. Later, a Spanish priest included the use of cards as a means if divination, labeling it as sinful among other forms of divination. It was researched that cards are used with fortune telling books. One example of which is the Mainzer Kartenlosbuch which used 48 cards. The process of looking up one’s luck is done by attaching a spinner in a book with 48 partitions, with each partition having a designated card. These became widespread in Europe during the 15th and 16th century and have evolved thereafter.
The core of using cartomancy is in predicting one’s destiny with the use of cards. A noted humanist in the 16th century, Juan-Luis Vives, once wrote on how a card player may use the meaning of a card image as an indication of the future. In one of his writings, he has implied how playing cards may lead to divinatory assumptions. There are many cartomancy practitioners during the 17th century some of them are women who has faced trial on account of the publics’ accusation of them practicing witchcraft.
There are many ways by which cartomancy is use; the practice may vary from each country and practitioner. A player may do it by shuffling the cards while delivering a chant. This is followed by laying the cards down in a four-card row, facing up. The cards that came out in pairs, for example, a spade and a spade, is a sign of good luck, otherwise, it signifies bad luck. This practice was generally used by women cartomancy practitioners during earlier times; this divination has developed since then, and these days one may find cartomancy services in the internet.
Other means of using card in fortune telling is the by letting the client choose a card randomly and the meaning indicated by the card would be is fortune. The cards have been given meanings, for example, an ace may signify a home and friendship to some, three aces, however, would mean the client needs to be cautious. A person’s character can also be predicted by the way he shuffles a deck of cards. For example, one practitioner noted that when a client shuffles the card at the least possible times, it means that he is a person who constantly wants to get straight to the point.
The diverse use of the cards must have come from the creativity of modern cartomancy practitioners. Though form of divination is considered a sin by many religious scholars, it still practiced in many part of the world. It has evolved in many ways to include other divination practices, making it more popular among those who believed in it. In fact it remains to be one of the most sought ways of predicting the future among those who believed in its guidance. Some people would use it, not only for entertainment purposed but as a guiding path to answers some of their questions.