"A Jocular Tale" (Or Maybe Not!) With The Game of Hope/"Primal Lenormand" Cards

Saturday 11 October 2025

So! Here we are again with yesterday’s “Primal Lenormand” (aka the Game of Hope/Das Spiel der Hoffnung) cards in a Grand Tableau. And the idea was to follow the original instructions for the fortune telling part of that parlour game, so before the Game of Hope got renamed as “Lenormand” in the mid-19th century, on “spinning a jocular tale” around the Gentleman and Lady cards. If you missed that, you can find out more about the origins of the deck in yesterday’s post here:

The Lenormand Grand Tableau & Game Of Hope: A Reminder Of Its Storytelling History

And in the Introduction to Lenormand Cards here:

So what were those “Game of Hope” instructions?

Well, there were no card meaning lists. No card combination lookups. No “method of distance” aka near and far card meanings. Not back when these were created in 1799 anyway. You were simply asked to “spin a jocular tale” based on the cards around a significator, whether the Lady or the Gentleman.

And for a reader, trying to read more instinctively is great practice. A good way of loosening up your “storytelling” and intuitive reading skills, which, after all, is what most “divination” is all about.

So! In yesterday’s post, I asked you to take a look for yourself and decide what story YOU would tell for the Gentleman and Lady figures in the below Grand Tableau based on the cards surrounding them. Think of it more like a story from a picture book and use the images as a guide rather than strictly about official Lenormand card meanings for now.

• Do not look up the card meanings

• Do not try to look up card combinations

• Do not think about “rules” or “method of distance” or houses, mirroring, knighting, any of that stuff.

Just use the images and your instincts.

A Grand Tableau using the Primal Lenormand deck (aka a copy of the original Das Spiel der Hoffnung Cards)

So let’s have a look. Here’s my take on it…