The famous fortune teller Maria Lenormand died in 1843 at the age of 71. After her death, the world saw many more soothsayers and soothsayers. But it was her prophecies that were remembered by humanity better than others. This happened for two reasons: first, Lenormand “worked” with the great; secondly, many of her predictions came true.
The secrets of not only France, but also Russia were revealed to the eyes of the Frenchwoman Lenormand. There was such an episode in her biography: it was the French fortuneteller who, back in 1818, predicted the death penalty by hanging for the future Decembrists Pavel Pestel and Sergei Muravyov-Apostol. The second questioned her words: "Nobles in Russia are not hanged." “They will make an exception for you,” said the prophet. And she turned out to be right: both rioters were executed in 1826 for participating in a conspiracy against the government.
Under the gun of doubt
Lenormand is still arguing about mystical abilities. Some believe in them unconditionally. Others argue: the imaginary soothsayer had an extensive network of agents who brought her information about the lives of various people. Today it is already difficult to side with any of the disputants. You can simply tell a legend about the extraordinary abilities of the French Cassandra.
The childhood stories of Maria Lenormand also contradict each other. According to one source, her parents, a cloth merchant and his wife, sent the little girl to an orphanage at the monastery. They were frightened not only by the daughter's ability to predict the future, but also by her appearance. The mother of the future witch, being pregnant, fell. As a result, the child was born with defects: one leg of Mary was shorter than the other, and one shoulder was higher than the other.
According to another version, Lenormand's mother and father doted both in each other and in their daughter. The girl's physical disabilities did not bother them at all. Only my mother passed away early. The stepmother entered the house - the wayward girl could not get along with her. She ran away from home - to the gypsies. According to rumors, it was they who, seeing in her a kindred spirit, explained to her the basics of fortune-telling on cards.
So, Mary was sent to study at a monastery. The first stories about the miracle child came from the monastery. The abbess, like her stepmother, could not find contact with the young pupil. Most of all, the nun was annoyed by the fact that Mary read the hands of other girls. During the next scandal, the little impudent woman confidently declared to the mentor:
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- You will soon lose your post, and you will be replaced by a woman with red hair and a surname starting with the letter "L".
The monastery had already forgotten about the girl's words, but less than two months had passed when a new red-haired abbess by the name of Livardi arrived at the monastery.
The frightened nuns quickly sent the young "sorceress" home. There, of course, no one was happy about her. Maria soon found herself in another monastery. Then - another one. In short, having thoroughly pushed around the cloisters, the matured fortune teller and brawler took a place behind the counter in the family's fabric store.
Mastering the profession
She spent the years of growing up fruitfully: Mademoiselle Lenormand shoveled all the available literature on all types of predictions of the future. Now in her arsenal were fortune-telling both by water and by coffee grounds and, of course, the famous "Madame Lenormand's deck of cards." Although the fortune-teller never shared her secrets with anyone, the aforementioned cards were able to be restored "according to eyewitness accounts."
Some of today's followers of the legendary Frenchwoman still use her cards. However, the method is hardly correct. According to legend, Maria felt with her hands which cards were hot and which were cold. From these sensations, she drew her cruel conclusions.
The work in the store came in handy for the girl. Now visitors to this shop in Alencon, a suburb of Paris, could not only buy fabrics, but also pay to predict the future. Mary's prophecies were very clear, specific, and always came true.
Meanwhile, the epoch for the soothsayers of the future has come the most that neither is grain. French society was in a fever with various upheavals. The country was waiting for the revolution of 1789-1799. In unstable times, many were especially keenly interested in the future.
Maria Lenormand immediately understood where the wind was blowing. And she moved to Paris. According to legend, she won the money to buy a house in the capital in the lottery with the help of Kabbalah. The fortune-teller disguised her abode as a notary's office. And she started receiving clients. She mastered all new methods of predicting the future: soon communication with the spirits of the dead and astrology were also in her arsenal.
Soon the fame of the fortune-teller who never makes mistakes reached the highest circles. Wealthy clients flooded to Mary. As, of course, their money. There was only one problem with the soothsayer: she often and honestly said unpleasant things to people. And she was not afraid to predict death to anyone.
But even this did not diminish the popularity of the clairvoyant. Despite the fact that the outwardly uninteresting fortune-teller did not enjoy success with men and was never married, they began to respectfully call her "Madame Lenormand".
Soon the prophet was invited to Versailles. And there, brave Cassandra did not hesitate to tell the truth to Queen Marie Antoinette herself:
“In a few years, you will die on the guillotine, Your Majesty.
In October 1793, the Queen of France was guillotined.
In the same year, three revolutionary friends entered Madame Lenormand's salon: Marat, Saint-Just and Robespierre. The fortuneteller predicted a quick death to everyone: Marat, according to her, had to leave first, and the other two would be cut off a little later. And so it happened. Marat stabbed Charlotte Corday with a dagger. And Saint-Just and Robespierre were executed on charges of high treason … After that visit to Lenormand, Marat swore that when the prophetic woman uttered her terrible words, he saw blood splashing in the eyes of this witch.
The soothsayer predicted death to the great French writer Honore de Balzac shortly after marriage - the prose writer died of illness a few months after his wedding to the Polish aristocrat Evelina Hanska.
A prophecy for yourself
However, Maria made not only gloomy forecasts. Seeing in her salon the widow of General de Beauharnais - Josephine, she predicted a great love for her - such as she had not yet known.
"You will be the queen of France!" the fortuneteller literally shouted to the dumbfounded woman.
Soon Josephine became the beloved wife of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. However, to Napoleon himself, Maria predicted a good beginning and a sad end - in loneliness and oblivion, after the defeat of the army and a series of other fatal mistakes.
Hearing this about himself, the ambitious fell into a rage and expelled Lenormand from the country. She quietly emigrated, stating that this was not forever and she had yet to return. After Bonaparte was on the island of Saint Helena, Maria calmly returned to her beloved Paris and continued her practice. She repeated: "I will die three times: from water, from fire and from black gloves."
For the first time, the boat in which the fortune-teller was crossing the river capsized. A woman who does not know how to swim caught her corset on a snag, and this saved her.
Once a young neighbor came to her with a request to find the missing family ring. Maria laughed and advised the young man to stop lying. He admitted that he lost the jewel at cards. The fortuneteller helped the young man buy the ring. They became lovers. But the boy's father set fire to Lenormand's house. The saddest thing was that the thing was pulled out of the fire by a servant, and her lover was burned.
After this incident, Mary announced the almost exact date of her death - June 1843.
Lenormand, the maid, noticed that the old woman had not let go of the little black pillow lately. The fortune-teller ordered the servants not to close the doors of her dwelling, day or night - she expected death, considering it inevitable.
In the summer of 1843, a stranger wearing black gloves entered the open door of Madame Lenormand's house. He strangled the old woman with that same pillow and silently left her house.
According to contemporaries, the directness of the soothsayer played a cruel joke with her: too many were unhappy with her predictions. And some believed that Madame Lenormand does not predict misfortunes, but sends them to the heads of her clients. So sooner or later there had to be an avenger who would want to stop the flow of prophecies of the one who was called Madame Black Magic.
Maria Konyukova