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• Fortune Telling

Since ancient times man has strived to search out the unknown. His pursuit of knowledge of the future has led to the creation of many different methods of fortune telling such as astrology, numerology, I - ching, crystallomancy (reading of a crystal ball), palmistry (cheiromancy), as well as psychic readings to mention but a few. Fortune-telling is defined as the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through mystical or supernatural means.

• How do the more popular forms of fortune telling differ?

Astrology requires an accurate time, place and date of birth of the concerned person, their name is also of help. From these details, the horoscope chart prevalent at that exact point in time, at that particular location is cast. Applying the laws of astrology, allows an astrologer to make predictions about the future depending on the position of different planets, their characteristics and the transits that will pass. Tarot card readings, involve the user drawing his or her choice of cards from the pack. The tarot reader is then required to use their psychic ability to interpret card meanings and thus divine the future. Even the most accomplished tarot card readers find it difficult to objectively interpret their own cards and therefore rely on others to make readings for them. Psychic readings are solely reliant on the intuitive powers of the reader. Psychic ability is a power that has to be developed through practice and is categorised as an extra-sensory ability, also known as ESP (Extra Sensory Perception). This also includes clairvoyance and precognition. Discerning a genuine psychic from a fraud is the greatest limitation of this method of fortune telling.

• Fortune Telling from the Cards

It is impossible to trace the prehistoric beginnings of cardlore, as divination by the cards is of great antiquity. One theory holds that Europe obtained playing cards from the East, notably India and China after the invention of paper. Indian cards have many distinctive elements, such as being round, being generally hand painted with intricate designs and comprising more than four suits (often as many as twelve). Ancient Chinese "money cards" have four "suits": coins (or cash), strings of coins (which may have been misinterpreted as sticks from crude drawings), myriads of strings, and tens of myriads. These were represented by ideograms, with numerals of 2-9 in the first three suits and numerals 1-9 in the "tens of myriads". The first cards may have been actual paper currency which were both the tools of gaming and the stakes being played for. The designs on modern Mahjong tiles and dominoes likely evolved from those earliest playing cards. The Chinese word p'ai is used to describe both paper cards and gaming tiles. Another theory separates the cards of the West entirely from those of the East and holds that Western cards originated in northern Italy early in the 15th century (1420-1440). While in medieval Holland, the Dutch invented a game called "ik ben de meester van het heelal" which means "I am the master of the Universe". This was followed by the introduction of a similar Italian  made a game called "soro il padorone dell'universo" which means "Master of the Universe".

• Tarot Cards & Divination

The earliest cards found in Europe were the Tarot. These symbolical numerical cards forming a Pack of 78 are the immediate predecessors of our own modern day playing cards. The first tarot cards were lavish hand-painted decks from the courts of the nobility. Originally the cards were called carte da trionfi (cards of the triumphs). Around 1530 (about 100 years after the origin of the cards), the word tarocchi (singular tarocco) begins to be used to distinguish them from a new game of triumphs or trumps then being played with ordinary playing cards. The word Tarot is believed to have been derived from tarotee, meaning cross, in reference to the diagonally crossed lines on the rear of the early cards. Since the 1700s tarot cards have been widely used for fortune telling and divination of the future, and it is also linked by many occult and hermetic authors to a mystical system of Hebrew Cabbala, (also Kaballah and Qabala) even ancient Egyptian spiritual beliefs. Divination of the future from the tarot deck is in fact, credited mainly to the Jewish astrologer and cabbalist, Jacque Gringonneur. Just like contemporary playing cards, the tarot deck also consists of four suits, namely Cups, Wands, Swords and Pentacles.

The oldest surviving tarot cards are three mid-15th century sets all made for members of the Visconti family, rulers of Milan. The oldest existing tarot deck was painted to celebrate a mid-15th century wedding joining the ruling Visconti and Sforza families of Milan, probably painted by Bonifacio Bembo and other miniaturists of the Ferrara school. 35 of the cards are now in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Of the original cards, 35 are in the Pierpont-Morgan Library, 26 cards are at the Accademia Carrara, 13 are at the Casa Colleoni, 4 cards being lost (the Devil, the Tower, the Three of Swords, and the Knight of Coins). This "Visconti-Sforza" deck, which has been widely reproduced in varying quality, combines the Minor Arcana (the original suits of (Swords, Wands, Pentacles & Cups, and face cards King, Queen, Knave and Page) with Major Arcana that apparently combine already traditional iconography with considerable artistic license, a sign that the original significance of the designs was already lost. More simply-drawn decks survive from Marseilles, France, from the early 16th century.

• Power Fortunes' Fortune Telling Cards
  

With different types of fortune telling cards available, what makes POWER FORTUNES cards unique and why haven't I heard about them before? Well simply put, their uniqueness lies in their ancestry and antiquity. This method of card reading has descended directly from the tarot deck. They have stood the test of time, which is why they are available today. However, in ancient times ordinary numerical cards were used for this method of card reading. As any one card can have upto eight different meanings, depending on it's position, deciphering readings was a difficult and tedious business. Thus they remained the preserve of only accomplished Cartomancers. But with the POWER FORTUNES' Pack, not only does each card have all it's different meanings printed on the card face, but each card also has pictorial descriptions. Along with the use of simple and effective layouts, the cards become well suited to those untrained in the art of Cartomancy. In fact, it would be fair to say that they are as accurate, but easier to read  than other types of more expensive fortune telling cards. So for the first time, ordinary people, not possessing skills in Fortune Telling or Cartomancy can benefit from their predictions. Another important difference between these Fortune Telling Cards and the Tarot Deck is that tarot cards rely heavily on the reader's intuitive powers, for accurate readings. A tarot reader has to have the ability to interpret what he, or she feels the cards are trying to convey. This has two disadvantages. One, such skills are not acquired overnight. This requires a great deal of practice and a certain degree of talent, to achieve the desired results. Two, it is very difficult for a tarot card reader to objectively divine their own future from the cards. Both these problems are eliminated when one uses these Fortune Telling Cards, as their meanings are pre-defined and therefore, they do not rely on the user's intuitive powers. Check out the Flash Demo, to see how they work.