Two Tracts on Cartomancy

Two Tracts on Cartomancy / .I -:

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by Austin Osman Spare with an introduction by Gavin W Semple

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FULGUR MCMXCVII

Ackno wledgements, FIt/gur would like fo express their thanks to Frank Letchford; to David Reed, Charles Cholmondeley andthe Estateoj the late AlanPuIIeyn-Holden for pffmission to reproduce the origina l drawings in this work; to Trevor and Paul Grimsdale for reprodltctiol1, to AlexBrattdl and Wayllc Williams for photography, to The Harry Rallsom Humm1ilies Research Centr!:, Austm. Texas, forpermission to quotefromthe Spare/Crowley correspondence; to Dnmis Bardens for supplying the original SurrealistRacing Forecast Cards forthe limJted editioll ; and to Kenneth Grantfor pcnnission to usc 'Mind to Mind and How '. Especial thanks to Edwa rd Craig, Jan Fries, Kenneth Grant, CliveHarper, Brian T. Grove, Nigel Aldcroft Jackson, Frank LetchIord and Dr William Wallan: for the details and suggestions whirlJ theymost kindly offered

T o the me mory o f Alan Pulleyn-H olden

Co pyrigh t © 1997 FULGUR Limited, BCM Fulgur, London, W CI N 3XX. Mind to Mind and How © Kenneth Gr ant 199 7. Int roduction © Ga vin W . Semp le 1997. All righ ts res erved. N o par t of th is pu b lica tio n may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt ed in any form or by any means, elect ron ic, mech anical, pho to cop ying, record ing or otherwi se, with ou t prior written permi ssion of th e co pyright holder . Reprodu ction by Co lor scan , High Wycom be . Print ed by T he N uffield Press, Abingdon. Speci al edit ion bound by Cedric Chi vers, Bristol.

A FEW LEAVES FROM TH E DEVILS PICT URE-BOOK by Gavill W. S,mpl, Part I Spades an d Hea rts Fo r Austin Spare the n ineteen -twenti es pro ved to be a decade o f bit ing poverty. The G reat W ar and its soc ial afte rmath had all but te rminat ed h is burgeo ni ng career, and afte r the ca pitu lati on in t 9 24 of The Golden Hind - the thi rd and last ar ts per iodica l o n whi ch he had staked his hop es - the arti st was reduced to eking out a p recario us living fro m the manuf acture of prototyp e radio sets in c nc of the two small rooms of his te ne men t flat at 52, Becke t H o use in Sou th wa rk. W itho ut any cha nce of m oun ting a West End exh ibit ion, liv in g in virt ual crea tive iso lat ion amon gst Lo ndon's poorest - "" swi",: wifh sll'il1e", as he to ld Gra ce Rog ers - S pare devot ed h is e nerg ies to perfec ting h is techn iqu e o f au to matic d rawing , an d , throug h dream ing an d ma gical experimen t, ma d e dee p incurs ions into the psychic rea lms. From chi ldhoo d , AOS had retaine d an abiding fasc ina tion fo r cartomancy, an art whic h he had not on ly developed along lines of his own, b ut had evolved into a un ique meth od of theurgy tail ored to th e patterns o f hi s so rce ry . Althoug h he was ge nera lly ret icent about the m ore e so teric as p ec ts o f h is occu lt procl iv it ies , in t he ba rren mi d twen ties the necessity o f keeping body and soul tog eth er led Spare to 'go publi c' with the results of his co n tinued researches , and he began to produce sets of d ivinatio n ca rds fo r sale . H is first majo r show sinc e the War, at th e St Georg e's Gallery, H anover Square, Lon do n, in M arch , 19 2 7 , ge ner a te d suff ici e n t imp e tus and c a p ital t o undertak e t h e publi cation of AnatlJfnll1 oj 20s, an intense se lf-in terrogatio n framed as a cas tiga tio n o f 'th e h ypocri tes', bu t, writt en in th e mon th s fo llowing th e co llapse o f Thr Golden Hmd, actua lly refle ct ing Sp are's bi tter frustratio n an d cr isis o f co n fide nc e at th at time. Among the wo rks adve rtised fo r sale at the back of the boo k ap pea rs th e intriguing title 'Arena o f Ano n (Fo rtune -T elling Ca rd s)'; o f these complete packs do not ap pea r to h ave survived , but at least seven orig inal cards of the ty pe are extant - hand drawn , numbered and embellished Wi th d aemon ic heads in the familiar calligrap h ic style. Lacking pictorial elaboration and att ribution by suit o r e le men t, th ese ca rds are no t sim ply a rei teratio n o f th e M arsei lles o r ga ming deck, bu t exem plify the sys tem wh ich Spa re had developed for magical evoca tio n. 9

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II .J Ju st pr ior to the St G eorge's G aller y sho w, Spare hod ob se rved to jo urn alist frie nd , Hannen Swa ffer. "PrOp1}f' y " Ifd n:tleldtiolf fir( as possible today as they ever IPm . They can Opf ftl tr. if Dilly y ou illdun' thr cOlldi li o1lS. Wh" t fhr conditioliS are li ' t lIlus t discollt'r The propJn·ts tlnd seers u-ere hrrmits. Brclltl5t of circ ulIls/ml((S I have lwed Jor mOllths rl hermit's life Poverty hd5made lil t' lipf