Lenormand was born on 27 May 1772 in Alençon, Normandy, to Jean Louis Antoine Lenormand, a draper, and Marie Anne Lenormand. Lenormand was orphaned at the age of five and educated in a convent school. Lenormand left Alençon for Paris in 1786.
Career
Lenormand claimed to have given cartomantic advice to many famous persons, among them leaders of the French revolution, Empress Josephine and Tsar Alexander I. She was active for more than 40 years. In 1814 Lenormand started a second literary career and published many texts, causing many public controversies. She was imprisoned more than once, though never for very long.
Death
Lenormand died in Paris on 25 June 1843 and is buried in Division 3 of Père Lachaise Cemetery. She left behind a fortune of 500,000 Francs, and left no heirs other than a nephew who, at the time of her death, was in the army. A devout Catholic, her nephew burned all of Mme. Lenormand's occult paraphernalia; taking only the monetary fortune that she left behind.
Works
Les souvenirs prophétiques d'une sibylle sur les causes secrétes de son arrestation - Paris
Anniversaire de la mort de l'impératrice Josephine
La sibylle au tombeau de Louis XVI
Les oracles sibyllins ou la suite des souvenirs prophétiques - Paris
La sibylle au congrès d'Aix-la-Chapelle
Mémoires historiques et secrets de l'impératrice Joséphine, Marie-Rose Tascher-de-la-Pagerie, première épouse de Napoléon Bonaparte - Paris
Mémoire justificatif présenté par Mlle Le Normand
Cri de l'honneur
Souvenirs de la Belgique - Cent jours d'infortunes où le procès mémorable
L'ange protecteur de la France au tombeau de Louis XVIII
L'ombre immortelle de Catherine II au tombeau d'Alexandre Ier
Arrêt suprême des dieux de l'Olympe en faveur de Mme. la duchesse de Berry et de son fils
Possibly author of
Histoire de Jean VI. de Portugal, depuis sa naissance jusqu'à sa mort en 1826. - Paris : Ponthieu, 1827
Lenormand cards
After Lenormand's death her name was used on several cartomancy decks including a deck of 36 illustrated cards known as the Petit Lenormand or simply Lenormand cards still used extensively today. The 36 card Lenormand deck is modelled on a deck of cards published ca.1799 as part of Das Spiel der Hoffnung, a game of chance designed by Johann Kaspar Hechtel of Nuremberg.
Lenormand appears as a character in the video game Assassin's Creed Unity. Lenormand's reincarnated soul is a character in the novelWaiting for Gertrude: A Graveyard Gothic by Bill Richardson.
