Thursday 5 April 2012

An Oracle for a Change: Mystical Lenormand

In the last few years, I've put on ten pounds of the 70-odd I lost in 2004. It's finally hit home to me hard this year, because I finally have moved up a size in clothing. This makes me unhappy! I've not been very successful so far this year in changing my habits, and I was having a look at the Mystical Lenormand (AG Muller, 2005) and decided to do a quick draw about it. 


I'm new to Lenormand cards, so had a look through the LWB and found 'The Runway Layout', in which you are to select your significator (The Lady if you're female, The Man if you're male) and a card that represents your goal and place it away from the significator, then shuffle and draw some cards to place between to show what will get you from A to B. The instructions suggest to start by drawing three cards, up to seven, but no more than seven. 


So my question was: 'What should I do in order to achieve my goals of losing this weight and achieving vibrant health?' I selected The Sun as my goal, as it represents success, energy, will-power and optimism. 


Lady, Ship, Tower, Tree and Sun from Mystical Lenormand,  Urban Trosch, AG 2005

This is my very first reading with with a Lenormand deck. It's completely different from tarot, or any other oracle deck I've worked with. It seems like an amazing system, and I really want to study it further. But for now, I'm very dependent on the LWB that came with the deck, lest I try to impose tarot sensibilities on the Lenormand, and from what I can tell, never the twain shall meet.


So, Mystical Lenormand gives me a clear message here. What should I do in order to achieve my goals of losing this weight and achieving vibrant health? The first thing that must happen is, I must accept that it is not going to be a quick process. The Ship.  It will be a long journey. The LWB even says, 'If this card lies close to the person card, a long journey will take place.' Yep. To be honest, it's taken me just under 3 years to gain 10 pounds. So that's a long journey in itself. I should not think that losing the weight will be a quick thing, particularly when I'm actually in a normal weight range for my height at the moment. I just prefer being at the lowest end of the normal weight range...and when it's that close, it's not quick to take off. 


Right in the middle of the spread sits The Tower. It does dominate the spread, to my eye. Once I accept the long haul aspects of this journey, next I need to accept two things:  1) I can't do this alone. 2) I have to do this alone. Contradictory, you say? Well, not when you think about it. The Tower can represent authority or someone with a lot of influence. When I first changed my eating and lost weight, it was a result of reading the works of John Robbins, environmentalist and advocate of a plant-based diet. For years, I spent a lot of time reading books that developed and reinforced my ideas about proper nutrition and health, and these helped to keep me on the straight and narrow. I also maintained a blog focused on weight loss and had group of followers who actually looked to me for guidance and inspiration, and who offered me lots of support. Over the years, both these support systems have fallen by the wayside, and other interests (such as tarot) have overshadowed my reading and talking about health issues. So, in that way, I can't do it alone. On the other hand, I have to do it alone, because ultimately, I'm the one who decides whether to sit on the sofa or get up and move my butt. I'm the one who takes each bite of food. 


The final card is The Tree. The LWB says it represents health, and also stands for 'all of life itself'. I see it as signifying integration of disparate interests and priorities so that I can achieve more of a balance in my life that allows me to achieve all my goals--to pursue my tarot studies, to enjoy my workouts, to eat well. I wonder if there is any way I could incorporate those interests in this blog. I don't know. 


I enjoyed my first time out of the gate with Mystical Lenormand, it gave me lots to ponder. 

6 comments:

  1. I tried this spread for the same purpose. I recently moved for a stressful job that ruined my health regime. I got the 6 cups, 4 of swords and 4 of cups on the journey to great health: remember when I was happy, strong and energetic, plan the direction I want to take, and stop listening to temptations. Time to take matters into my own hands!

    Thanks!

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  2. It could also be saying to break any habits of over-romanticizing the past or being too nostalgic for the way your health regime used to be. Take this break for what it is, a necessary reprieve. And then to deal with your self-doubt or hesitation by reconnecting with yourself. Use this time, as you say, to plan the direction you want to take. Excellent!

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  3. Nice. I love how this reading turned out and the way you presented it. Thanks for sharing.

    A deck to go on my to-buy list? Most likely.

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  4. Hi Carla,

    I definitely think you could incorporate at least some of those things on this blog. I received a lot of comments on posts to do with diet and food on my tarot blog. Many tarot blog readers are women, and most women have some interest in health, weight and diet. That might be part of the tree aspect - incorporating something helpful to your weight journey with your tarot reading... :) And I shall also be trying out this spread ;)

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  5. Hi Rowan

    I would like to put in my 2 cents.

    The Woman+Ship tells us that you are an adventurous, free-spirit and you love exploring things. Your sense of adventure and your love for freedom will help you do it alone and being self-reliant. The way Ship is moving sometimes tells whether or not you will be able to achieve your goals.

    Tree + Sun reminds you that while you are on your quest to lose pounds, do not overdo it and do not compromise when it comes to your health. Sometimes when we are trying hard to lose weight, we forget that in order to look good, we should not compromise on feeling good. Tree also represents patience and calmness. Ship + Tree tells you to explore the healthy ways to achieve your goals, meditation, yoga, healthy life style.

    Woman-Tower-Sun tells us that you can achieve your goals and you will, but the process requires independence and self-reliance.

    I suggest you try yoga. specially the poses which emphasize the back/spine.

    Good luck to you!

    Alyna

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  6. Thanks, Alyna! I have not yet studied Lenormand, but have just started to work on it, so your true Lenormand style reading really helps me! It's funny you should mention yoga. I did a kundalini set the other day and forgot how much I missed it. You may be aware that kundalini yoga focuses very much on the spine. Many thanks for your input!!

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