The Hermes Playing-Card Oracle

The Hermes Playing Card Oracle is the latest oracle deck designed by Robert M. Place. It is a standard game deck of 52 cards plus two jokers, but with the addition of symbolic images on each card, each providing a divinatory meaning. It can be used for card games, or laid out in the traditional pattern, known as the Grand Tableau, and used for divination. Although the Tarot is the deck that most people today would associate with divination, historically, regular four-suit decks of playing cards were more likely to have been used for this purpose. In the late 18th century, oracle decks were first published in which each card was illustrated with a symbol designed primarily for divination, but a small image of the playing card associated with each symbol was also included on each card. The most popular oracle deck was the Petit Lenormand, first published in Germany in 1847. This deck was based on the common 36-card German deck (a deck without the 2 through 5 pip cards in each suit) and a