A Victorian/Pre-Raphaelite-influenced modern Lenormand with rose-and-thorn motifs throughout. Lush, romantic, slightly Gothic — a collector's favourite that regularly trades at premium.
The Under the Roses Lenormand by Kendra Hurteau and Katrina Hill is a Victorian/Pre-Raphaelite-influenced 36-card deck with an unmistakable aesthetic identity. Released independently and quickly out of print, it became a collector's item almost immediately — second-hand copies regularly trade for several times the original retail price, and reissues have been in steady demand from readers who missed the first run.
The deck takes its title from the rose-and-thorn motif that runs through every card, binding the 36 images together visually even as each one tells its own small story.
Lush, romantic, and slightly haunted: the visual register is Victorian melancholy filtered through a contemporary illustrator's eye. Roses appear in every card, sometimes prominently, sometimes as background motif. Figures wear period dress; settings tend toward gardens, parlours, and graveyards. The colour palette is muted — wine reds, faded golds, soft blues — and the overall feeling is of a slightly elegiac storybook.
Each card carries traditional Lenormand symbols (Rider, Clover, Ship, etc.) rendered in this Victorian register, with the number and playing-card inset preserved.
Readers drawn to romantic, Victorian, slightly Gothic aesthetics. Under the Roses sits in the same general territory as Steampunk Lenormand and the Mystical Lenormand, but with a softer, more melancholy mood — closer to a Pre-Raphaelite painting than a clockwork drama. If you collect Victoriana or read in the Romantic tradition, this is one of the genre-defining Lenormand decks.
Standard 36 in classical numbering. The thematic roses-and-thorns layer is decorative; the underlying system is pure traditional Petit Lenormand.
Originally self-published; later reprints have appeared at irregular intervals. Out of print and second-hand copies are common; check independent tarot retailers and second-hand sites for current availability.