A Cartomancy Sequence Representing Graduate Studies

Published

October 10, 2025

You’ve managed to find an Easter Egg!

Cartomancy
fortune-telling by means of playing cards

The last major wave of the Europe’s bubonic plague pandemic hit London in 1665. Cambridge University shut down as a precautiouary measure, and one of its students, Isaac Newton, retreated to his mother’s countryside home in Woolsthorpe. It was during this time that he developed the mathematical theories that later became calculus, and he developed his theories on optics and gravitation. In the same year, Robert Hooke published Micrographia, establishing the new science of microscopy and coining the word “cell.” It was a year that is well deserving of the title annus mirabilis. Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica tore down curtains of superstition about the way the world works, and Robert Hooke’s Micrographia established techniques that we now follow for making observations to draw physical conclusions about the way materials behave. Coincidentally, this is also the year in which John Lenhall published the first deck of cards designed specifically for cartomancy.

The decision to pursue graduate studies should not be taken lightly. The initial excitement of the opportunity will inevitably give way to strains as you challenge yourself, confronting multiple stressors simultaneously. Expanding your horizons changes your mind irreversibly. When you complete your graduate journey, you will find yourself transformed. You will not only gain deep knowledge about a specific topic, but you should develop skills in communicating, thinking critically, paying attention to detail, managing your time and efforts, understanding the roles of power and incentive structures in people’s motivations, ethical behaviors and responsibilities, how technical progress can be accelerated toward a societal need, and much more. I take my role as a mentor and advisor in this journey very seriously, and I treat our research meetings as a weekly seminar covering topics in which you should be informed in your journey to become a scientist. I call this “the process” in homage to Sam Hinkie. Scientific training is a process. You have to Trust the Process. I meet with researchers in the Critical Alloy Research & Discovery (CARD) lab twice most weeks. The university calendar has 15 weeks for each of 3 semesters in which students in the CARD lab enroll in research credits, leaving a remainder of 7. We also meet in most of these seven weeks that fall outside of the course enrollment periods. The process can’t easily conform to the university academic calendar. There are 52 weeks in a year and 52 cards in a standard deck. 13 cards for each of four seasons.

I came up with the acronym “CARD” for our lab before I tried to find a connection to cards the physical objects. I brainstormed many much more complicated acronyms first before settling on CARD. For years before returning to academia, I described my research areas as threefold: (1) metals processing science; (2) alloy discovery and design; and (3) microstructure metrology. The first two cannot be done without the third. As I returned to academia, I wanted to concentrate my research focus on materials that were critical for economic and energy security, explicitly acknowledging the role that supply chain complexity and economic relationships play in determining what is critical, for whom, when, and where. As materials engineers, our role in the ecosystem mostly addresses how and why through incremental progress in design. As materials scientists, our objective is to understand the physics that can be used to unlock disruptive changes in criticality.

My observation is that the greater context of why we are motivated to perform research, why societies financially support research, and the broader impacts of making the graduate education journey are often neglected in graduate studies in favor of strict focus on deep technical aspects. Understanding the social powers that guide research directions and developing technical depth are not mutually exclusive. The division between social science and physical science is a false choice. The Process in the CARD lab encourages students to gain breadth in both while they develop depth in the physics of materials and microstructure metrology.

I like the contrast between the mystical superstition represented by cartomancy and the Newtonian rationality of the process. It serves as a reminder of where humanity has come from intellectually, and where enlightenment has taken us. To represent The Process of transformation through graduate studies in the CARD lab, I have carefully chosen some card sequences from cartomancy.1

A graduate studies divination2

Top Row — Surface/Conscious

  • 3♦ (Small opportunity, beginnings in material/financial realm) You are aware of a budding opportunity or initial gain. Maybe a new project or idea with practical value is on your radar.
  • 8♠ (Conflict, stress, release, transformation) There’s conscious awareness of pressure, possibly mental or emotional strain. It suggests frustration, but also the chance to clear old blockages.
  • K♣ (Leadership, mastery, intellectual authority) Presently, there’s a drive toward control or leadership in the mental/creative domain. You seek to direct or harness knowledge powerfully.

Middle Row — Current energy/process

  • J♦ (Messenger, curiosity, learning phase) This shows active intellectual curiosity or communication underway. You’re gathering information or delivering a message.
  • A♠ (Major insight, breakthrough, truth, transformation) At the heart of the matter is a significant mental or spiritual breakthrough. This card often indicates a radical revelation or truth that changes the path.
  • Q♠ (Wisdom, complexity, possibly a challenging feminine figure or insight) This queen can represent mature intellect, deep intuition, or a situation requiring careful judgment. There might be a need for strategic thinking or emotional control.

Bottom Row — Subconscious/foundation/future

  • 2♣ (Partnership, dialogue, collaboration) The foundation suggests cooperation or choice — mental or social alliances forming beneath the surface.
  • 7♠ (Deception, challenges, illusions, or strategic defense) Deep down or in the future, you may face hidden challenges or the need to carefully guard yourself against deception or confusion.
  • 9♦ (Reward, self-sufficiency, fulfillment in material/intellectual realm) Ultimately, there is a promise of attainment — success or satisfaction gained through effort, possibly intellectual or practical.

Patterns & narrative arcs

  • Central column (8♠, A♠, 7♠): A powerful column of spades highlights a major transformative mental process—from current tension/stress (8♠), through a profound insight (A♠), to hidden challenges or lessons (7♠).
  • Left column (3♦, J♦, 2♣): A thread of communication and opportunity flowing from early gains (3♦), active learning (J♦), to partnership (2♣).
  • Right column (K♣, Q♠, 9♦): Leadership and mastery (K♣) evolving with wisdom and complexity (Q♠) leading to ultimate fulfillment or reward (9♦).
  • The center (A♠) is the pivot — the transformative insight that influences everything around it.

Overall interpretation

Starting from a small opportunity (3♦), you face tension and stress (8♠) in your conscious mind while aiming for intellectual leadership (K♣). In the middle of this process, you’re actively learning and communicating (J♦), but everything centers on a life-changing revelation or truth (A♠). Mature wisdom and strategy (Q♠) guide you through this phase. Deep down, partnerships (2♣) support you, yet you must be vigilant against deception or hidden challenges (7♠). Ultimately, your efforts will lead to a well-earned success or fulfillment (9♦).

Position Meaning Summary
Conscious New opportunity + tension + leadership drive
Current Energy Active learning + transformative insight + wisdom
Foundation/Future Collaboration + hidden challenges + fulfillment

This is a powerful mental and emotional journey — emphasizing: * Intellectual growth, * A breakthrough that shifts your perspective, * The importance of wise leadership, * The value of partnerships, * Vigilance toward hidden challenges, * And the promise of deep fulfillment.

Ace of Spades

In cartomancy, the Ace of Spades is traditionally the most powerful and transformative card in the deck. While it can symbolize endings or challenges, in its elevated form it represents

“The awakening of the mind — a moment of sharp clarity that cuts away confusion and reveals truth.”

In the context of the 9-card grid: * It sat at the center of the spread — the pivot around which all other energies orbit. * It signifies a threshold moment: where old knowledge or patterns are shattered to make way for a higher order of thinking. * It connects equally to the rational intellect (♠) and to spiritual transformation.

Also, it’s a really fun song by the proto-metal band Motörhead. While in my first faculty position, I played in a band that covered this song live. The band Motörhead serves as a good example of one of my yet-unproven theories about English speakers: They are fascinated by diacritics. I have made many observations of English speakers seeking out opportunities to add diacritics, but their misunderstanding of their use results in them being placed where they are not needed. I call this “umlaut envy.”3

As a bass player who loves good tube amp tone, I’ll end this page by noting that Lemmy Kilmister (of Motörhead) played a Rickenbacker 4001 bass through a Marshall JMP Super Bass 100W tube amplifier. One day, I would like to play through this set up.

Footnotes

  1. I used ChatGPT to learn about how fortune telling with playing cards is done, and what the meanings of cards and card sequences is. I regret to inform you at this stage of reading that there is a non-zero possibility that these meanings are an AI hallucination, and that the ancient secrets of divination were not divulged to the engineers at OpenAI responsible for trawling and ingesting all the content available on the internet.↩︎

  2. This interpretation is directly from ChatGPT↩︎

  3. Wouldn’t it be better if it was ümlaut? Seems like a missed opportunity.↩︎