Is the origin of the cards layout used to calculate the 13 birth cards from the Mystic Test Book? I know that layout is in the Mystic Test Book, but I’m wondering if there are any other sources for it (quadrations, etc) from around the same time or prior.
Also, in regards to starting the suite order at spades, it seems to me more natural to start with hearts (clubs, diamonds, spades). That is the order the cards must be laid out for the jack spread.
On the whole we begin our lives with love (or at least the expectation or openness to it), and finish off with more spade like issues. And spades seem to be the most mature of the group in terms of what they demand.
I skip the question about the Mystic Test Book since I don´t remember whether that is the source. But if that is the source of the Destiny Cards tradition, then yes, it is. I guess Ernst is going to give you an answer to that.
As for the Spades, they represent life itself, being an individual. The very first spade, the Ace, is an acorn or a seed sprouting, coming up out of the soil. That seems like a beginning to me.
The next suite, according to Ernst, the Hearts, have a two quality to it. The sanscrit meaning of that, in translation, is "flying together", so joining things. To me seems to be impeccably logic too.
Of course one can do any interpretation that one wants to, but to me it´s seems obvious that we must first be embodied and have an existence before we can bond to other things or people. So I don´t see any fault in the order suggested by Ernst.
This isn’t about disrespecting anyone else’s logic, and hopefully not about protecting other people’s logic.
The first 4 years of life are ruled by the moon in vedic astrology, when a someone should be loved for who they are, not for what they do. Seems more like hearts than spades to me.
If we use the jack spread, it starts with hearts. And all the following quadrations are based on that, so there may be a reason.
when dealing with circles, there is no real beginning, so my question is simply meant to bring up ideas/thoughts, not antagonism.
Life, on the physical level may well being with hearts. Babies are soft, tender and bring out love. The are not hard and rough like spades.
But ace of spades may be the true beginning in spiritual growth, which generally happens at a more mature phase in physical life.
@yonathanh Well, if it works for you... I know one person that I believe respect any new idea, his name is Ernst Wilhelm.
It´s also so personal how the cards speak to one and each of us. Just as Ernst came up with a new system based on Destiny cards, there might be other ways of organize it. What you say does not speak to me, but that has little relevance I believe. Still I recommend you to work with Ernst´s system to see if it doesn´t work for you. For me it works, that I can say. I often manage to guess the card of person´s whose birthdays I don´t know, for example. That´s a strong indication of the system being correct. Often predictions come out truthfully too.
My wife once found a deck of Spanish cards, started to play with them and realized that she could read them. She makes amazing predictions. If you ask her about the indications she can hardly tell you...
Why the Moon would have anything to do with the hearts I don´t know though... I also remember having heard Ernst say that the first four years are ruled by the mother´s horoscope/spread.
@yonathanh Well... I still believe that the starting point is to have an existence. But that´s me.
The Mystic Test Books is considered the origin but really, its only the original of the quadration and the solar values of cards, which is really the foundation. We really do not know how it developed from that text in the late 1800s until 1976 when the cards system came to the surface on a larger scale due to Arnie Lien's olympic tennis predictions. We can consider his book on the subject as really the starting point of all the systems that are out there at this time. Robert camp developed this further and Thomas Morrel did a bit of his unique twist on that. I developed it further by adding all the planets and house cusps, and aligning it with a more scientific foundation for the spreads as per Vedic Astrology principles. There is a lot of room for development in the system as its really in its beginning stages. Its possible that there was other information that Arnie Lien had access to outside of the mystic textbook, but if so, I don't know who he may have studied with.
slightly off-topic, but does anyone have a digital scan of Arne Lein's book which is long out of print? I saw someone selling it off the Amazon reviews for the hardcopy book, but wasn't excited about paying a random stranger $100 for a PDF.
I did find the Mystic Test Book at archive.org, and also located Randall & Campbell's "Sacred Symbols of the Ancients" online -- I think they were students of Lein?
I bought Thomas Morell's book and did not resonate with his flavor of the system -- it felt internally incongruent in an overly complex way (Phoenix, Mayan Challenge, strange numerology, etc).
The simplest book I enjoyed was "Play your Cards Right" by Alexander Dunlop. It's a bit of a sales pitch for his website courses, but also a nicely condensed reference with 2 page keynotes of each card.
I do love how Ernst has added even more of a logical foundation with Cards of Truth.
@ernst amazing, thank you for uploading! I'm very excited to read it 🙏
PS I think maybe the apostrophe caused an issue with the actual file URL?
@ernst eagerly awaiting if you could please provide the working URL? It seems the apostrophe has thrown a wrench into the works. thank you!