UPDATE #2: We hit overnight snow rather than rain at the midpoint of the trip. The remainder of the journey was uneventful. UPDATE: The weather is iffy for Thursday morning when we hoped to leave, so we might have to wait until Friday. The Mice at work eating holes in our plans! Original Post: Later … Continue reading A Long-Distance Travel Forecast
Learning
The Heloise Lenormand “Attitude Check”
I just received Lynn Boyle's Heloise Lenormand from Australia and I'm definitely impressed. The deck is designed around a stained-glass-window motif, and the images are crystal-clear and instantly recognizable. There are five extra cards in the plain white box: the now customary second Man and Woman as well as an extra Tree, Tower and Heart. … Continue reading The Heloise Lenormand “Attitude Check”
Turn of the Tide
It's probably obvious that I really love the tarot. It's been a faithful companion on my life's journey since I first discovered it around 1970; it brings out my contemplative side in the same way that philosophy does, thanks mainly to the writing of Aleister Crowley, whom I admire as a thinker and scholar if … Continue reading Turn of the Tide
A “Rocky Road” Example Reading
I know a woman who is forever agonizing over how to get a better job but is somehow never able to "pull the trigger" on actually getting one. Something always seems to stand in her way. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to test my "Rocky Road" Self-Betterment spread. I used the Gilded Reverie … Continue reading A “Rocky Road” Example Reading
The Rana George Lenormand “Attitude Check”
Not long ago I bought the Rana George Lenormand deck. I had taken it off my wish-list as being of only middling interest, but you know what happens when commercial availability and consumer vulnerability converge. Although its artwork is nowhere near as dazzling as Ciro Marchetti's Gilded Reverie Lenormand, I place it in the same … Continue reading The Rana George Lenormand “Attitude Check”
Back to the Basics
Similar to the tarot, which has Arthur Edward Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot as the first - if not necessarily the best - gateway to the most popular style of modern tarot reading, the Lenormand cards have their watershed moment in the Philippe Lenormand Sheet, a single page of keyword meanings and interpretive guidance … Continue reading Back to the Basics
“Hear All About It” – Lenormand “News” Cards
I have always understood that the Rider is the primary "news-bearer" among the Lenormand cards. However, in reading back through some of my published material, I came across a couple of distinctions. The Rider often represents news that is delivered in person, while the Letter indicates receipt of a written missive, whether through the post … Continue reading “Hear All About It” – Lenormand “News” Cards
Lenormand Crossovers: Breaking the Chain
For the tarot enthusiast aspiring to master Lenormand reading, there are several cards common to both systems that stubbornly resist shedding their tarot trappings during the transition. Interestingly, they all appear in sequence in the tarot: the Tower (XVI), the Star (XVII), the Moon (XVIII) and the Sun. (XIX). Since their Lenormand counterparts, at least by title, … Continue reading Lenormand Crossovers: Breaking the Chain
“Look, Ma . . . No Hands!” (A Five-Card Experiment)
I decided to put my somewhat feeble line reading skills to a test in two different ways, asking the same question of two decks and using a pre-positioned topic card in one of the spreads. I used the Blue Owl for the unstructured line and the Piatnik for the pre-arranged one. The question was "What is … Continue reading “Look, Ma . . . No Hands!” (A Five-Card Experiment)
The Literalist
I've recently been involved in a debate about the necessity - or even the desirability - of large spreads. In tarot, I seldom use spreads smaller than five cards, and seven to ten cards is closer to my ideal (the Celtic Cross has been my mainstay for decades). In Lenormand, I prefer the Grand Tableau over … Continue reading The Literalist
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 