The Royal Book of Fate

The Royal Book of Fate (full title: The Royal Book of Fate; Queen Elizabeth's Oracle of Future Events, From an Illuminated Manuscript, Found in the Library of the Unfortunate Earl of Essex, Who Was Beheaded in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth: A Work of the Greatest Interest, Curious, Marvellous, and Wonderful, relating to Love, Marriage, Riches, Dream Foretold, and all Subjects of Fate, Change, and Mortal Destiny is a lot book that was published in 1829 and edited by the first Raphael, Robert Cross Smith. This book uses hexagrams instead of the fivegrams from books like Napoleon's Oraculum or quadrigrams used in traditional Geomancy.

The Manuscript

According to the story given in the Preface and summarized in the title, the manuscript the work is supposedly based on a manuscript of considerable age that passed through the hands of several notable people including the English poet Chaucer before coming into the ownership of Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex. After his execution following his failed rebellion, it's said to have been passed on to Queen Elizabeth I who had it sold along with the rest of his possessions. Because of this decision, R.C. Smith is able to buy it from a collector and publish it.

Usage

The book comes with a large fold-out containing a wheel sectioned into 64 parts for the 64 hexagrams it uses with numbered questions inside the circle, forming a square. The beginning sections instructs the user to pick a question and choose a figure at random while concentrating on it. Once a figure is chosen, a chart is consulted which reveals the page to turn to in order to find the answer. The number of the answer on the page is the same as the number of the figure chosen. A cartomantic method is also given, instructing the user to make a deck of 64 index cards bearing the hexagrams and, while thinking about the question, the user is then to pick a card from the shuffled deck at random. The rest functions the same way.