AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been busily engaged in the online Lenormand community, and three of my main concerns about the modern approach to reading the Lenormand cards are in full view. "Tarotization" (my own word for it) is the tendency for Lenormand neophytes arriving from the tarot majority to bring all of their interpretive baggage with … Continue reading “Tarotizing, Psychologizing and Extemporizing” – The Bane of Lenormand
Lenormand – General
Lenormand Logistics: Which Spread is Best?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I browse the Lenormand Facebook pages, sub-reddits and blogs, I inevitably encounter the three-card line as the "go-to" spread for just about any topic, even when there are better (or at least more comprehensive) options. Here I will examine the various traditional spreads in use today, but first I want to anonymously … Continue reading Lenormand Logistics: Which Spread is Best?
Pythagorean Number Theory and Lenormand
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I'm normally a literalist in my reading of the Lenormand cards, this is the sort of thing that excites my imagination. Here I'm playing around with Pythagorean number theory as it might be applied to Lenormand. They are both traditional systems of thought that seem to be entirely compatible. The single-digit 1-to-9 … Continue reading Pythagorean Number Theory and Lenormand
A Lenormand “Career-Path” Alternative House System
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rather than relying on a single career-specific "topic" card in a Grand Tableau spread, I decided to create a 36-card alternative house system that breaks the career path down into a wide range of sub-factors, from presenting oneself as an applicant to deciding whether to accept or reject the opportunity. Those positions without … Continue reading A Lenormand “Career-Path” Alternative House System
“Hot” Cards
Many of my ideas about Lenormand reading spring from my numerous fertile conversations on the Aeclectic Tarot forum with authors Andy Boroveshengra and Mary K. Greer before they both moved on - and then we all did. This one is no exception. I've written on this subject before (links below) but I wanted to sharpen … Continue reading “Hot” Cards
Mind Over Matter
I was just looking at the tarot-deck "de-enable" thread on one of the forums and realized that I haven't had to be "de-enabled" on buying a new deck in a very long time. It probably helps that I don't find most recent decks particularly inspiring from a divination standpoint, even if they happen to be … Continue reading Mind Over Matter
Starting Over
Although there are differing opinions on the subject, there are times when it just seems prudent to scrap a reading that has begun badly and start over, not because the testimony in the cards is unfavorable but because something about the circumstances of the draw was "off." Last night I did two Lenormand Grand Tableaux, … Continue reading Starting Over
“I Yam What I Yam . . .”
". . . and dat's all what I yam!" (In the immortal words of Popeye the Sailor Man.) I came across a neat bit of wisdom on Andy Boroveshengra's blog Fortuna's Picturebook that I'm going to borrow for the theme of this post: "Cards are never something else before they are themselves." https://abcartomancy.blogspot.com/2019/07/shall-i-compare-thee.html Andy was … Continue reading “I Yam What I Yam . . .”
Playing-Card Insets: A Challenge Worth Taking
I've been working with the Lenormand cards going on nine years now, but I've never put a lot of effort into understanding and using the playing-card insets. Concurrently, I've been studying playing-card cartomancy somewhat casually, first through Dawn Jackson's Hedgewytchery material and more recently through the excellent blog of Kapherus (J. David Arcuri), Art of … Continue reading Playing-Card Insets: A Challenge Worth Taking
Stiff-necked Scholars, Attend!
Although it's an over-simplification of the truth, I can easily pass for a card-carrying member of the "Stiff-necked Scholars' League" of Lenormand practitioners: I value the historical basis of this cartomantic system above all else, and take a dim view of too much imaginative tinkering with its customary methods. (On the other hand, is there … Continue reading Stiff-necked Scholars, Attend!
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 