Mystical Angels

Chinese Fortune-Telling, Card Meanings?

i recently learned a chinese fortune-telling game where the teller must shuffle 3times, then the one getting the fortune shuffle 3times as well. the teller makes a pyramid with 6 rows turned down, except the last row of 6. the teller must use the cards to equal 13 (ace=1,jack=11,queen=12,king=13) and put back into the bottom of the deck. if not all can be matched by one another or any cards of the 10 cards the teller lays out, it goes aside. then having the rest of the cards neatly, teller takes one from the back and one from the front to create a pair, but if two cards end up being the same they are put aside. you do this 3times until you have 4 pairs. then the person getting the fortune picks 4 cards (1 card faced down on each pair) and a centre card also faced down (that being the most important). then flip them over to reveal your fortune. the cards are supposed to mean something, like 4 is active, jack is someone behind your back, queen a girlfriend, king a boyfriend/husband. the problem is i forgot the rest. does anyone know this game? what are the card meanings? thanks!

Public Comments

1. maybe try I Ching ? The present is embodied in Hexagram 24 - Fu (Turning Point): There will be a free course and progress. He finds no one to distress him in his exits and entrances. Friends come to him, and no error is committed. He will return and repeat his proper course. In seven days comes his return. There will be advantage in whatever direction movement is made. The fourth line, divided, shows its subject moving right in the centre among those represented by the other divided lines, and yet returning alone to his proper path. The fifth line, divided, shows the noble return of its subject. There will be no ground for repentance. The situation is shifting, and Yang (the active masculine force) is gaining ground. The future is embodied in Hexagram 17 - Sui (Following): There will be great progress and success, but one must be firm and correct. There will then be no error. The things most apparent, those above and in front, are embodied by the upper trigram K'un (Earth), which is tansforming into Tui (Lake). As part of this process, docility and receptivity are giving way to joy, pleasure, and attraction. The things least apparent, those below and behind, are embodied by the lower trigram Chen (Thunder), which represents movement, initiative, and action.
2. I know much about Chinese culture, and I have never heard of Chinese using this card game. They use the I Ching for telling fortunes. It is a book with 64 hexagrams and the meanings of them. Traditionally, one drops fennel stalks to arrive at hexagrams, but a shortcut is to toss 3 coins. 2 heads gives an unbroken line. 3 heads gives both a broken and unbroken line. 2 tails gives broken line. 3 tails gives a broken and an unbroken line. As you see, one often gets 2 different hexagrams to interpret. They are confusing to novices, so you need an experienced person to interpret them for you.
3. It's been common sice the 19th century to describe things as Chinese whenever they are unusual and exotic, even when the item has nothing to do with China and wouldn't even be recognized in that part of the world (such as "Chinese Checkers" which is really a German game.) Since playing cards aren't terribly traditional in China for fortune telling, it might be a case of this at work. It sounds like it's just a layout for cartomancy and that the interpretations follow one of the usual methods for reading playing cards.