Description
The Bohemian Fortune Telling Cards are Baba’s own unique design and based on a system that they became very familiar with during their time in Prague. This system is often known as “gypsy” cards, but they prefer not to use this term which can be seen as pejorative. They like the description Bohemian instead, and as the cards are from Central Europe, in and around historical Bohemia, this works well.
This is a distinct type of fortune telling deck which has similarities with Lenormand, Sybilla and Kipper cards, but also has its own characteristics.
This type of card was not completely standardized and so each deck would have a slightly varied collection of cards. The cards were not usually numbered, so are in no particular order. The 36 cards included in Baba’s Bohemian Fortune Telling Cards are:
Hope, Fortune, Fidelity, Sorrow, Desire, Sweetheart, Lover, Jealousy, Thief, Child, Letter, Enemy, Constancy, Soldier, Death, Judge, Money, House, Lady, Merriment, Misfortune, Falsehood, Thoughts, Journey, Illness, Unexpected Joy, Gift, Lord, Marriage, Inconstancy, Temptation, Love, Gossip, Visit, Loss and Happiness with two alternative “Falsehood” cards.