The Signification of Quartettes, Triplets, and Pairs: Combinations of Court Cards

Four Aces

When these fall together they imply danger, financial loss, separation from friends, love troubles, and, under some conditions, imprisonment. The evil is mitigated in proportion to the number of them that are reversed.

Three Aces

Passing troubles, relieved by good news, faithlessness of a lover and consequent sorrow. If reversed, they mean foolish excess.

Two Aces

These portend union; if hearts and clubs it will be for good, if diamonds and spades, for evil, probably the outcome of jealousy. If one or both be reversed, the object of the union will fail.

Four Kings

Honours, preferment, good appointments. Reversed, the good things will be of less value, but will arrive earlier.

Three Kings

Serious matters will be taken in hand with the best result, unless any of the three cards be reversed, when it will be doubtful.

Two Kings

Co-operation in business, upright conduct and prudent enterprises to be crowned with success. Each one reversed represents an obstacle. All three reversed spell utter failure.

Four Queens

A social gathering which may be spoilt by one or more being reversed.

Three Queens

Friendly visits. Reversed, scandal, gossip, and possibly bodily danger to the inquirer.

Two Queens

Petty confidences interchanged, secrets betrayed, a meeting between friends. When both are reversed there will be suffering for the inquirer resulting from his own acts. Only one reversed means rivalry.

Four Knaves

Roistering and noisy conviviality. Any of them reversed lessens the evil.

Three Knaves

Worries and vexations from acquaintances, slander calling the inquirer's honour in question. Reversed, it foretells a passage at arms with a social inferior.

Two Knaves

Loss of goods, malicious schemes. If both are reversed the trouble is imminent; if one only, it is near.

Combinations of Plain Cards

Four Tens

Good fortune, wealth, success in whatever enterprise is in hand. The more there are reversed, the greater number of obstacles in the way.

Three Tens

Ruin brought about by litigation. When reversed the evil is decreased.

Two Tens

Unexpected luck, which may be connected with a change of occupation. If one be reversed it will come soon, within a few weeks possibly; if both are reversed, it is a long way off.

Four Nines

Accomplishment of unexpected events. The number that are reversed stand for the time to elapse before the fulfilment of the surprise.

Three Nines

Health, wealth, and happiness. Reversed, discussions and temporary financial difficulties caused by imprudence.

Two Nines

Prosperity and contentment, possibly accompanied by business matter, testamentary documents, and possibly a change of residence. Reversed, small worries.

Four Eights

Mingled success and failure attending a journey or the taking up of a new position. Reversed, undisturbed stability.

Three Eights

Thoughts of love and marriage, new family ties, honourable intentions. Reversed, flirtation, dissipation and foolishness.

Two Eights

Frivolous pleasures, passing love fancies, an unlooked-for development. Reversed, paying the price of folly.

Four Sevens

Schemes and snares, intrigue prompted by evil passions, contention and opposition. Reversed, small scores off impotent enemies.

Three Sevens

Sadness from loss of friends, ill-health, remorse. Reversed, slight ailments or unpleasant reaction after great pleasure.

Two Sevens

Mutual love, an unexpected event Reversed, faithlessness, deceit or regret.

Various Cards Read Together

• The ten of diamonds next to the seven of spades means certain delay.
• The ten of diamonds with the eight of clubs tells of a journey undertaken in the cause of love.
• The nine of diamonds with the eight of hearts foretells for certain a journey.
• The eight of diamonds with the eight of hearts means considerable undertakings; with the eight of spades there will be sickness; and with the eight of clubs there is deep and lasting love.
• The seven of diamonds with the queen of diamonds tells of a very serious quarrel; with the queen of clubs we may look for uncertainty; with the queen of hearts there will be good news.
• The ten of clubs followed by an ace means a large sum of money; should these two cards be followed by an eight and a king, an offer of marriage is to be expected.
• When the nine, ace, and ten of diamonds fall together we may look for important news from a distance; and if a court card comes out after them a journey will become necessary.
• The eight and seven of diamonds in conjunction imply the existence of gossip and chatter to be traced to the inquirer.
• When the king, queen, knave, and ace of one colour appear in sequence it is a sign of marriage; should the queen of spades and the knave of hearts be near, it shows there are obstacles in the way; the proximity of the eight of spades bodes ill to the couple in question, but their happiness will be assured by the presence of the eight of hearts and the eight of clubs.
• The ace of diamonds and the ten of hearts also foretell wedding bells.
• The seven of spades, with either a court card or the two of its own suit, betrays the existence of a false friend.
• The eight and five of spades coming together tell of jealousy that will find vent in malicious conduct.
• A number of small spades in sequence are significant of financial loss, possibly amounting to ruin.
• The king of hearts and the nine of hearts form a lucky combination for lovers.
• The nine of clubs joined to the nine of hearts is indicative of affairs connected with a will likely to benefit the inquirer.
• The queen of spades is the sign of widowhood, but if accompanied by the knave of her own suit she is symbolical of a woman who is hostile and dangerous to the inquirer.

General Meaning of the Several Suits

• Hearts, as might well be supposed, are specially connected with the work of Cupid and Hymen. The suit has also close reference to affairs of the home and to both the domestic and social sides of life.
• Diamonds are mainly representative of financial matters. small and great, with a generally favourable signification.
• Clubs are the happiest omens of all. They stand for worldly prosperity, a happy home life with intelligent pleasures and successful undertakings.
• Spades, on the other hand, forebode evil. They speak of sickness, death, monetary losses and anxieties, separation from friends and dear ones, to say nothing of the minor worries of life. They are also representative of love, unaccompanied by reverence or respect, and appealing exclusively to the senses.

Some Lesser Points to Notice

When a number of court cards fall together it is a sign of hospitality, festive social intercourse, and gaiety of all kinds. Married people who seek to read the cards must represent their own life partner by the king or queen of the suit they have chosen for themselves, regardless of anything else. For example, a very dark man, the king of spades, must consider his wife represented by the queen of spades, even though she may be as fair as a lily and not yet a widow.

Bachelors and spinsters may choose cards to personate their lovers and friends according to their colouring. Two red tens coming together foretell a wedding, and two red eights promise new garments to the inquirer.

A court card placed between two cards of the same grade - for instance, two nines, two sevens, &c., shows that the one represented by that card is threatened by the clutches of the law, and may be lodged at His Majesty's expense.

It is considered a good augury of success when, in dealing the cards out, those of lesser value than the knave are in the majority, especially if they are clubs.

Should a military man consult the cards he must always be represented by the king of diamonds.

It is always essential to cut cards with the left hand, there being a long-established idea that it is more intimately connected with the heart than the right. A round table is generally preferred by those who are in the habit of practising cartomancy. It is a matter of opinion as to whether the cards speak with the same clearness and accuracy when consulted by the inquirer without an intermediary. The services of an adept are generally supposed to be of great advantage, even when people have mastered the rudiments of cartomancy themselves.

Patience, the power of putting two and two together, a quick intuitive perception, and a touch of mysticism in the character, are all useful factors in the pursuit of this pastime.