Oracle and Lenormand cards

In this lesson: how oracle and Lenormand decks differ from tarot, the real history of the 36-card Lenormand and how to read card pairs.

Tarot is only one way to read cards. Oracle decks and Lenormand decks sit right beside it on the shelf, and beginners often mix them up. Knowing what each kind of deck is, and where it came from, helps you choose the one that suits the way you think.

Cartomancy before the occult tarot

Reading ordinary playing cards for fortune is called cartomancy. Writers on the history of cards trace it back at least to the eighteenth century in Europe. In 1791 the Parisian card reader Jean-Baptiste Alliette, who wrote as Etteilla, published a tarot deck designed for fortune telling, one of the first decks made for that purpose rather than for games. Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis and Michael Dummett tell this story carefully in A Wicked Pack of Cards.

The Lenormand deck

Marie Anne Lenormand (1772 to 1843) was a famous Paris fortune teller who claimed clients from Napoleon’s circle. The deck that carries her name was not designed by her. Its source is a German parlour game, Das Spiel der Hoffnung (the Game of Hope), designed by Johann Kaspar Hechtel of Nuremberg and published around 1799. It had 36 cards, each with a picture and a playing card inset. After Lenormand died, publishers reissued similar 36-card decks under her famous name, and that is the Petit Lenormand most people use today.

Lenormand cards are plain and concrete: Rider, Clover, Ship, House, Tree, Clouds, Snake, Coffin and so on up to the Cross. They are read in pairs and lines. The first card is the subject and the second describes it, so Ship plus House can suggest a move, while House plus Ship might be a home with a restless person in it.

The real story of the Lenormand deck

Historical Marie-Anne Lenormand (1772 to 1843) was a famous Parisian fortune-teller who claimed to have advised Empress Joséphine and many other notable people. She read with ordinary playing cards and with her own methods, but she did not design the deck that carries her name.

The 36-card deck now called Petit Lenormand comes from a German parlor game, Das Spiel der Hoffnung (“The Game of Hope”), designed by Johann Kaspar Hechtel of Nuremberg around 1799. Each card had a picture, such as a rider, a clover or a ship, and a small playing card inset. After Lenormand’s death, publishers attached her famous name to versions of this deck from the 1840s onward to boost sales.

Historical Lenormand reading developed its own style. Cards are usually read in pairs or lines, like words in a sentence, with fairly fixed meanings: the Ship means travel, the Clover a small luck, the Coffin an ending. The large Grand Tableau spread lays out all 36 cards. Lenormand is especially popular in Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil and, increasingly, the English-speaking world.

Oracle decks and how to judge them

Modern Oracle decks are modern creations with no fixed structure. Some are beautiful works of art; others are mass-produced with generic messages. When choosing one, check who made the art and text, whether the guidebook is thoughtful, and whether any cultural imagery is used respectfully. For example, decks that use Indigenous sacred imagery without involving people from those communities have been criticized. Look for decks made by artists who belong to the cultures they depict, or decks with original imagery.

A worked Lenormand pair

Draw two cards for the question “What should I notice this week?” Suppose you draw the Letter and the Clover. Read them as a sentence: “A message brings a small piece of luck.” Over the week, you notice an email offering a free ticket to a talk. Whether coincidence or not, the reading helped you pay attention to small opportunities.

Oracle decks

Oracle decks have no fixed structure at all. Each creator chooses the number of cards, the images and the meanings, and each deck comes with its own guidebook. That makes them free and personal, and it also means you cannot transfer what you learn from one oracle deck to another the way you can with tarot or Lenormand.

The 36 Lenormand cards in order

Historical Lenormand decks keep a fixed order and set of pictures, which makes them easy to learn in small groups. Cards 1 to 9 are the Rider, the Clover, the Ship, the House, the Tree, the Clouds, the Snake, the Coffin and the Bouquet. Cards 10 to 18 are the Scythe, the Whip, the Birds, the Child, the Fox, the Bear, the Stars, the Stork and the Dog.

Cards 19 to 27 are the Tower, the Garden, the Mountain, the Crossroads (sometimes called the Paths), the Mice, the Heart, the Ring, the Book and the Letter. Cards 28 to 36 are the Gentleman, the Lady, the Lily, the Sun, the Moon, the Key, the Fish, the Anchor and the Cross.

Most of these pictures come straight from everyday life around 1800: a rider bringing news, a stork arriving in spring, mice nibbling at stores. That is part of their charm. Traditionally the Gentleman and the Lady stand for the person asking and a partner, but many modern readers simply use them for any two people, whatever their gender. A good way to learn is one group of nine per week, drawing a card each morning only from that group.

A worked line of three

Lenormand lines are read like a short sentence. Suppose someone asks, “What should I keep in mind about my new project?” and draws the Mountain, the Key and the Sun. The Mountain is an obstacle or delay. The Key is a solution or something important. The Sun is success, warmth and energy. Read left to right: “An obstacle has a solution, and success follows.” Read with the middle card as the heart of the matter: “The key is to find the solution; the obstacle comes first, the success after.”

Then she asks a practical question: what is the obstacle, and what might the key be? She realises that the delay is waiting for one colleague’s approval, and the key is to ask for it directly this week. The cards did not tell her anything she could not have worked out, but they gave her a clear order of thoughts.

Reading an oracle card without the guidebook

Oracle guidebooks are helpful, but it is worth trying a card on its own first. Look at the image for one minute. Write down three things you see, the main colours, and the feeling it gives you. Then read the guidebook and compare. Often the two agree; sometimes your own reading is more useful for your situation. Over time this habit builds trust in your own eye, which you can carry from one deck to the next.

Making a small oracle deck of your own

If no deck feels right, make one. Cut twelve cards from thick paper. On each, draw or collage a simple image that means something to you, such as a door, a cup of tea, a bird, an open book, a candle or a winding road, and write one word on the back. Draw one card a day for a month and note how you read it. Your homemade deck will be imperfect and entirely yours, which makes it an excellent teacher.

Questions beginners ask

Is Lenormand easier than tarot? Many find it easier at first because it has 36 cards with simpler meanings. Tarot offers more layers for reflection.

Can I mix oracle cards with tarot? Yes. Many readers draw one oracle card as a theme after a tarot spread.

Do I need to be given my first deck? No. That is a modern superstition; buying your own deck is fine.

Myths to drop: Mademoiselle Lenormand did not invent the Lenormand deck. Oracle decks are not ancient. And a deck’s power does not depend on its price.

A worked example

Imagine you ask about a new friendship and draw three Lenormand cards: Dog, Clouds, Sun. Read them as a line. Dog plus Clouds is a loyal friend going through an unclear or confusing time. Clouds plus Sun suggests the confusion clears. Together, the reading says: stay kind, do not take a foggy few weeks personally, things are likely to brighten. Notice how each card colours its neighbour.

Try this

Using these meanings or your own deck, lay five cards in a row and read them in overlapping pairs: one and two, two and three, three and four, four and five. Write one sentence per pair. Then write one sentence for the whole line.

Journal prompts: Which images in Lenormand or oracle cards speak to me most? How did reading two cards as a sentence feel? What makes a deck feel trustworthy to me?

A beginner’s worry, answered. “Is Lenormand less serious than tarot?” They are different tools. Tarot’s images invite deep reflection; Lenormand’s plain pictures give quick, practical sentences. Many readers keep both and choose according to the question.

A variation for busy mornings. Draw two Lenormand cards while the kettle boils and say the pair aloud as one short sentence. In the evening, see whether the sentence fitted your day. Ten seconds of practice a day teaches the card combinations remarkably quickly, and your journal will soon show which pairs you tend to read the same way.

Caring for your cards. Shuffle gently and keep the deck in a box or pouch. Worn cards are a sign of a well-loved deck.

Recap

Cartomancy with ordinary cards goes back at least to eighteenth-century Europe, and Etteilla published a fortune-telling tarot in 1791. The 36-card Lenormand comes from Hechtel’s Game of Hope of around 1799 and was named after Mlle Lenormand after her death. Lenormand is read in pairs and lines. Oracle decks have no fixed structure, so each one is its own small language.

What next

My history of tarot page shows how tarot moved from game to divination, and the tarot learning hub is the place to go if you want a 78-card system. The free Tarot for Beginners course teaches it step by step. Next lesson: scrying and tea leaves.

Further reading: Caitlín Matthews, The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook (Destiny Books, 2014). The Hechtel “Game of Hope” deck is illustrated in museum and card-history collections online.

Sources

• Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis and Michael Dummett, A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot (Duckworth, 1996).
• Michael Dummett, The Game of Tarot (Duckworth, 1980).
• J. Gordon Melton (ed.), Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology (5th edition, Gale, 2001).

Go deeper: the tarot and runes pages on this site

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