AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Lenormand Grand Tableau spread is laid out upon a grid of 36 "house" positions beginning with the Rider and ending with the Cross, in either a 9x4 or an 8x4+4 array; in its customary form this is essentially the Game of Hope game-board pressed into divinatory service. While some people use a … Continue reading Lenormand Houses as “Environmental Backdrop”
Stolen Artwork: A Horary Perspective
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm posting this with the acknowledgement and permission of the Isabella S. Gardner Museum, with whom I've shared it in case anyone considers trying to cash in on my work. Although I first heard about this back in 1990 when it happened, I was recently reminded that millions of dollars worth of artwork … Continue reading Stolen Artwork: A Horary Perspective
“Sex Cards” in Lenormand
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always maintained that Lenormand doesn't need a unique sex card (just as it doesn't need a specific, universally-accepted "work" card or "health" card.) There are other ways to "flay the feline." Regarding sex, there are many cards that can deliver us to the brink (or push us down the slippery slope, as … Continue reading “Sex Cards” in Lenormand
Syncretic Cartomancy: A Threefold Divination*
*Syncretism: The union of different practices whose features may be synchronized to good effect. AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the past I have occasionally dabbled in two-phase readings using cards from different disciplines in a single spread, usually tarot and Lenormand or an oracle deck. As I spend more time and effort looking into traditional cartomancy while … Continue reading Syncretic Cartomancy: A Threefold Divination*
Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two separate insights regarding the Lenormand playing-card insets have been gnawing at me lately. (Three if I count whether or not to even bother with them.) As a result of my cursory study of traditional cartomancy, I discovered that the divinatory meanings for the playing cards don't align all that well with those … Continue reading Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
Lunar Month Look-Ahead for August-September 2023*
* This reading is for the lunar month beginning on the New Moon of August 16, not the calendar month of August. AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this reading I'm incorporating the most recent changes to the Lunar Month Look-Ahead spread that I've developed over the last few years. It reflects both an update to my lunar-month … Continue reading Lunar Month Look-Ahead for August-September 2023*
“That Special Ingredient”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In her book, The New Lenormand Oracle, Lisa Young-Sutton talks about intuition as the "special ingredient" we add to our readings in the same way we include unique flavors in our cooking to put our personal "stamp" or "signature" on it. For me it's Worcester sauce in any recipe that involves oil, butter, … Continue reading “That Special Ingredient”
“Stop Cards” and Interrupted Paths: A Situational Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a sophisticated spread that borrows ideas from palmistry and also from the game-play provisions of Lenormand's ancestor, the Game of Hope. It can be used with either Lenormand or tarot, and potentially with any cartomantic method for which well-defined "stop cards" can be identified. It is best to keep their number … Continue reading “Stop Cards” and Interrupted Paths: A Situational Spread
The Nines As “Ripening”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another outtake from Cory Hutcheson's 54 Devils, this time riffing on his observation that the 9 of Clubs implies a "ripening outcome" that is almost ready to drop its fruit. The tarot Nines have been described as representing the "fulfillment" of their suit; they have reached a state of completion that … Continue reading The Nines As “Ripening”
The “Twitch Factor”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During a recent online conversation I mentioned the fact that, when provoked, the element of Earth in the sign of Virgo can be fidgety, rising one notch above in "twitchy" angst from Virgo's trademark anal fussiness. This got me thinking about how the elements of the Chaldean zodiac react with the Minor Arcana … Continue reading The “Twitch Factor”
