The art of cartomancy began in c1501 and was popular from the beginning. In the practice of cartomancy, there are some disputed beliefs that each suit in a deck of cards represents a certain element; the dispute lies in which suit represents which element. Therefore, the fortune that you are told actually depends upon which practitioners of cartomancy you visit. The one thing that these practitioners do agree on is that whenever a deck of cards is used in the art of cartomancy, that the deck should not be used for any other purpose. Can you imagine winning a game of poker with the same cards that were used to tell you fortune? Kind of spooks me out a little. Therefore, those who practice the art of cartomancy believe that the cards are a special divination tool and should be treated like what they are...special.

In the collection of cartomancy card decks, the Tarot card deck is one of more widely known decks specifically geared toward foretelling one's future. The cards have pictures drawn on them that represent certain things in a person's life. The cards are divided into major and minor cards, and are used while sitting in a dark room with candles and a gypsy woman staring over them with a furrow in her brow you can't quite read yourself. Or, the cards can be read by an absolutely normal looking person dressed in regular clothes who smiles and tells you at your family reunion that you have 3 days to live and during that time you'll loose our wife, your children and your home.

The interpretation of the cards of cartomancy is highly disputable and is generally used for the purpose of entertainment. Many hire card readers for office Christmas parties or company gatherings in which there will be people there who wish to know their futures. This could make up half of the world as far as I know. Who wouldn't want to know? I mean REALLY KNOW.

As in any form of divination the tools of cartomancy can be a regular card deck or one that is designed for the express purpose of sharing with someone what their future will hold. The elements of nature, though disputed by those who practice the art, can tell you things that are currently happening in your life as well as what might happen in the future. This is a scary proposition for many. Although they would admit that at one time or another they have read their horoscopes in the newspaper, or read a fortune cookie, they would also tell you that what will be will be, and its best left alone. At least they don't want to disturb the powers that be in nature so as to sway them a different way if it was going to be good-right? There are over 200 forms of divination, and they all claim accuracy and proof positive in the art form they are, but likewise, there are many interpreters of these practices. So whether you're casting bones, reading rune stones, throwing dice, or spinning a spinner on a disc representing the 48 cards, it's best to know that what you don't know is o.k. If we were meant to know what was going to happen in the future, there would have all been made with flux capacitors in our bodies.
It's best also if we make our own interpretations.