Napoleon’s Book of Fate

About this book

How the oracle works: choose your question and, without counting, draw four rows of short pencil marks. An odd row gives one dot, an even row two dots — and those four rows make your figure. Find the figure in the Oraculum table, follow its column down to your question, turn to the letter it shows and read your answer. No cards, no waiting for anyone to reply, no special skill.

In 1822 a London bookshop sold “The Book of Fate, formerly in the possession of Napoleon”. The story went that it had been found on a mummy in a royal tomb in Egypt, that the Emperor consulted it in secret before his campaigns, and that it was lost in the retreat from Leipzig in 1813. By 1825 it was in its tenth edition. The book also tells you, honestly, what history says about that story — and that the method itself is truly old: the sixteen figures are the figures of medieval geomancy.

Your three-question reading: one question about yourself, one about another person, one about the road ahead. A simple table matches today’s questions to the old ones (“Will I get the job?” → question 2, “Does he or she really care?” → question 9), and a short guide helps you read the three answers together.

What is inside

• the complete Oraculum: 16 questions, the two-page table and all 256 answers, in their original order
• step-by-step instructions with a worked example
• the 16 figures, with their traditional geomancy names
• the guided three-question reading and a “your question in the Oraculum’s words” table
• the legend of Napoleon’s Book of Fate — and what history really tells us
• images from the real 1825 edition: title page, the original binding and the great folding chart
• 5 printable worksheets (print as often as you like, for personal use)
• the “unlucky days” and rules of the old book, as a curiosity

Who it is for

Anyone who loves oracles, tarot and old books of divination; readers curious about Napoleon and the 19th-century craze for fortune-telling; a playful, thoughtful gift for a friend; a fun activity for a party, a book club or a quiet evening.

The Oraculum is a historical curiosity and a game of chance, offered for entertainment and reflection only — not a substitute for medical, legal, financial or other professional advice.