AUTHOR’S NOTE: In early January, I completed an experimental effort to align the 36 Lenormand cards with the 12 signs/houses and 36 decanates of the astrological zodiac. This had no purpose other than to satisfy my curiosity about whether it could be done convincingly. Since it’s been a while, I decided to link my earlier post below for reference.
Although I caught some grief from Lenormand purists for even attempting it, I believe it hangs together quite well. But more importantly, it grouped the cards into logical three-card sets with a common theme that can be used in general interpretation. This work is mostly original and doesn’t entirely agree with conventional assumptions about the thematic correlation of cards in combination. (Although I’m not a fan, those who like to mingle tarot and Lenormand cards in a single spread will find a more structured approach in the graphic below; depending on the context of such joint readings, this may be instructive or it could produce nothing useful.)
I’m going to take these triplets one at a time and examine the rationale for their inclusion under the associated sign and house, with the understanding that the lead-off card in each group represents the “keynote” for its astrological significance. First up are the Rider, the Birds and the Letter as aspects of “contact and communication” symbolized by the 3rd House and its “natural” occupant, the gregarious sign of Gemini with its fleet-footed ruler, Mercury.
Gemini is a restless – even nervous – sign, and in the 3rd House of communication and local affairs it implies routine involvement with one’s “neighborhood” (as well as siblings and cousins) and one’s “daily rounds” (such as short-range forays into the community for running errands or visiting).
The Rider arriving at one’s front door implies incoming news (possibly about family members), visitors or deliveries, perhaps coming from afar and arriving expeditiously. The Birds is a card of “twittering” exchanges (i.e. “gossip”) with other people in the immediate vicinity that can produce temporary, low-grade stress in the target of its often malicious attention. The Letter is a tool for transmission and receipt of written information that conveys knowledge of one’s state of affairs to and from another person with an interest in it, and needs no explanation in this context except to say that its news is not invariably welcome. (Note that these are not the only concepts applicable to the cards, just the ones that support my purpose.)
Having all three of them adjacent or otherwise closely connected in a reading reminds me of the cliche “When it rains, it pours.” There may be a feeling that one’s acquaintances are sanctimoniously “piling on” with their warnings and advice if the situation shown by the other cards is not particularly auspicious. In some circumstances it may show a chronological order of events: you may receive a letter (a gentle reminder), than a phone call (an escalation of urgency) and finally a knock at your door (hopefully not the sheriff delivering a summons).
The combination of the Lenormand “communication” cards with the tarot “decan” cards for Gemini produces the inevitable conclusion that “no news is good news” in its more literal and less encouraging sense (e.g. not the one that means “If you don’t hear anything, the situation has probably not changed for the worse”). While all of these Swords cards are rather passive, the Lenormand cards aren’t and they have no qualms about delivering a somber message.
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