Contact Cards: An Extraterrestrial Divination System, by Kim Carlsberg and Darryl Anka (Bear & Co.), authors also of Beyond My Wildest Dreams: Diary of a UFO Abductee, is anthropomorphic, yet fun.

A smaller-sized deck than most, the Contact Cards contain five suits--Aliens, Ships, Stars, Planets, Crop Circles--with 12 elements apiece, each described in sometimes humorous vein, followed by its personal human application.

Carlsberg claims numerous contacts with extraterrestrials in the form of "abductions," whereas Anka experienced two close-range UFO sightings in 1973. He has been channelling "Bashar," an extraterrestrial consciousness, for years, and has been adept at tarot and giving readings in the art since 1972.

Although my perceptions of the Pleiadians and others differ from theirs, I still found the cards give excellent readings.

The Metu Neter cards and book (Auser Auset Society, Brooklyn), though requested for review, were not sent. This is unfortunate as they depict a particular Khametic/African-American point of view. Sorry. Perhaps another time.

The reason racial and cultural distinctions are being made in this column is that many people write as though they are giving a global perspective, when in reality they are giving the perspective of their culture, and when the person is "white," which has been "mainstream" for a while now, it is presumptuous to make a covert assumption that because the writer and his/her cohorts hold a particular point of view, that it is a global one, even among other people of similar coloration or culture.

And, by the way, no racial/cultural grouping is immune to this. It is part of the veiled racial issues in this country and on the planet.