France: Cartomancie Grimaud.

This is a scarce collector’s deck. Also known as the Astro Mythological Lenormand, its 54 large (127mm x 90 mm) cards bear attractive nineteenth-century illustrations (whose images derive from Greek myth, alchemy, flowers and astrology) representing various situations, persons, and states of mind.

The deck has a complex and intriguing structure, consisting of a male and a female card to represent the querent, and the remaining 52 which are divided into five sets. The Conquest of the Golden Fleece (6 cards), represents Business; The Trojan War (9 cards) represents the Right of the Strong over the Weak. 7 cards make up the Hermetic Knowledge group which stands for Marriage, whilst the largest, The Unexplained, is comprised of 19 cards. Lastly, 12 cards, the Signs of the Zodiac, represent the sequence of time.

Each of the 52 cards bears an image of its playing card counterpart at the top left, a zodiacal constellation at top, and, in some cases, a letter from the ‘Alchemical alphabet’ with a corresponding symbol from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

A legendary French fortune-teller of the Napoleonic period, Marie-Ann Lenormand had a great reputation as a cartomaner; her clients included Marat, Robsepierre and Tsar Alexander I. Of all the decks that bear the Lenormand name, this is the most complicated; it’s arguably the most complex and detailed oracle on the market.

54 cards with instruction booklet (French, English), boxed.