Curse of Strahd 04: Cartomancy

Not long after playing cards appeared in Europe, around the 1400’s and 1500’s, they began to be used for fortune telling and divination. The tarot deck of playing cards especially became widely used for this purpose.

There were theories that the practice originated in ancient Egypt and the mysteries of Isis. The French priest Antoine Court de Gébelin even asserted that the name Tarot came from the Egyptian words "Tar" (road) and "Ro" (king), and translated to ”The Royal Road of Life”.

Other authors took this further and connected the use of the Tarot with the Romani people and asserted that, not only was the Tarot of Egyptian origin, so were the Romani people. 

The mistaken belief that Romani are in fact Egyptians is the etymology of the word “Gypsy”. That word, as well as connecting the Romani with the Tarot in popular culture, is something still very much alive today.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons
Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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The future is in the cards.