The Lenormand Oracle Cards

Measurements: 2.3 x 3.93 inches, or 58 x 100 mm. Small.

Back of card: Based on card no. 13: A girl holding a doll. On the back of the card, printed in quadruplicate: right side up, upside down, reversed, inverted & reversed, etc. In a grayish green. May be inverted.

Booklet included: Yes, 32 pages, 3.55 x 2.18 inches, or 90 x 55 mm. Brief instructions in English, Italian, Spanish, French & German, by Gina di Roberto, translations by Studio RGE.

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo. Printed in Italy.

Comments: Mlle. Lenormand, 1768 - 1843, read cards for the Empress Josephine, and then, for Napoleon himself. It was her entry to high society, where she became known as la "Sybille des Salons". Her deck was initially published in 1828 & comprised 52 cards. It was redesigned & reduced to 36 cards around 1840, presumably by Mlle. Lenormand herself. This deck is a reproduction of one published in Paris, in 1890.

Unlike tarot, or even ordinary playing cards, in the Lenormand deck, there are no majors, no minors, no court cards, no pips, no suits. Lenormand boils the range of human experience down to thirty-six discreet things, places and people. Unlike tarot, there is only one image per card, though, of course, there are always nuances.

Instructions with the deck give upright & inverted meanings (keywords, really) for each card, as well as an interesting layout that comprises half the deck.

A few years ago there was a Lenormand deck from US Games, now out of print. I preferred the US Games images as they were more graphically explicit, but each their cards came with a cute little divinatory poem, which I didn't care for. This is by way of cautioning readers that what Lo Scarabeo & US Games have published may, or may not, resemble the cards that Mlle. Lenormand used with the Emperor some two centuries ago. I like to think her original cards were hand-colored woodblock prints, as this is a cheap & easy way to produce cards.

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