History of Cardology

History of Cardology shows that one of the earliest printed material comes from Olney Hawkins Richmond, a man who published information about the true meaning of the playing cards back in 1893 in his book, The Mystic Test Book. It was given this title because everything inside could actually be tested for its validity. 

Richmond gave some miraculous demonstrations for the newspaper reporters who came to see and understand his work. His book unveiled the structure of timekeeping hidden in the playing card deck and how the cards relate to each day of the calendar year. Most importantly, Richmond was able to demonstrate how the cards relate to us individually through our birthdays.

Born February 22, 1844 (Three of Diamonds♦) in the township of Greenbush in Clinton County, Michigan, Olney H. Richmond was apponted the Grand Master of the Order of the Magi, which he officially resurrected in the upper Midwest in the late 19th century.

Richmond was a Civil War veteran who had been told of the Order by a mysterious stranger one night while he stood guard duty just outside Nashville, Tennessee. This stranger told him that he was to be his successor and eventually passed on to him the teachings of the Magi. Further, he told Richmond that he would go through many battles in the course of the war but that no harm would come to him. This proved to be true. Today Olney Hawkins Richmond is considered the Father of Cardology.

(To learn more about Cardology and the word "Cardology", go to  About Cardology)

The Order of the Magi was the star religion of the ancient Chaldeans. It is said that this tradition existed 20,000 years before the birth of Christ. Indeed, it was held that the three Magi of the Bible were members of this Order and that Christ himself later became an initiate. Richmond held that the Order had centers in not only Chaldea, but also Egypt and Persia. He also held that Pythagoras, one of the most famous and controversial philosophers who lived from ca. 570 to ca. 490 BCE, was a Grand Master of the Order (by way of the Egyptian temple). 

It is said that the original cards were carved on ivory tablets and used exclusively by the priests in the temples in Atlantis. Later, the tablets were moved to Egypt to help preserve the human race. 

Richmond lectured in the Grand Temple of the Magi on the history, philosophy, and practices of the Order as well as other topics, including the Study of Infinity and the Evolution of Matter. An interesting aspect of the Order was its extensive use of magic squares and divination. The "Father of Cardology" had extraordinary mathematical abilities. His skills and mathematical analysis of the game of checkers were publicly demonstrated during the 19th century - the peak period of that sport.

Mainstream history suggests that the first playing cards were made after the invention of paper in China. As mentioned above, Olney H. Richmond indicates that was not the case. The original playing cards may have in fact been carved into ivory and possibly stone. Cardologers around the world believe that the card deck originated in Atlantis and was relocated to ancient Egypt, where it was disguised with colorful pictures and given to the gypsies (Egyptians) for safekeeping.

Cardology has developed from the original teachings published by Olney H. Richmond in his The Mystic Test Book and various other sources. According to Richmond, this system has roots in ancient astrological information; even going as far back as to the days of Atlantis. In Ancient Egypt, the temples and priests and priestesses of Isis were the guardians of the calendar and all astrological information, preserving the system down through the ages. 

After the fall of these ancient civilizations, the teachings were hidden away in remote parts of the world and transmitted orally. In Europe during the Dark Ages, the Masters of the system, realizing an age of extreme persecution was coming, needed to devise a method whereby the ancient information could be concealed and yet perpetuated for the future. The solution they chose was to create a “game” that could be given to the general population, who would protect it and pass it on, unchanged, to succeeding generations, with no knowledge or awareness of the hidden symbology.  

The “game” that was created we now know as PLAYING CARDS, which have remained essentially unchanged since their inception in the 13th century; thereby proving the wisdom of the Masters who had realized that if the information had been released to the Intelligentsia of the day, it would have been obscured or distorted within a very short period of time.

This, in fact, became the case with the ruling Catholic Church, where some of their hierarchy were obviously aware of the truth behind the popular Playing Cards, and decided to create and validate a system of their own – Tarot Cards – to compete with and hide the real information.  The data encoded into the 52 PLAYING CARDS (4 Suits of 13 Cards each) are an Astrological /Calendar Database; the four Suits represent the Elements (Fire – ♥, Earth – ♣, Air – ♦, Water – ♠) and the annual Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), the Numbers 1 to 13 (Ace to King of each Suit) are related to specific planet symbols and the 13 lunations of 28-days each per year – multiply the number 28 by 13 it gives us 364, the 12 Court Cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are clearly both the signs of the zodiac and the months in a year. 

The 52 cards relate to the 52 weeks of the year. This number 52 multiplied by 7 again gives 364, then by adding a special card to either result, now known as the JOKER (as 5 /4 or 1¼), we get 6 a total of 365¼ – the number of days in the average Solar Year. 

These are just some of the many Astrological, Calendrical and Numerical coincidences that are concealed within the cards and this system. From a special mathematical formula, each day of the year is assigned a specific day-card symbol. These are known as the SUN CARDS or BIRTH CARDS or LIFE CARDS of an individual. Note that the Calendar Cards are not divided equally over the four Suits. Hearts♥ have 52 days; Clubs♣ have 132 days (133 in Leap Years); Diamonds♦ have 131 days; and Spades♠ have 49 days. These plus the JOKER total 365 days (366 in leap years). The JOKER is given to December 31st; however, this card does not appear on any of the subsequent tables or in any type of reading lay-out as it represents a very special archetypal level of human existence.

(To learn more about Cardology and the word "Cardology", go to  About Cardology)