AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay has been brewing for over a year but it was finally triggered by a recent online conversation with my original Lenormand mentor-at-large from Aeclectic Tarot, Andy Boroveshengra. It arises from an unpleasant experience I had on one of the Lenormand Facebook pages. First a bit of stage-setting. When I lived in … Continue reading Lenormand Tradition: Still Breathing or Left for Undead?
Lenormand – General
Uncomfortable Questions and Hidden Variables: Tarot and Lenormand on the Witness Stand
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although the inspiration for this essay came from reading about the design of scientific experiments in quantum physics, I identified parallels between that model and my style of cartomantic interpretation. The opinion of the experimental researcher was that mainstream physicists are typically unwilling to contemplate uncomfortable questions or probe hidden variables if those … Continue reading Uncomfortable Questions and Hidden Variables: Tarot and Lenormand on the Witness Stand
Relationship Potential: A Lenormand “Cross” Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, I'm looking at romantic relationship potential with the Lenormand cards. Such theorizing is more commonly the purview of the online tarot reader, and none of the typical Lenormand "love" markers showed up in this limited pull, but it was a valid test of my six-card "expanded cross" layout that hangs together … Continue reading Relationship Potential: A Lenormand “Cross” Reading
Intuition: The Literal Diviner’s Trusty Sidekick
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent r/tarot sub-reddit thread there was unexpected consensus among experienced diviners that intuition works in concert with knowledge and experience but is not superior to them. It has been my opinion for a long time that all three are vital to successful divination, and I'm used to seeing it dismissed by … Continue reading Intuition: The Literal Diviner’s Trusty Sidekick
“Three Sizes Too Small:” My RWS Apostasy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've worked with the Thoth deck for over 50 years because I think it cuts much deeper than the rest. I'm also fond of the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) and the Lenormand cards, and I'm chipping away at playing-card divination, the I Ching and geomancy. The Waite-Smith (RWS) deck is far down in … Continue reading “Three Sizes Too Small:” My RWS Apostasy
Rethinking My Online Business Model
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the last nine years I've keep my charges for online tarot, Lenormand and horary astrology readings roughly in line with my face-to-face sessions, even though it takes quite a bit longer to write everything down in a report than it does to deliver it orally across a table. I even tried raising … Continue reading Rethinking My Online Business Model
“Resource Management” Cards in Lenormand Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth installment of the series in which I'm experimenting with informally linking the 36 Lenormand cards to the 12 signs and 36 decanates of the astrological zodiac. This time I'm looking at the sign of Taurus and its "native" 2nd House as indicators of personal resource management. I'm bringing in … Continue reading “Resource Management” Cards in Lenormand Reading
The Maverick Cartomant, Part 1: Lenormand
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I back away from involvement in the online tarot community, a decision I mentioned in a recent post, I've been seeking other divination sites that share my more exacting standards and expectations. One discipline with which I've spent a good deal of time over the last fourteen years is Lenormand reading, but … Continue reading The Maverick Cartomant, Part 1: Lenormand
“Distributed Lenormand” – Normalizing the Grand Tableau
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently performed a Grand Tableau (GT) in which all of the negative cards were scattered far-and-wide throughout the population. Few of them appeared in close combination with either the topic cards or each other, making for what I told the sitter looked like a "roller-coaster ride" of ups-and-downs with only a couple … Continue reading “Distributed Lenormand” – Normalizing the Grand Tableau
Revisiting the Six-Card Lenormand Mini-Tableau
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I created this simple design some time ago based on a segment lifted from the Lenormand Grand Tableau (GT) and decided to elaborate on its use. I took my original cue from the linear "narrative" approach to interpretation as opposed to the noun/qualifier "descriptive" style of reading, and grafted it onto the structure … Continue reading Revisiting the Six-Card Lenormand Mini-Tableau