Cartomancy

Cartomancy is the divinatory art of interpreting cards drawn from a deck to shed light on a question or a situation. It developed in Europe from the 18th century onward, first with ordinary piquet decks, then with tarot and illustrated oracles. Its popularity in Paris owed much to figures such as Etteilla and Mlle Lenormand. Cartomancers read the meaning of the cards, their place in the reading and their combinations. Practiced soundly, it offers a perspective and a way of putting things into words, never certainty about the future.