Doug Dyment - Zenermancy

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A Monograph on Divination
Using Zener (“ESP”) Symbols

Tarot cards dominate today's divination landscape: a visitor to a typical “psychic fair” will find more than 80% of its readers using them. And this presents one of the reasons why tarot may not be the best choice for those who wish to do readings commercially: it’s a crowded, highly competitive field, making it difficult to differentiate oneself. Another reason is tarot’s strong identification with the occult: many people are quite frightened of these cards, and/or ascribe to beliefs that prohibit their use.

One option, of course, is for the reader to return to traditional (pre-tarot) playing cards. In addition to being a more historically accurate approach, this can be an effective solution, especially when using cards featuring older designs. Another is to seek out cards with different symbolism altogether; various types of special “fortune-telling” decks are manufactured for this purpose, though a preferable choice is one with a real-world history, yet still containing effective symbolism.

This monograph proposes instead the use of popularly-titled “ESP testing cards” (actually, Zener symbol cards) for this purpose: they carry an interesting “scientific” cachet, embody an anthropologically rich set of symbology, and can be framed in the context of a divinatory system that is steeped in both complexity and historical accuracy (dating back thousands of years). Even Hollywood has portrayed Zener symbol cards as divination tools (in the star-studded 2000 filmThe Gift, starring Cate Blanchett as a psychic reader).

Zenermancy offers a solid foundation for the understanding and interpretation of Zener symbolism and its use in divination. It provides not only a broad, detailed exploration of these topics, but a variety of reading methods and much helpful information for both nascent and experienced cold readers. The volume comes packaged with a set of business-card-sized Zener “flash cards”, to be used as a learning tool while mastering the system, and subsequently to deliver basic “symbological readings” (replacement sets of these colour-printed cards are available for gifting to high-value clients as a souvenir of the experience).

The book is organized as follows:

Introduction
Symbols: Introduction
Symbols: Interpretation
- The Circle
- The Cross
- The Wavy Lines
- The Square
- The Star
Transitions: Introduction
Transitions: Interpretation
A Reader Prepares
- First Steps: A Simple “Symbological Reading”
- Mnemonic Aids for the Symbological Reading
- Encouraging Dialogue
- Sample Symbological Readings
Reading Dynamics
- Ritual
- Suggested Card Spreads (Layouts)
- A Cleromantic Alternative
- Reading Styles
- The Extended Reading
- A Sample Extended Reading
- On The Validity of Readings
- On Being a Perpetual Student
- Some Supportive Tools
An Abecedarian Adjunct
Coloured Symbols
Bibliography