I have just completed a 36 card oracle / tarot card deck (Winged Messenger tarot card set) based on the “Lenormand” cartomancy system which is simpler than conventional tarot. It has been an interesting and informative journey, involving a lot of hard, albeit enjoyable, work. A little brief history of the Lenormand system…
Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand (1772 – 1843) was a French professional fortune-teller of considerable fame during the Napoleonic era. In France, Lenormand is considered the greatest cartomancer of all time, highly influential during the wave of French cartomancy of the late 18th century.
Lenormand claimed to have given advice using cartomancy, to many people, among them leaders of the French Revolution, Empress Josephine and Tsar Alexander I. She was active for more than 40 years.
Lenormand died in Paris on 25 June 1843 and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. She is said to have left behind a fortune of 500,000 Francs. Apparently she had no heirs other than a nephew who, at the time of her death, was in the army. A devout Catholic, he is understood to have burned all of her occult paraphernalia, taking only the money that she left behind. Apparently the fortune was acceptable even if the way it was made was not…..
After Lenormand’s death her name was used on several cartomancy decks. This included a deck of 36 illustrated cards known as the “Petit Lenormand”, or simply “Lenormand cards”, still used extensively today.
The 36-card Petit Lenormand tarot deck is modelled on a deck of cards published circa 1799 called Das Spiel der Hoffnung (The Game of Hope), a game of chance designed by Johann Kaspar Hechtel of Nuremberg.
The oldest known copy of the Game of Hope is owned by the British Museum in London (although it is not on display) You can view an image of the cards from that game on the British Museum website.
https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=01172643001&itemw=4&itemf=0002&itemstep=281&itemx=298My deck looks very different… although the original prompts are still there, but it’s all bird-centric of course – here’s a peek at three of the cards in my new deck: “Winged Messenger Cartomancy”:
