Madame Lenormand Fortune Telling Cards

Made by Müller, Switzerland. The Lenormand cards in general have always been popular with card readers. They read in a very practical every day way. There's no metaphysical or psychological layer. Some readers say they like the Lenormand to read about action and the Tarot about feelings. The meanings for the cards may differ from country to country, so a Lenormand reader might say he/she reads, French, Belgian, German, Dutch, South American or free-style.

Above: Madame Lenormand Fortune Telling Cards made by J. Müller.  See also:  Mlle Lenormand Fortune Telling cards manufactured by Vereinigte Stralsunder Spielkartenfabriken • Dondorf Lenormand►

Above: Mlle Lenormand fortune telling card deck with instruction booklet distributed by U.S. Games Systems Inc, made by Müller & Cie, 1970. Photo courtesy Sean Comstock.

King of DiM, 1970amonds: “The Great Hanged One”. Said to be the unluckiest card in the pack. Mme Lenormand drew it three times running when telling the fortune of Joachim Murat, King of Naples. He was horrified, but inexorable fate led to his execution in 1815.

Mary Greer has shown that the earliest forerunner of the Lenormand cards is a 1796 book in English. See: Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog→

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.