Back in my Random Reading #111 post, I noted the inclusion on the Hand in Hand card of a reference to a Rocks card that didn't actually appear in that deck. I suggested that perhaps the 12-card deck was an abridged version of a larger one.
But the title "Rocks" was a puzzle. There are Mountains in Lenormand and its off-shoots, but I wasn't aware of a deck with a Rocks card. Actually, I felt I had seen a Rocks card but I couldn't recall where and was prepared to accept that I was making it up.
Ta da!
I even "Liked" the post sometime in the past apparently, so this must have been what I was vaguely remembering.
The Rock card is numbered 21, the same as the Lenormand Mountain card, and the meanings are very similar. Its verse reads "The rock announces a false friend. Be prudent, for he is powerful." The Philippe LeNormand sheet says "The Mountains, near the Person, warn you against a mighty enemy; if distant, you may rely on powerful friends."
If the 12-card deck Rocks is in some way related to the Mountain card, only its positive aspect was applied to its relationship with the Hand in Hand card - "Hand in Hand means friendship, which will grow to love; if near rocks, staunch friendship".
Apart from the two cards shown, the "Gypsy Bijou" is in all other respects a standard Lenormand, so it's still not the "mother" deck of my little 12-carder. Maybe one day I'll spot her somewhere.
But now, here's another little mystery. In Jozefa's deck, card #8 is Broken Mirror rather than the usual Coffin. And yet, in all the images I've been able to find online (not many) where card #8 is present, it's clearly a coffin. Maybe at the time of reprinting the deck (1969) the publishers felt the image of a coffin was too "grim" for the public sensibilities of the day. If anyone knows of a pre-1969 Gypsy Bijou with a Broken Mirror card I'd love to hear about it.
The Whitman Fortune Telling Cards have a Broken Mirror as card #33. I have two different editions, both from 1940, according to the instruction leaflet, but don't know how to attach a photo to this comment!
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with Broken Mirror or Broken Glass cards in other decks. My 'Gypsy Witch' has a Broken Glass card *and* a Coffin, but then it has 52 cards so there's room for both, LOL! The 'Whitman' is only 36 cards, isn't it? It's just the discrepancy within the 'Gypsy Bijou' editions that has me curious.
DeleteI wish they would reprint the Gypsy Bijou!
DeleteI wish they'd reprint ALL the old decks! 😂
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