Cartes Oracle or La Voyante

Unless one purchases the same pack repeatedly over a long period, it can sometimes pass unnoticed that certain changes have taken place from one edition to the next. Such is the case with this cartomantic pack. If one counts changes to the consultant card, the leaflet, the box and the name of the pack, I know of at least four different editions (or printings) of this pack. What remains unchanged are the 32 cards that make up the suited pack: these use standard Paris pattern designs in two corners, are double-ended and have upright and reversed meanings in French. The back design, too, seems to have remained unaltered.

The consultant card, on the other hand, has changed over time: one version, with the Héron logo in all four corners, exists with and without “QUALITE FRANCE”. A later version simply reads “LA VOYANTE” without the logo and text down each side.

When the set was renamed La Voyante, the leaflet was reduced in size but with an increased number of pages (24 vs. 16 ). Two versions of the La Voyante tuck box – with and without a barcode – exist. The version without a barcode is shown here . (The version with a barcode was produced by Grimaud after they had taken over Héron in 2000).

One thing I learned while doing research for this article is that the familiar name Héron and the heron logo derive from the fact that Boéchat Frères established their workshop and offices in Bordeaux’s rue Héron in 1945.