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This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune |
The Dune Tarot was an oracular tool introduced to and sold in markets on Dune (and presumably, off-world ones as well). Like the Old Terran Tarot, there are a collection of Major Arcana cards, but these cards are specific to Arrakis, and include the "Great Worm" and "Desolate Sand." These cards are described as being sold in red and green packages and employed by many people. One of them was Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam while imprisoned in the Keep in Arrakeen.
One of the most significant consequences of the Dune Tarot was that it, to paraphrase Paul Atreides, "muddied time." Since the Dune Tarot was, apparently, effective at enhancing one's vision of the future, this meant an increase in prophets. Since oracles were "mutually blind", the tarot therefore made both Alia and Paul struggle to see the future. They both attempted to counter this by risking increasingly large doses of the spice, to clarify their prescient sight, with varying degrees of success.