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Zener cards are available from the Rhine Research Centre. Not sure if they are the same as the 'original ones', but pretty authentic anyway.

I've always used the Royal cards and never had any issues. Never used them in a magic-y context though.

I've never had any luck in obtaining either the cards or any kind of response from the Rhine Research Center

Ted wrote:I've never had any luck in obtaining either the cards or any kind of response from the Rhine Research Center

Me neither.

I'd love to get hold of one of the boxes even, just to put my other cards in.

I am waiting for a reply from the Rhine Research Centre as well. However if in the meantime one of our more 'mature' members can remember the exact colour of each of the 5 different symbols perhaps they could let me know.

On Amira's website he has a template you can download and print of the ESP card box. http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/3995/espcaja.jpg I'm not sure how the finished item would look or the copyright issues.

Some people may be wondering why I seem to be so obsessive about the colours of the symbols, As I understand it when Dr Rhines' assistant Zener designed the cards he tried to think of every way a thought could be transmitted, if it were possible at all. He cleverly came up with the five shapes with which we are now so familiar. He decided on a circle, which is composed of one line and a cross,two lines, three wavy lines, replaced a triangle, because the star (number 5) is composed of,five triangles on a pentagon. Four lines for a square and five lines for a pentacle star. Thus a thought could theoretically be sent as a shape or a number. He also gave each shape a different colour. (viz. Red, yellow and blue,the primary colours, plus green and black, as I remember). Unfortunately I can't remember which shape was what colour and that is my problem. So if any 'mature' members can remember buying Rhyne cards in the 50's or 60's please let me know.

I thought the original Zener cards featured all black symbols (I may be wrong) the first time I was aware of multi coloured symbols was when Piatnik released their ESP deck.

I seem to remember reading that the original cards were in fact not cards, but pieces of paper & so thin that the design could be viewed easily. I also seem to remember reading that Rhine was so delusional that he believed some people deliberately got low scores because they did not like him.

Thanks for the reply, Pickman, I could be wrong as well but do hope you are. The idea of making things easier by transmitting a colour is apealling.

I have a set of the original Duke University cards bought in the Sixties. The symbols are all black. I've done lots of reading on the history of ESP research and I've never seen a reference to coloured symbols.

BTW, the symbols were deliberately designed to have no emotional significance.

Barry

The Rhine cards are very similar to the Royal ones, except the borders are dark blue, instead of white, and you get a really nice, official looking box. Which is, of course, because they are official cards! You also get a card or two with instructions for testing for ESP, as I recall. You can put me on the list as another person who's never heard of the cards coming in different colours. My set has 25 symbols all in black ink, but these are relatively modern.

I can, however, confirm stories of the researchers claiming people deliberately made mistakes. Someone I know was tested as a young woman and had initially high scores, which (unsurprisingly) tailed off over time. They thought she had started giving wrong answers to conceal her abilities!

Barry,
I feel a bit crushed, I really liked the idea of another dimension in thought projection. I think I obtained my first rhine cards in the late 50s or 60's. (You know they say if you can remember the 60s you weren't there!) I got them from Davenports so maybe they were Piatnik cards.
Apologies for doubting you Pickman. I still have received no reply from the Rhine Institute.
David

Do you know of anywhere that sells boxes that hold just 25 cards?

I have found a DIY method to make ESP cards at www.eclipse-magic.de. It costs $15.00. It is called 'ESP Signs Design' by Jens O Jahn.
There is no point in my going into a long description here as it is fully covered on the site or at lybrary.com, at the same price.

ACE T wrote:Do you know of anywhere that sells boxes that hold just 25 cards?

Bernd does them. He's removed them from his site but if you email him he'll sort you out. You can find his email address on his site.

They are uncut and unglued so he's charging only postage!

I've attached an image that Bernd sent me.

Cheers,
T.