divining money from the gullible
Thank you for phrasing it this way. Superstitious nonsense is all fun and games until someone loses a buck.
Tarot / psychics / etc. being used for personal and financial gain by preying on the vulnerable is far too common and needs to be called out for what it is. People who peddle this hokum for personal and financial gain are no better than TV preachers.
so, I’m not entirely sure you quite got it. Before our modern deck of cards, which we play games like shanghai rummy or spades or texas holdem, etc, it was the tarot deck. the scammers that ran around as fortune tellers used the generic standard playing card deck of the time to do it.
It’d be like me doing some slight of hand with the deck and telling fortunes or something. “an here we have the Ace of Spades, a clear indication of strength and nobilty. You have a challenge ahead of you; but you will face it with dignity. And with with … oh dear… the suicide king, that is a powerful omen of self-sabotage. but I have a charm against ill omens for thirty internet points!”
