Fortune Teller
Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand (born in 1772) was a legendry French fortune teller. She was active for more than 40 years, and gained considerable fame for her skills during the Napoleonic era.
She claimed to have been a fortune teller to many famous people of the time, among them the ill-fated leaders of the French revolution (Marat, Robespierre and St-Just).
As a fortune teller she also read the fortunes of Empress Josephine, and Czar Alexander of Russia.
The fortune teller famously predicted that Josephine would marry Napoleon, and become Empress of France. And then at a later stage she warned Josephine that Napoleon would divorce her. This was the leader's intent but it was knowledge known to no-one, not even his closest contacts. Napolean was so angry when he learned of this prediction that he ordered the fortune teller to be jailed immediately.
The fortune teller also became famous for foretelling the violent deaths of the leaders of the French Revolution
In 1814 the fortune teller started a second literary career and published many fortune telling books with unpleasant predictions about politicians and leaders. This caused much outrage and she was imprisoned several times... but never for very long as those that imprisioned her feared she would curse them.
In France she's considered the greatest cartomancer of all time, highly influential on the wave of French cartomancy that began in the late 18th century.
After her death her name was used on a newly-developed divination card deck, the so-called Lenormand cards. These are still used extensively in modern Germany, and are almost as popular as Tarot cards in some regions.
Posted on Mon 29th Nov 2010 22:31:50