Re: North America
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 1:59 pm
Space
Gong Hee Fot Choy
U.S. Games Systems. Inc.
c. 1982
(originally 1935)
This deck references Chinese culture, but only indirectly, and is really just an example of someone exploiting a culture(s) that is not their own. It's the product of Margaret Ward, a mystic and world traveler who spent much of her life chasing down the arts and traditions of fortune telling in almost every country. The Gong Hee Fot Choy fortune telling system (which insists on calling itself a game) was originally published in 1935, and she describes it as a synthesis of the many divination systems she came across in her various travels, especially of China. The Chinese name means "Greeting of Riches," but she doesn't offer much of a reason of why the name was chosen, except to say that it gives "a small token of my appreciation of these marvelous people."
The suits have a general theme running through them and you can clearly see why Ward says that the odds in her system are three to one in favor of good over bad.
"The HEARTS represent LOVE and FRIENDSHIP; anything of a personal nature.
The DIAMONDS represent FORTUNE and RICHES, and papers of any kind.
The CLUBS represent LUCK, WISDOM and BUSINESS.
The SPADES represent the UNPLEASANT THINGS of life."
The deck featured here is actually completely secondary to the system, which was designed to be able to work with any standard deck of playing cards. The key to the system is the instruction book, which contains a few quick instructions on how to lay out a tableau, and dozens of pages about how to read each card in each position. Included with the book is a folded paper poster for laying out the cards. It shows thirty-two rectangles, called houses, each of which corresponds to a particular card in the layout.
This information was found at http://www.guntheranderson.com/cards/feb97/gong.htm where Mr. Anderson provides much more detail on the book, and the divination system it describes, than I have included here.
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Gong Hee Fot Choy
U.S. Games Systems. Inc.
c. 1982
(originally 1935)
This deck references Chinese culture, but only indirectly, and is really just an example of someone exploiting a culture(s) that is not their own. It's the product of Margaret Ward, a mystic and world traveler who spent much of her life chasing down the arts and traditions of fortune telling in almost every country. The Gong Hee Fot Choy fortune telling system (which insists on calling itself a game) was originally published in 1935, and she describes it as a synthesis of the many divination systems she came across in her various travels, especially of China. The Chinese name means "Greeting of Riches," but she doesn't offer much of a reason of why the name was chosen, except to say that it gives "a small token of my appreciation of these marvelous people."
The suits have a general theme running through them and you can clearly see why Ward says that the odds in her system are three to one in favor of good over bad.
"The HEARTS represent LOVE and FRIENDSHIP; anything of a personal nature.
The DIAMONDS represent FORTUNE and RICHES, and papers of any kind.
The CLUBS represent LUCK, WISDOM and BUSINESS.
The SPADES represent the UNPLEASANT THINGS of life."
The deck featured here is actually completely secondary to the system, which was designed to be able to work with any standard deck of playing cards. The key to the system is the instruction book, which contains a few quick instructions on how to lay out a tableau, and dozens of pages about how to read each card in each position. Included with the book is a folded paper poster for laying out the cards. It shows thirty-two rectangles, called houses, each of which corresponds to a particular card in the layout.
This information was found at http://www.guntheranderson.com/cards/feb97/gong.htm where Mr. Anderson provides much more detail on the book, and the divination system it describes, than I have included here.
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