What's The "Gypsy Witch" Fortune Telling Deck & Is It A Type Of Lenormand?
This turn-of-the-century US deck is derived from European Lenormand cards, with interesting additions. Here, I compare the two.
The “Gypsy Witch” fortune telling deck, first printed in the USA in 1903, mentions Mlle Lenormand by name, uses many of the same symbols AND utilises the “Near and Far” Method (or “Method of Distance”) that many Lenormand readers will be familiar with from the original “Philippe Lenormand” instructions.
So in that sense, yes, it is a type of Lenormand, but it’s more just derived from it. As it turns out, there were numerous Lenormand-like decks being published in the US, particularly in the late 19th and early part of the 20th century. See researcher Mary J Greer’s info on this here.
What’s interesting about this deck, though, is it has MUCH expanded symbolism, and numbers and orders the cards very differently. Many of the symbols are similar to those in use in more Central European areas (eg Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia) and, according to Greer, early printings appear to have come with Polish translations. Hmm!
What Are The Immediate Similarities & Differences Between Gypsy Witch and Lenormand Cards?
Similarities
Images & Symbols: Most of the Lenormand’s 36 card images appear in the deck in one form or another.
Male & Female Significators: Just as in Lenormand you have one male and one female significator. They are given different numberings though (18 and 19).
Near & Far/Method of Distance Meanings: Just like traditional Lenormand, there are separate meanings for when a card is “near” the Querent and when it is “far”. Most of the meanings given are similar to those in Lenormand.
Read on to find out the main differences, find out what’s in a Gypsy Witch card, and get a list of all the cards themselves and their meanings!