Cards! Cards! Cards!

I can't help thinking of my Mom and her side of the family when it comes to cards! My Mom was the original Sunshine Girl, sending cards to everyone for many different occasions. It was her art. It was her hobby. It was her obsession! She'd drive us crazy asking if we sent so-and-so a card and get quite annoyed if we didn't write or call when we got cards from her and her Mom and sisters. It took the fun out of it, too often, but I admit, I loved the cards I got, maybe some a bit less now that I realize how my Mom probably traumatized someone who forgot her kids cards! But, they never did. They were loyal, card loving people. I am so grateful I kept many of the cards. I wish I had them all.

Yes, cards were important, and so were fortune telling cards. I am referring to Minnie's set of cards she used to tell our fortunes. Were they the same set she used when she did readings at her Little Gypsy Tea Room? Maybe. But, they were NOT Tarot cards. We didn't even know what those were. Nanny's cards were a regular set of playing cards. Until yesterday, I didn't know what type of card divination it



Here are the Gypsy Witch cards with meanings. I'll post these on 'pages', too.

was. I kind of feel Nanny nudging me in the right direction to find needed answers. The answer was, Lenormand Cards! (above deck. Her's did not have pictures)

Mrs. Lenormand didn't design the set. A German dude drew the symbols and made the cards, but they were the ones Mrs.L used and became famous. When she died in the early 1800's, they renamed the cards after her. There are thousands of Lenormand decks and types using 35   or so pictures with numbers. The layout is different than Tarot. Nanny laid out the cards side by side, maybe 6 across, and 2 or 3 rows. I now see the number and position of the cards in the layout next to the Pinnacle Card, or the card representing the questioner is important, too.

After just a day or two, I'm already becoming familiar with  the symbols and many of the meanings. I don't agree with them all, but okay, I'll go along with it for now. I always believe in  personal divination...or doing it the way that suits YOU.

If you don't want any upside down cards, start them all right side up before shuffling and dealing. I won't tell!  Choose the tried-but-true Tarot layout, a star layout, or a one,  two, or three card quick-draw reading. It is you asking the Universal Creator a question and the answers are all over the place. The cards help you focus and give you a fun way to explore the many layers of answers to all questions.

On the left of this blog is 'pages' and I have several sets of cards there for you to print out, or look at or just refer to when you make your own! Yes, everyone should make their own with their own symbols and me and my family have done it many different ways in the past. I found a set that a lady made of her and her family and it is one of the best sets I've seen. I just put the file on 'slide show' and it helps me memorize the meanings since she put them right on the front. I love that. I will include them in my 'pages' list of card sets for you, too.

My son, Adam Star, is an artist, and very metiphysically inclined. He loves Heronious Bosch  and I found a set of cards using Bosch art. I found Hello Kitty cards for little Tarot players and Simpson Tarot and so many others I was amazed, over 1,000 sets on Picasa Web Pages, alone.

I am getting a set in the mail. I bought it online for four dollars from Walmart!!! They are called Gypsey Witch Fortune Telling Cards. They are Lenormand style with the written meaning on front in English (so many of them are in Italian and German). If they turn out to be useful I will get some for my friends and family members who really love this stuff.

Have fun, I am! <3<3<3<3<3<3<3
DJH

Minnie and her Tea Room

Minnie Yuncker will always be one of my favorite Ancestors. She was my maternal Grandmother, but we called her Nanny. By the time I came upon the scene, she was a widow living with her daughter and family. She lived with us for about five years and it was so great having her around. She was a Leo lady with a charismatic persona and I loved hearing stories from my Mom, Minerva, about Minnie, Millie and Dora. 

Minnie was born Wilhelmina Croter in 1888 NJ, but  she became Minnie Yuncker later in life. As a very young woman, she and her sisters opened a tiny place where they served sandwiches to the local workers at lunch, and read their tea leaves or cards for free. It was probably 1907 or 8. No one is left to tell me, here anyway.

 I don't think The Little Gypsey Tea Room lasted too long, but my imagination filled in the rest. I was hooked on fortune telling and gypsy styles and later Tarot cards.  I am so glad Minnie inspired us as well as her daughter, Minerva, my Mom, to be aware of that  wonderful world of magic, dreams, and enchantment  she passed on to me, and I in turn to my children. They are indeed passing on the magic and insight to their own kids.

I was fascinated to discover there was a popular song called 'The Little Gypsy Tea Room. Bob Crosby (Bing's brother) recorded it.
I found the lyrics very retro and sweet. So, my dear Nanny in Heaven, remember this song?Give my love to All and I love you Always <3

Lyrics to 'The Little Gypsy Tea Room'

It was in a little gypsy tearoom
when i was feeling blue,
it was in a little gypsy tea room
i first laid eyes on you;
When the gypsy came to read the tea leaves
it made me feel quite gay,
when she said that someone in the tea room
would steal my heart away.
I really thought it inconceivable,
but just imagine my surprise,
you made the story quite believable,
right there in front of my eyes.
With a smile that's sweeter than the roses,
you made a dream come true,
it was in a little gypsy tea room
i gave my heart to you.