INTRODUCTION

The cards you’re about to fall in love with are known as the Grand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand, or the Big Game of Mademoiselle Lenormand. You may also see it referred to as the Astro-Mythological Tarot of Marie Anne Lenormand. While this system has been overlooked by many because of its seeming complexity, I believe you’ll feel differently by the end of the book!

No memorization is required! I’ve found that the three images on the cards work beautifully as oracle cards. But, once you read about the stories associated with the main images on the cards, you’ll understand their meanings and will be able to perform more detailed and specific readings without even considering the other elements of the cards, though this book contains complete information on all of them.

The Grand Jeu Lenormand is unique among most divination card systems, in that it was never intended to be used as a game. It was designed strictly for divination and fortune-telling purposes! The fact that this system was designed solely for divination makes it one of the most reliable systems available to the diviner. Because of the myths and stories connected to the card’s central and two small images, the cards have distinct and fixed meanings, lessons, and advice that are impossible to misinterpret.

This system neatly combines images based on Roman-Grecco or Egyptian mythology, classical philosophy, and the Hermetic principles with cartomancy, constellations, Victorian flower language, alphanumeric letter symbolism primarily derived from the Kabbalistic numerical alphabet, and on some cards (twenty-two to be exact), a geomantic figure. Madame Lenormand also used talismans in her practice and you’ll find seven of them in this deck, all in the Trojan War group which is the group that speaks of our conflicts and struggles.

All of these elements are in alignment with one another and woven together to create a cohesive concept, offering various perspectives on the situation in question.

WHAT TYPES OF QUESTIONS ARE BEST SUITED TO THIS SYSTEM?

Like any card system, one who becomes fluent in its language can use it to answer any type of question. Coming from the Petit Lenormand, I began by using the Grand Jeu to answer the same types of questions that I was asking of the Petit Lenormand with excellent results.

I find it quite easy to answer simple yes/no questions using only one Grand Jeu card.

Tarot readers will love the fact that these cards work well in many of their favorite tarot spreads. And, like tarot, this system will offer layers of insight into any situation, suggest the best actions to take regarding all areas of your life, as well as uncover hidden motivations in others and discover potential outcomes of your decisions.

For those of you who read playing cards, cartomancy is built right into this system. Each card contains a playing card and all the other elements of each card are in sync with it. So, you can start with the playing card meaning that you’re already familiar with, and by then, adding the main image and any other elements you want to look at, you’ll get a more complete answer as it asks you to consider other perspectives and brings to mind other aspects of the situation complete with advice!

In the final chapter of this book, you’ll find several spreads. These are among the most popular spreads with Grand Jeu readers and the ones that I have the most experience using. I’ve included reading examples and links to videos using the spreads.

So, now that I’ve piqued your interest, let’s get started!

MARIE ANNE LENORMAND: A BIT OF HISTORY

According to the research by Mary Greer, the Grand Jeu Lenormand was first published in Paris in 1845, shortly after Mlle Lenormand’s death in 1843. It’s been published by B-P Grimaud since 1860. In 1846, a year after the Grand Jeu was published, the Game of Hope, or Das Spiel De Hoffnung, was rebranded as a divinatory system under the name, Le Petit Lenormand. While the Petit Lenormand was simply named after her post-mortem for marketing purposes, all accounts suggest that the GJL is indeed, based on the divination system she used. Whether or not she actually designed these cards may never be known with any certainty.

Mlle Lenormand, 1772 to 1843, studied Egyptian and Greek mythology, astrology, the Hermetic principles or alchemy, and the Kabbalah.

The Grand Jeu was created in France for the playing card company, Grimaud, by Madame Breteau who claimed to be a student of Madame Lenormand. Writings based on first-hand accounts of those who received readings from Ms. Lenormand confirm that her methods are portrayed in the images on the Grand Jeu cards.

Madame Lenormand wrote dozens of books in her lifetime, but none were intended to share her divinatory methods or instruct.

Unfortunately, upon her death, her only surviving family member was a nephew who was in the army and he alone became heir to her estate. Being a devout Catholic, he burned all occult paraphernalia that was found among her belongings but kept the monetary fortune that was estimated at 500,000 francs, a nice chunk of change in 1843! For this reason, she left no cards or other divination tools behind as evidence of her practice.

The following is an excerpt from The First Republic by Alexandre Dumas (pronounced Doo-mah), published in 1867, written only nineteen years after Lenormand’s death when some of her prior clients were still alive. Dumas claimed that this account was not fiction! We have Mary Greer to thank for uncovering this amazing account of Mlle Lenormand’s practice!

I can guarantee the truth of this scene, for these details were given me by the friend and pupil of Mademoiselle Lenormand, Madame Moreau, who still lives (that was in 1867) in the same rooms as the famous seeress, where she devotes herself to the same art with immense success. (Many of you are familiar with Madame Moreau. I made a YT video of the Moreau spread for the Petit Lenormand!)
It seems that one evening Josephine Beauharnais (Bo-ah-nay) and her friend Therese Tallien (tal-yen) decided to see the fashionable seeress, Mademoiselle Lenormand. They disguised themselves as waiting-maids or ‘grisettes,’ and used false names.

Mademoiselle Lenormand at this period of her life was a woman somewhere between twenty-four and twenty-nine years of age; short and stout in figure, and concealing with difficulty that one shoulder was larger than the other. She wore a turban adorned with a bird of Paradise, a fashion of the day. Her hair fell in long curls on either side of her cheeks. She wore two skirts. . . . Near her, on a stool, was her favorite greyhound, Aza. (I’m thinking it was a miniature greyhound if it was on a stool). The table on which she did her marvels was a plain round table with a green cloth on top and drawers, in which she kept her cards. . . . Facing the sibyl was an arm-chair, in which the consulting person was seated. Between that person and the seeress lay an iron wand, which was called the divining-rod; at the end turned toward the consulting person was a little iron snake. The opposite end was made like the handle of a whip or cane. . . .

Mademoiselle Lenormand made a sign to Josephine to take the chair which Madame Tallien had just left; then she drew a fresh pack of cards from her drawer, possibly to prevent the destiny given by the last pack from influencing that of the present. Then she looked fixedly at Madame de Beauharnais (bo-ah-nay).

‘You and your friend have tried to deceive me, madame,’ she said, ‘by wearing the clothes of servants. But I am a waking somnambulist. (A somnambulist is a sleepwalker, but remember that Marie was heavily into mythology, especially Greek, and in Roman mythology, Somnus was the god of sleep; the Greeks called him Hypnos, so she’s saying that she is in a hypnotic state)

I saw you start from a house in the center of Paris; I saw your hesitation about crossing my threshold; and I also saw you in the antechamber when your proper place was the salon (so they were snooping around), and I went there to bring you in. Don’t try to deceive me now; answer my questions frankly; if you want the truth, tell the truth.’

Madame de Beauharnais (Bo-ah-nay) bowed.

‘Question me, and I will answer truly,’ she said.

‘What animal do you like best?’

‘A dog.’

‘What flower do you prefer?’

‘The rose.’

‘What perfume is most agreeable to you?’

‘That of the violet.’

The seeress placed a pack of cards before Madame de Beauharnais (Bo-ah-nay) which was nearly double the size of an ordinary pack. These cards had been lately invented, and were called ‘the grand oracle.’

‘Let us first find where you are placed,’ said the seeress. (so, she’s searching through the deck for the significator card)

Turning over the cards, she moved them about with her middle finger until she found the consultant; that is to say, the image of a dark woman, with a white gown and deep embroidered flounce, and an overdress of red velvet forming...