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Olney Richmond, The Grand Master
In 1893, the very first book, The Mystic Test Book, by Olney H. Richmond, was published to reveal everything about this particular science. Mr. Richmond said that this system was a closely guarded secret for centuries and that a group called The Order of the Magi were responsible for both its origin and its preservation. He also said that this system originated over 20,000 years ago on the continent of Atlantis and that playing cards used to be made of ivory and were only used in the temples of Atlantis, and later Egypt, for the purposes of studying the movements of the planets and for making prognostications based on those planetary movements. The Science of the Cards, then, was a part of a master esoteric science that included Astrology and Numerology. Any astrologer who takes the time to study this system will be amazed at the connections. For example, I am able at this time to tell what sorts of planetary aspects will be found in someone's Birth Chart just by knowing their Birth Card. Olney Richmond was initiated into The Order of the Magi in 1866 and after studying for over 20 years, opened his first temple in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the 1880's. At first he performed many personal readings and began developing a reputation for them. He also had many newspaper reporters who came to his temple to report on what he was doing and when they came, he would amaze them with some of the supposed 'miracles' he would perform with a common deck of cards, which he called a 'testament of truth'.
Miracles with a Deck of Cards
One of the miracles he performed and of which there are at least four published accounts by different newspapers, is one in which he could determine the exact cards that would be drawn out of a deck by any person. All he needed was the birthday of the person and the time of day that the shuffle of the deck was performed. He claimed to have a mathematical formula that anyone could use that would never fail, since it was based on what he considered unfailing mathematical laws of planetary motion. He would often know ahead of time when certain people were going to call and kept a log book of his predictions. Often, someone would drop by his temple unannounced, and Olney would show them where he had made an entry in his log book two weeks or so prior that they were coming and what would be the nature of their business. Olney did not claim to be a psychic and neither did he claim to have any unusual powers of any kind. He also did not believe in accidents of any kind. He based all of his work and research on basic mathematical laws and formulas and dedicated his life to demonstrating that everything in our physical universe is being governed by fixed, mathematical principles.
The Deck of Cards and our Calendar
As an example, take our deck of cards for a moment and we will see them in a different light. When we see a deck of cards, we are looking at an exact representation of our calendar. The calendar has 12 months and our deck of cards has 12 face cards (Jacks, Queens and Kings). Our calendar has 52 weeks and our deck of cards has 52 cards. Our deck of cards has 13 cards in each suit that represent both the 13 weeks in each of our seasons as well as the 13 lunar months in each year. Any astrologer will tell you that there are 13 full moons each year, not 12. Finally, if we add up all the spots in the deck of cards, allowing the Ace to be a one spot, the Jacks, eleven, Queens, twelve and Kings, thirteen, we get exactly the number of days in a year ( The Joker being given a value of 1 1/4 spots give 365 1/4 spots in a deck of cards). From this simple illustration, anyone can see that whoever developed our deck of cards was also thinking very much about the calendar. Our calendar, if we trace it back, is Egyptian in origin. However, according to Olney Richmond, it is actually Atlantean in origin, since he claims that the Egyptian knowledge was brought there by priests from Atlantis before it was destroyed. So, Mr. Richmond claims that not only are the cards and our calendar intimately connected, but also the cards can be used to perform calculations on the movements of the planets in our solar system, which all come to bear upon the events and experiences we have here on Earth.
After Olney Richmond
Olney Richmond had a daughter named Arline who carried on his work after he passed away in 1920. As a matter of fact, it was from Arline Richmond that Florence Campbell and Edith Randall learned about The Science of the Cards and published their book, Sacred Symbols of the Ancients, in the early 1940's. I am sure that Olney taught other people as well and there were a few books published here and there that touched upon some of the work that he was doing during his 60 year involvement with The Order of the Magi. However, no books exist that revealed many of the most important knowledge he had. What we have today is whatever he was allowed to publish along with what he taught his students and what was taught by his daughter to her students. Florence Campbell and Edith Randall lived in Los Angeles and taught many classes there before they died. There are for that reason, many people in the Los Angeles area who know about this system. Arne Lein studied with them and likewise taught many students of his own before his death.
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