Metasymbology

"What's Your Card?" by Arne Lein, first published in 1978, is one of the earlier books on Cardology and helped lay the foundation of the ancient, mystical science of playing cards for us today. Lein used the term "metasymbology" to describe his version of the system. The word starts with the Greek-derived prefix meta- meaning "beyond." The term basically means something beyond the study and interpretation of the numbers and symbols in regards to playing cards.

Arne Lein wrote, in Section 1 titled, Metasymbology (subtitled The Science of the Cards): "From the mysterious realms of the occult emerges the subtle science of the cards. Actually, the presentation in this book is a merging of occult sciences—astrology, numerology, metaphysics—with the cards into a total subject we identify as Metasymbology.

Lein continued, "Although you may not want to be a adept, or practioner of the mystic arts, your enjoyment of Metasymology will be enhanced by understanding of some of its components. What follows is a picture of the cards, numbers, and planets as they interelate with each other."

Arne Lein also wrote about the history of playing cards and Cardology with the following in the Introduction of his book: "The playing cards as we know them surfaced in France in about the fourteenth century where they were used for games. Other records suggest that they existed in various forms much earlier in China, Persia and Egypt. As to the true origin of the cards, I favor the legend put forth by Olney Richmond, who in his Mystic Test Book and Temple Lectures maintains that they are a product of an advanced culture which existed on the lost continent of Atlantis. Perhaps in our quest for artifacts to prove the existence of prehistoric civilizations equal or even superior to ours, or extra-terrestial beings, we have overlooked the possibility that in the hidden knowledge of the cards, astrology and numerology, we already have that evidence? Do we in our highly evolved technological culture have any science or system which so profoundly measures the subtle structure, quality and progress of life?"

"What's Your Card?" by Arne Lein (3rd Edition) is now available as a used physical book for sale in our IAC Online Store.

The book (3rd Edition) is also available as a digital PDF book for purchase: "What's Your Card?" by Arne Lein

Lein's introduction concluded with: "In a symbolic sense, your card is you! Your happiness and success may be greatly enhanced through the unique insight revealed to you through your card. Use this knowledge as a tool for understanding yourself and others. Let it help you to realize your highest potential." 

Published: 1978

Editions:  3rd Edition (January 1, 1982)

Publisher:  Meta-Card

Language: ‎ English

Softback: ‎ 535 pages

A read-only version of this book is available at: https://ia600301.us.archive.org/31/items/lein-whats-your-card/Lein_WhatsYourCard_text.pdf

Arne Lein (Eight of Diamonds♦) was an American author and astrologer born on July 7, 1920. He was a student of Edith L. Randall, co-author of the book, "Sacred Symbols of the Ancients." Living in Southern California, he had the opportunity to have numerous television and film personalities among his clients. In the early 1970s, Lein made some astounding predictions with the cards.

Lein wrote the first book to publicly provide the full set of 90 Spreads and some information on a variety of topics including: the Progressed Charts, the 52-Day Cycles of Periodicity used in current year delineations, and the Challenge and Result Cards, among others. This was self-published in Santa Monica, CA. Due to his death in the late 1980’s, "What's Your Card?" is out of print and will remain so for a long time due to estate conflicts, which has made the book almost unavailable, except at extremely high prices.

Thomas Morrell, founder of Mystic Quadrate System, wrote the following about Arne Lein:

"One person who was responsible for the System to continue in the later half of the 20th century, in a respectable manner, was a man by the name of Arne Lein. Originally he learned the System from Edith Randall and Florence Campbell and combined with his psychic ability and Astrological knowledge, was able to make some remarkable predictions using it. Although, I do not agree with everything Arne Lein used and taught regarding the Cards, I do feel he was one of the few who attempted to unlock the mysteries behind them in an honest and purposeful manner."

According to the introduction of "Cards of Your Destiny" book, author Robert Lee Camp wrote: 

“By chance, he was asked by Tennis Illustrated magazine to test his system of prediction. By deciding who would be the winners of the Wimbledon tennis matches for that year. As Arne began his study of all the contenders, he discovered a fascinating pattern emerging. He noticed that the cards of all the American contenders were showing very bad results for the date of the matches. Their cards showed frustration and disappointment, usually associated with losing matches. Trusting in his system, Arnie told Tennis Illustrated that none of the Americans would win those matches or even do well. This was unusual since so many of the top contenders were American. As the date of the matches drew near, a political issue came up whereby none of the Americans were allowed to compete in the matches that year. Tennis Illustrated was stunned that Arne’s prediction had come true. So much so, in fact, they asked him to write a monthly astrology column, which, as you can imagine, is unusual for a tennis magazine.”

The back cover of the book offers the following information about Arne Lein: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Even though his long record of successful forecasts have brought him recognition, Arnie Lean avoids the label of seer or profit. He prefers to think of himself as an analyst of life patterns as reflected in the occult sciences. An overwhelming curiosity about life combined with a desire to improve the accuracy of his forecasts prodded him into an extensive research of the occult sciences. Originally, he intended to use this material only as an aid in counselling and as a tool in teaching. But feeling that this information could stimulate further research, as well as serve as an instrument for understanding, he decided to gather this material together into this book. Among his remarkable forecasts, were those made for the 1973 Wimbledon Tennis Matches for Sports Illustrated, which encouraged the publishers to ask him to write their astrology column. Besides counselling, teaching and lecturing, his broad scope of occult knowledge has brought him appearances on both television and radio.

[NOTE: Arne Lein referred to Sports Illustrated magazine on the back cover of his book and Robert Camp refers to Tennis Illustrated in his.} 

The late Iain McLaren-Owens, IAC Founding Memeber and Official Historian/Archivist, wrote the following about his associate, Arne Lein: 

"I learned from some of Lein's original pupils that prior to publishing his book, he used Randall's table in his classes. He even directly refers to this table on page 495 of his book, which he forgot to edit out. Later, I discovered that there was pending litigation by Randall against Lein, her pupil, for duplicating her work. Luckily for him, this ended with Randall's death in 1978, as she had already successfirlly sued Donalie Fitzgerald in the mid-1970's and forced Fitzgerald's publishers to withdraw and destroy all remaining copies of her book, "Your Place in the Cards", at great financial loss. Due to this rather litigious situation, I sumrised that Lein had tried to change as much as possible of Randall's material in his version of the System

to remove any hint of plagiarism."

Iain McLaren-Owens added, "These previous comments may sound excessively critical, but we are dealing here with very precise information. Both Randall and Lein tended to simplify or trivialize the basics behind this System; neither of thern, it seems, had really studied or grasped the complexity of the original source material. Richmond, in his "Temple Lectures" (1892) and the "Mystic Test Book" (1893), the origins of this work, stresses not only the Astrological but also the Numerical accuracy of his teachings, even though he, too, made some incredible mathematical mistakes."