The prophet is criticized as ugly as a toad, likes to predict death, correctly guesses his own departure

Prophet with strange appearance

On May 27, 1772, in the city of Alencon, in the Normandy region, France, a strange baby girl was born. As soon as the baby girl was brought out from the mother’s womb, the midwife screamed in surprise and panic when she saw that the baby had long black hair and several teeth. News of this unusual newborn was quickly spread, but the child’s father still did not abandon his child, giving her the name Marie Anne Lenormand. No one would have thought that later on, this would be one of the houses prophesy and France’s most influential fortune-teller.

Marie was loved by her family, but the gossip and objections from the public were so heavy that the family had to send her to a Catholic monastery. By the age of seven, Marie had begun to show her natural prophetic abilities. She told those around her that soon, the head of the monastery would give up his post. Everyone thought Marie was joking, but a month later, the woman who was the head of the convent actually left and got married.

As she grew older, Marie became more and more anomalous with bulging eyes, lopsided shoulders, and bow legs. She always thought that no one would want to marry her and was more determined to follow the path of divination and prophecy.

At the age of 14, Marie set out for Paris. Here, Marie began honing her fortune-telling skills, even learning more math, astronomy, horoscopes, bible, mantras. Soon Marie became an expert in the field of divination and quickly became famous.

At the age of 17, Marie opened a “divine room” and began to practice divination professionally through cards, astrology or objects… But at that time, divination was illegal. the law in France, so Marie went through many times in prison. Even so, Marie’s fame still spread, many famous people and powerful people also visited her.

Marie was deeply impressed not only by her talent for divination but also by her strange appearance. Captain RH Gronow once described in his book “Celebrities of London and Paris” that: “She looked like a monstrous toad, swollen and venomous. She wore a fur hat on top. head, staring at her amazed guests The walls of the room were covered with huge bats with nailed wings, teddy bears, skeletons. several packs of cards with all sorts of strange drawings and codes engraved on them.She raised her voice in a low voice, asking your age, color and favorite animal.She didn’t prophesy good things for you. nor is she trying to incite your fears, but she seems to really believe in her own power.”

Legendary prophecies

In 1793, Maria’s small room unexpectedly received the presence of Maxmillen Robespierre, Louis Antone de Saint-Just and John-Paul Marat – 3 famous leaders of the post-monarchy French government. Maria said that all 3 of them will have extremely tragic deaths. They didn’t believe it and shouted at Maria. Later, John-Paul Marat was fatally shot. A year later, two of his companions were beheaded.

Maria also correctly predicted the marriage between Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine Bonaparte. Maria and Josephine became close friends while serving time in prison. At that time, Josephine went to prison with her first husband, fearing she would die, so she talked to Maria to ask about the future.

Maria tells Josephine that she will be released from prison but her husband will not, and then she will experience a favorable and glorious marriage. “Soon, France will be in your hands,” Maria told Josephine. Just four days later, Josephine was released from prison and her husband was executed. Two years later, Josephine married officer Napoleon Bonaparte. After the coup d’etat in 1799, Napoleon became Emperor of France and Josephine became Empress. Since then, Maria’s friendship with Josephine has grown closer.

Emperor Napoleon did not like his wife to be with the fortune-teller Maria, but he himself could not escape her prophecies. Maria correctly prophesied about Napoleon’s divorce from Josephine in 1809, Napoleon’s exile and his death in 1821.

It is said that Maria is a prophet who “loves to predict death” and the most ironic thing is that Maria foresaw her own death. She said that she would not die by fire and flood, but “died” in the arms of a strange man.

Indeed, in the last years of her life, Marie in turn experienced all the disasters like the prophetess before. She was once taken to prison, nearly died from a fire in the “prophetic room”, almost drowned in the river, but she all made it through, unharmed. Finally, Marie Anne Lenormand died in 1843 at the age of 71 from being strangled to death by an unknown man during a riot.

Two years after Marie’s death, a deck of cards with her name was published. The oldest surviving Lenormand deck, dating from the 1800s, is kept in the British Museum. Today, the Lenormand deck is still used for divination in France and a few other countries.