P. R. Foli

The bulk of the book is concerned with cartomancy by playing cards, although there is also a short section on Tarot at the end. The interpretations of the cards are of some value, these are given mainly in Chapter 2 ("What The Individual Cards Signify"), and also to a lesser chapters 3 & 4. To the extent that this book has any value, it is in these sections, since being able to use an ordinary pack of playing cards as a sort of poor man's Tarot pack (Tarot cards aren't really that expensive, but you know what I mean) would be an interesting skill to have. Also, the first chapter is rather amusing, if not taken alltogether too seriously.

The defects of the book, however, are quite numerous, especially from Chapter 5, until....well, the end, actually. First, the spreads offered sound quite convoluted, or at least, over-complicated. Also, the 'examples' of readings offered are hypothetical and formulaic, as well as quite un-real and forgetful of intuition--a grave defect in a diviner, to say the least. Also, these 'examples' are tediously, numbingly long (quite possibly, they are the worst single aspect of the book), and speak also to serious deficiencies in the author's writing style as well. The tone and style are, in general, a touch (sometimes more than a touch) stilted and odd, and parts of it are just wierd, bordering on the illegible. The experiment is poetry, Chapter 17 ("Rhyming Fortune-Teller"), in which a stanza is devoted to each card, which the cartomancer would apparently recite when the card was drawn, is, I admit, an interesting idea in theory. In practice, however, it is not at all executed in a way that could be called adequate. It is something of a foray into the ludicrous....these and other gaffs almost make me wonder how seriously the author took his subject, to begin with.

(6/10)… (meer)