An Old Friend
This is the Mystical Lenormand Oracle Deck. The images were painted by Urban Trosch using the egg tempera technique. The interpretations in the Little White Book are by Regula Elizabeth Fiechter. I googled both their names, and came up empty as far as biographies. Maybe someone reading this can supply some information about them.
The interesting thing about this deck is that it is said to be the deck used by the Sybil of Paris, Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand. She was a fortune teller who was very famous during the 19th century and read cards for many of Europe’s most influential people, most notably Napoleon and Josephine. Allegedly there was a scandal when Josephine (or maybe it was Napoleon) didn’t like one of her predictions and had her imprisoned for a while. There was also something about an affair. She apparently had quite a few adventures in her lifetime.
I bought this little deck over a year ago, and after becoming acquainted with it, I put it away and haven’t done much with it since. I bought a cute little bag for it from jozefaCreations a while ago. I’ve had a reading for myself done with it by the excellent Madame Seaqueen, which taught me a lot about understanding and interpreting the cards in this deck. But only now have I felt compelled to begin a study of it to read for others besides myself.
I love all my Tarot and Oracle decks. I feel an odd reluctance to put them all away for the time I plan on spending studying the Mystical Lenormand. (Some of us card readers can be very odd about our relationships with our decks. It’s almost as if they are family – like children, and we don’t want any of them to feel ‘left out’ or get jealous. It’s silly, I know, but there you are). But the structure of this deck is unlike the standard structure of most Tarot decks, and I feel I need to devote some time exclusively to the Lenormand to understand it completely without distractions.
However, I am unwilling to give up using my other decks completely. So I’ll continue to pull a daily card in the morning with decks other than the Lenormand, and continue writing in my journal, and here on this site, about them. But I’m thinking of starting a second journal for the Lenormand study and share bits of that here on as well.
I guess I ‘want it all’. Well, who doesn’t?
The Priestess of Delphi
As a practitioner of divination, it was only natural that I would be drawn to a book called The Oracle. This is a fascinating book by William J. Broad about the ancient Priestesses of Apollo, and their strong influence on Greek culture and government. This is followed by another history of modern-day men who fell under the charms of the ancient prophetesses and went in search for answers to how and why they were able to prophesy and advise. The answer may seem simplistic, but certainly does not discount the mystical aspect of the Oracle and her role in the formation of Western culture.
Written in an informative and lyrical prose, this book is inspiring and leaves you with a sense of wonder about the workings of nature as well as the human mind and spirit.
