Heidi Kabel as Die Kartenlegerin
The German word for Cartomancer is Kartenlegerin. A YouTube search brings up two fascinating works. The first is the amazing singer/actor Heidi Kabel as the card reader in the made-for-TV play, Die Kartenlegerin (1968). A rough translation by Alexander Kurzwernhart of the reading is available in the Comments. One thing to note is the method of “counting cards,” which is a key cartomancy technique used when reading a layout of the whole deck (usually 32, 36 or 52 cards). One counts 5, 7 or 9 cards in any direction from the querent’s significator and from the significator of the ‘person of interest’. (It looks like she’s stabbing the cards with her finger.) Fast forward to Minute 6:00 to begin the reading.
Schumann’s – Die Kartenlegerin, Op.31 No.2
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) wrote this song in 1840 (based on a poem in French “Les cartes ou l’horoscope” by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780-1857)), about a young girl stopping her sewing to quickly read her cards while her mother sleeps. Learn more about it here. The translation comes from the Lotte Lehmann League. You might want to listen to the music while you read the English lyrics.
Has mother finally fallen asleep
Over her book of sermons?
You, my needle, now lie still,
Stop this constant sewing.
I shall read the cards,
Oh, what things can I expect,
Oh, how will it all end?
If I am not deceived,
One, I think of, will appear,
Great, here he comes,
The knave of hearts knows his duty.
A rich widow? oh dear.
Yes, he woos her, I’m undone,
Oh! the wicked scoundrel.
Heartache and much vexation,
A school with restricting walls,
But the king of diamonds will take pity
And comfort me.
A nicely delivered present,
He elopes with me, a journey,
Money and happiness in abundance.
This king of diamonds
Must be a prince or king,
Which means that it won’t take much
For me to be a princess.
Here’s a foe, who strives to soil
My name before His Majesty,
And a fair-haired man stands by me.
A secret comes to light,
And I escape just in time,
Farewell, O life of splendor,
Ah, that was a cruel blow.
The one is gone, a crowd
Surges around me
That I can scarcely count them all.
What’s this?
A dumb female apparition,
A wheezing old woman coming my way,
To banish love and happiness
Before my youth has gone?
Ah, it’s mother, who’s woken up,
Opening wide her mouth to scold.
No, the cards never lie.
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
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14 comments
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July 12, 2011 at 3:13 pm
mkg
Alexander Kurzwernhart on Facebook left me this translation from the play:
The Ohnsorg-Theater is a famous comedy-theatre in Hamburg. My english is not that good, but I gave my best to translate it for You.
The reading:
Kabel: You have a second wife.
Man 1: Is that right?
Man 2: Yes I have.
Kabel: She will get in contact with the court.
Man 1: What do You think?
Man 2: That´s true, too.
Kabel: You have a son together with this woman.
Man 2: That´s also true.
Kabel: This boy is not at home right now. He must lie in bed somewhere.
Man 1: That´s true. He is in hospital.
Kabel: He is pampered…
Man 2: Yes, he is. Unfortunately.
Kabel: But there is another boy. He must be the son of your first wife.
Man1: What do You say, Peter…
Man 2: He is from late Mary…
Kabel: He has a special name…
Man 2: Who? The older one?
Kabel: Yes. The name stays the same if you start reading from the beginning or the end…
Man 1: That´s true: Otto. What great woman you are, Mrs. Lührs.
Kabel: Why? It´s all hokus pokus [ironic], or not?
Man 1: You don´t have to reproach me for that.
Man 2: He didn´t mean it seriously…
Kabel: The elder son should get a rich woman. But that is only the stepmother to get him out of the house.
Man 1: Is that true, Peter?
Man 2: It is true again.
Kabel: But the young man is in love with a good, nice and brave girl, who is not nearby. She must be out of town.
Man 2: Right.
Man 1: How exactly you can see everything in the cards. I am amazed.
Man 2: She sees more than other cartomancers…
Kabel: There are clever and brave farmers but also foolish. Am I right.
Man 1: You are right.
Kabel: Otherwise you couldn´t diddle them that easily.
July 13, 2011 at 3:43 am
David V
Wonderful, Mary! (and thank you, Alexander). “Kartenlegerin” is the feminine form. You can also look under the m. “Kartenleger” and under “Kartenlegen” which is “Card Reading.” German Wiki has a fantastic image of a Painting by Michaeil Alexanddrowitsch Wrubel with a woman reading cards done in 1895 (Waite-time!) called “Die Wahrsagerin”, the (f., again) “Fortune-Teller”.
July 13, 2011 at 10:52 am
Steph Myriel Es-Tragon
Great, Mary. Being German myself, I really appreciate this. I did not know, though in my youth I saw much of Kabel & the Ohnsorg theatre, one of my grandfather’s favourites.
Greetings from Germany
Steph Myriel
July 13, 2011 at 12:39 pm
mkg
David –
Wrubel’s painting is one of my favorites, and is in my Cartomancer’s power point presentation.
Mary
July 13, 2011 at 12:55 pm
mkg
Steph –
Am glad to offer something that brought back a good memory.
Mary
August 23, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Reta
Hi! I know this is somewhat off-topic but I had
to ask. Does managing a well-established blog such as yours take a
large amount of work? I am brand new to writing
a blog but I do write in my journal everyday. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my own experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any kind of ideas or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!
August 24, 2012 at 10:33 am
mkg
Reta – Yes, this isn’t really the right place for this, but – A blog is a lot of work, but it can be fun. It helps to decide what you ideally want your blog to be and not get sidetracked into what you think others want of you. If you want a following you should post often – a couple of times a week is ideal if you really want to get established. Remember a post can/should be relatively short (there are always exceptions to this). Otherwise – there are lots of people who’ve written about blogging who do it far better than I do. Best wishes for your blog.
September 6, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Juan Manuel Giordano
Dear Mary,
where I can learn more about the method of counting cards in cartomancy?
Thanks,
Juan (Argentina)
September 6, 2012 at 3:02 pm
mkg
You simply decide how many cards you want to count – usually 5, 7 or 9. Then you start from the querent’s card (significator).
Old style: You count the card you land on as 1. Count the number determined and start the next count from that same card. 1 2 3 4 5(1) 2 3…
New style: You start the count from the card following the one you landed on.
Option 1: Count in every direction possible from the significator.
Option 2: Starting with the significator, count in the order in which you laid out the cards; when you reach the end of the spread, start over at the beginning. Continue until you reach a card already counted.
Now the most important thing with all this is that you CHOOSE ONE METHOD out of all the options above and use it consistently. You’ll find the variations in different books, but there are too many for me to list here (if I even had the time to look them all up) and most of them are out of print and hard to get anyway.
August 12, 2013 at 9:54 pm
Angela Fourne
das ist wirklich eine sehr amüsante Episode über das Kartenlegen. Ich habe herzlich gelacht. Heidi Kabel macht das vortrefflich und unserem Berufstand als Kartenleger alle Ehre.
August 13, 2013 at 2:44 pm
mkg
Angela,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
December 6, 2013 at 8:02 am
Sabine
Heidi Kabel war eine der besten Schauspielerinnen di es gab. Sie hat unseren Berufsstand als Kartenlegerin wirklich super dargestellt.
December 11, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Mary K. Greer
Sabine –
Thank you for your comment, which I translated as: “Heidi Kabel was one of the best actresses there was. It’s really great that she has represented our profession as a card reader.”
I agree. It is wonderful to see her in this clip.
January 14, 2014 at 12:39 pm
Susi
Besser wie von Heidi Kabel kann man unseren Berufsstand gar nicht darstellen. Ihre humorvolle Art kann eigentlich jeden überzeugen.