Madame Lenormand, one of the most celebrated fortunetellers who has
ever lived, had a method of divining people's futures by means of cards
which we describe here.
[Illustration: No. 26.--Madame Lenormand's "Lay-Out."]
First, she decided on her client's matching card, in the way explained
elsewhere in this chapter, and placed it on the table in the position
marked 1, in the diagram.
Next, she took the four aces, twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes from
a pack, giving twenty-four cards, and allowed her client to shuffle
them, which was followed by the same person cutting them with the left
hand.
Then Madame took the cards and arranged them around the matching card
in the order shown in the diagram. The layout completed, she looked at
the various cards and gathered information from their positions.
It would be impossible for any ordinary person to derive as much
information from them as she did, but we can follow the chief lines of
her thoughts.
This is how she reasoned:
My client assumes the central position, and around her are positions
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Now what cards fill these stations? If
there is an abundance of hearts, then friends surround her; if there is
an abundance of spades, then enemies encompass her. If there are clubs
or diamonds, then just ordinary people are flocking to her side.
It will be seen that Madame gave little consideration to the clubs
or diamonds, though she naturally preferred the former, and made her
calculations largely on the positions of the hearts and spades. Broadly
speaking, the nearer the hearts pressed around the matching card, the
better were the fortunes of her client, the farther away were the
hearts, the worse were the client's fortunes.
Then, she considered an ace to have a stronger force than a two, and a
two a stronger force than a three, and the six weakest of all. Thus an
ace of hearts could more than neutralize the evil influences of a six
of spades; but an ace of spades would be more than a match for the six
of hearts.
We advise you to follow Madame Lenormand's method and see how the cards
dispose themselves in your favor.