AUTHOR’S NOTE: Although I’ve been “counting round” in Lenormand reading for years, I recently came across the idea of using a comparable technique with playing cards.

The Lenormand concept is to lay out a Grand Tableau of 36 cards, then start at the identified Significator card and – treating the Significator as “1” – count clockwise through the rest of the spread in fixed increments with the last card in each set becoming the first card in the next set, continuing until you arrive back where you started. The series of “final” cards in these sets is used to populate a line spread that provides supplemental detail. I’ve seen readers using increments of seven, nine and thirteen cards, and when doing nine-card counts myself I wound up with five or six cards in the subsequent layout, which is certainly a reasonable number for predictive purposes.

Because there are 52 cards in a playing-card deck compared to only 36 in a Lenormand pack, I think it would be best to lay out a 15-card (5×3) or 21-card (7×3) array and experiment with different odd-numbered counting intervals until you wind up with a workable line of cards. Since there is no guarantee that a pre-selected Significator card will appear in the random population, I would advise picking a card from those that do show up in the starting pattern as the “topic” of the secondary pull.

Here is an example reading using the imaginary romantic scenario I proposed in my last cartomantic post. I went with the 21–card tableau and a five-card interval. Once again I picked the 9 of Hearts (the “wish card”) to reflect the querent’s desires in the matter, starting and ending the count with that position. Fortunately, the 9 of Hearts appeared in the 7×3 tableau and is tagged as “Card #1.”

The Jack of Clubs suggests the querent’s comportment in approaching the matter. As in the last reading (where this card also showed up in concert with the Ace of Diamonds), the individual is harboring no inappropriate intentions.

The Ace of Diamonds looks like an invitation is forthcoming. This was also shown under identical circumstances in the last reading.

The Queen of Cups is a more optimistic card than the Jack of Diamonds (a “relative by marriage”) in a similar triad the last time around. It seems like the emotional “heat will be turned up” this time (but the Queen’s ardor may exhibit an Oedipal twist).

The 10 of Spades brings it all crashing down.

The 7 of Clubs shows that all is not lost, but there will be a period of adjustment while the parties find a way to cope with the upset and decide whether there is any future in continuing.

Since there is no definite conclusion here, I decided to do the “numerical essence” calculation for this series to see what might come up. (As I do with tarot cards, I gave sequential numbers to the “honors.”) The addition was 11+1+12+10+7=41; 4+1=5. Five is the “keynote” number for this supplemental pull. Here is a definition provided by an online acquaintance for this eventuality:

“Expect the unexpected. Chaos is coming, but it’s meant to shake you out of your rut. Don’t fight the change, pivot/turn with it.”

This strikes me as confirmation of the need for “coping” shown by the 7 of Clubs (which also appeared previously as an “obstacle” card for this situation). The upshot of this exercise was a much more concise interpretation than would have been possible when trying to fashion a coherent story out of 21 cards. Although it reads a bit like a soap-opera, I believe there is a generous helping of sound advice in this narrative, especially since it seems to deliver “the rest of the story” for the earlier reading.