A sacerdotisa, o mundo e a roda da fortuna: uma análise sobre mulheres e cartomancia no Rio de Janeiro (1860-1890)

Abstract

This thesis's main purpose was to analyze the possible connections between cartomancy and women’s daily maintenance in Rio de Janeiro considering the decades of 1860 until 1890, examining also the relationships with topics such as immigration. We pursue, moreover, investigate the cartomancer’s links with other people who were practicing magic-religious and/or spiritualist activities in the Court, demonstrating that the interest in the supernatural during the XIX Century was flourishing. In addition, this research allowed us to ponder on those women's work tools, the pack of cards, as visual products of an esoteric culture that was influenced by diverse philosophic, religious and magical lines of thought. The research was developed using, mainly, journals which were being published in Rio during the timeline established, but also explored tarot cards produced in different contexts and the tale A cartomante, written by Machado de Assis.