The Book of Destiny

I own an interesting 32-card French cartomancy deck called Le Livre du Destin (The Book of Destiny). Anyone else familiar with this deck?



The Book of Destiny features colored pen & ink drawings with playing card insets based on a 32-card Cartomancy system-- with the 2’s, 3’s, 4’s 5’s and 6’s removed from each of the four suits. There's an additional blank card included that can be used as a significator to represent the querent in the reading.

Each card features a title in French and English, and is assigned meanings for the both the upright and reversed positions. For example, the 8 is titled 'Love Letter,' and upright it can denote: 'money coming in, love letter, or a pleasant visit. Reversed it denotes: 'failure, trouble, or a law suit.'

This deck reminds me of the 52-card Parlour Sibyl, although the images lack Grandville's wonderful charm.

rif wrote:How nice! It looks nicer than my Jeu du Destin Antique, to be honest.

I can't think if I've seen 7D as gossip in a 32-card deck method.

I thought of you when I was posting about this deck because I know you've been exploring the older 32 and 36 cartomancy methods.

I know Grandville was a contemporary of Mlle. Lenormand, and I suspect that Le Livre du Destin is from the same era. It makes sense that both PS and LD were influenced by the cartomancy meanings used in France at the time-- meanings that may have been very similar to what Lenormand herself used.

Interesting! The PS is a 52 card deck, so the connection makes a lot of sense.

Oddly in his A French Method of Cartomancy, Waite gives a very positive meaning for the 7 as:

"Good news, above all if accompanied by the Ace."

I would have expected to find more similarities in a French cartomancy system. It could be because Waite's French system uses only 32 cards.

Kaph