AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in my series of posts that examine the informal (and highly non-traditional/unofficial/controversial) correlation of the Lenormand cards to the 12 signs and 36 decanates of the astrological zodiac. This time I’m looking at business and enterprise aspects reflected in the sign of Capricorn and its “native” 10th House, in concert with the Lenormand Ship, High Tower and Mountain.

In Northern Hemisphere astrology, the southern half of the horoscope (at the top) is the “public/social” hemisphere, and it is dominated by the 10th House and its “natural” occupant, Capricorn. This is the house of being “out in the world” as opposed to the “home base” of the 4th House and its relationship to the family that is centered in the northern “private/personal” hemisphere at the bottom. The 10th House is also considered to show how we “make our mark in the world,” and therefore it relates to the “zenith” or culmination of one’s career and enterprise objectives, which by extension envelope entrepreneurial business aspirations and political ambitions. Capricorn is a “managerial” sign that dovetails perfectly with these self-realization prerogatives.

In the Lenormand system, the Ship is the primary card of enterprise as well as being one of the “money” cards that was traditionally associated with maritime income as well as foreign connections. Here I see it as the Lenormand counterpart of the astrological model of organizational opportunity and ambition since it conveys progress toward a fiscal goal.

Nearly as important as a symbol of administrative authority and permanence is the High Tower; its keynote meaning is a presence that endures for a long period of time, which would be a characteristic of many of the “legacy” institutions that have been around forever, making the High Tower their ad-hoc “trademark” (Insurance companies seem especially susceptible to invoking this imagery; then there is Monty Python’s “Crimson Permanent Assurance” with its seafaring office buildings under full sail that bring the Ship and the High Tower together.)

Although I might have chosen the Anchor to provide reinforcement of that sense of permanence, I wanted to introduce the idea of competition, so I picked the Mountain and its association with “powerful adversaries” instead (not least because I had already tapped the Anchor to show family stability at the opposite side of the wheel). The Mountain reflects what must be surmounted or otherwise overcome in order to accomplish one’s commercial objectives.