A Lenormand notebook

Yesterday I found this You Tube suggesting a way to make a little book to explore Lenormand cards. It's for beginners, but it looked like a fun thing to do:



So today, I found an old blank book with the first few pages ripped out, my Blue Owl Lenormand with verses that I hate, a glue stick and some highlighters and thought I'd make a start. But those verses were SO dreadful, I couldn't face them, so I cut out little bits of paper and drew my own playing card insets and glued them to the cards before gluing the cards into the book.

My work area (I don't have a table, so it was in the middle of the living room floor. I bought the bears at a charity shop today. Well! I had to. If you'd seen the looks on their faces you'd have bought them, too. Monkey has a weighted bottom -- I know how he feels -- and makes a very effective page holder.):

The cover of the book. (After all the playing cards are glued in, it won't lie flat. This is what it looks like!):

Title page (note ripped out section -- no point spending money on a new book for a little project like this! Plus that would mean I'd have to get dressed and go buy it. Ugh.): 

Playing card insets in production: 

A finished page before notes start being added: 

And some pages with a few color-coded notes on (yes, that is a chocolate smear on the Rider page):  

This was fun to do and I may keep adding notes to it, if I don't lose interest. :) That's how I roll. When I am feeling brave, I may do a few drawings on the left page like Makiel did...

Has anyone else done anything like this? 

Lenormand Study: Card Effects

Traditionally, Lenormand cards are not read in isolation, but by their proximity to one another, and in combinations. Therefore, it is important to learn the effect that certain cards will have on those around them. Andy Boroveshengra and Caitlin Matthews, whose books I am working with at the moment, both address this. Today I'm making some notes (as this blog is my Lenormand journal) on how the cards affect one another, as described by Andy and Caitlin.

In Lenormand: 36 Cards, Andy places all the Lenormand cards on a single scale that runs from positive to negative like this:

 As you can see, most cards in the pack are 'neutral' (though some are on the positive or negative ends of neutral), and 16 cards are more extreme. Laid out, they run thus, from most positive in upper left corner to most negative in lower right, with Clover apparently the most positive, and Cross the most negative:

Piatnik Lenormand

In Andy's method, no two cards occupy different subsets at the same time. For example, he doesn't show a negative card as being also in the positive or neutral subsets. That is why he has created the Positive-Neutral and Neutral-Negative runs, presumably. Also, take note that while there is a mixture of red and black in the progression, the majority of the Clubs suit is in the Negative run. 

Caitlin Matthews also presents the concept of card effects in her book, The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook. She divides the pack into three segments: Fortunate, Challenging and Neutral. The cards are not listed in a progressive order in any of these groupings, but rather remain in Lenormand order. I gather from this that she does not consider any one card better or worse than any other within its own subset. Also, she has a few cards that occupy spaces in two subsets at the same time:

Postmark Lenormand, Melissa Hill 2011

As with Andy's system, Caitlin presents the majority of the deck as neutral, though she includes nine Fortunate (or positive) cards and nine Challenging (or negative) cards. It's also interesting to note that Caitlin's negative cards are mostly from the Clubs suit as well.

Let's compare them: 

Boroveshengra, Andy. Lenormand: Thirty-Six Cards. 2014, pages 116-117.
Matthews, Caitlin. The Complete Lenormand Handbook. Rochester: Destiny Books, 2014, page 106.

I'll be looking at how to apply this knowledge through proximity and attendance over the coming week. :)

Lenormand suit by suit: Clubs

This week I've looked at the suit of Hearts and seen the Man's journey, Diamonds and considered the perils of trying to make a living and keep one's head above water, Spades and the 'hysterical' (in the Victorian sense) distractions of the Woman. These suits showed a few ups and downs, but overall, they didn't seem like they were simply out to get us. Where, you may wonder, are all the events that are just deeply crap? Here they are! The suit of Clubs.

Are these Club cards a progression? Do they tell a tale? I'm not sure if I can string them into a story, but they certainly represent the 'unpleasant occurrences of one's life, from dishonest folk or individuals with power over us, to misfortunes, grief and unhealthy situations,' as Andy Boroveshengra's book Lenormand: 36 Cards says. They are:

Ring - Cross - Mice - Mountain - Fox - Bear - Whips - Snake - Clouds

The suit appears to me to show a progression of no-good, very-bad things, from potentially hurtful (Ring) to the trials of Job (Clouds).

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

The Ring is the beginning of this suit, and it may seem like a strange suit for this card to be in, as it represents commitment. We like to think of commitment as a good thing, especially the kind of commitment represented by a ring. But when you think about it, commitment is a very risky business. People look at a commitment or a contract as insurance that they won't get hurt, but as soon as you sign on to something you are putting yourself at risk of being betrayed, robbed, injured or wronged in some way. We know this. That's why we say to each other, please make this promise to me that you won't betray, rob, injure or wrong me. Because we know we are putting ourselves into a position where that has become more likely to happen. 

The Cross is a burden that must be borne. I wrote my thoughts about it a while back here: Lenormand Cross. In that post three years ago, I said that the card probably points mostly to burdens and not necessarily religion, but I do believe that depending on the reading it serves as a symbol for any (or lack of) religious belief, tradition, or spiritual practice. And heaven knows (if you'll pardon the expression), that can become a big old mud hole for people to drown themselves in (or try to drown each other in). 

Then comes Mice, and we might think, well, how can mice be worse than  a cross, but the Mice card represents the nibbling away of the good stuff in your life, and that is like a kind of torture that just goes on and on -- ugh! Like Prometheus who has his liver eaten every day by an eagle, only to have it grow back overnight so that the eagle can eat it again the next day, forever. UGH! 'Nibble nibble like a mouse, who is nibbling at my house?' *Shudder*

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

From the nibble-nibbles to the BIG BARRIER of Mountain, we then encounter what's even more painful than situations that can hurt us -- and that's people that can hurt us. The Fox tries to use us, the Bear to control us. 

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

The Whips torment us, the Snake confuses, entices and betrays us, and the Clouds! Well, the Clouds cover everything over with gloom and badness. 

The Ring is a risk, the Cross a burden, the Mice steal, the Mountain blocks, the Fox exploits, the Bear dominates, the Whips bring strife, the Snake betrays, the Clouds blacken and disturb everything. 

So hip hip hooray for the suit of Clubs! 

Lenormand suit by suit: Spades

Continuing on with my stream of consciousness work-though of the Lenormand playing card suits...Today it's Spades.

I have used Lenormand cards to do readings for a few years now, and I never noticed how the Spades suit is actually the mildest one in the deck! This is probably because 1) I never paid particular attention to the playing card insets until now, and 2) I associate Spades with 'bad stuff'. This is quite clearly not the case in the Lenormand system. Just look at all these positive cards:

Woman - Tower - Letter - Garden - Anchor - Ship - Child - Bouquet - Lily 

In Andy Boroveshengra's book Lenormand: 36 Cards, Spades are described as the suit that 'deals with the most generative areas of life, such as relationships, hopes, and all the things that make life worthwhile and cause it to flow so easily.' 

I've been thinking about this. The word 'spade' makes me think of a shovel, and that makes me think of gardening, which reminds me of sowing and reaping, which reminds me of fertility, which reminds me of Woman! And here we are at the beginning of this suit, with Ace of Spades, woman. The Man, Ace of Hearts, may have been (in the sexist paradigm of Lenormand that I'm creating) the source of life, but the Woman is the one who nurtures and harvests it, like any good gardener would plant a seed and bring it to fruition. 

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

Having stared at this line for a while, I believe the Herzberg Motivation Hygiene Theory will work here, too. You just have to put yourself in a decidedly 18th -19th century mindset. With the Woman as the significator, we can view the cards that are near and far from her, as well as the numbers of the suit, and identify those factors that are most essential for survival but also most taken for granted (both high in number and far away) and those factors that are least essential for survival but that loom large in supposed significance in day-to-day life (both low in number and near). The near cards are of great concern and distraction to the Woman. To understand this, think like the characters in a Jane Austen novel.

Of primary concern to the Woman is security, particularly a long life with a secure old age (Tower). Obtaining this is of utmost importance to the 18th/19th century woman, and pretty much the only way for her to get it is to get herself a husband. As any reader of Jane Austen can tell you, that's just about all that Austen characters talk or think about. Must. Get. Husband. Must. Secure. Station. In. Life. FOR. LIFE.

Very much tied up in this hunt for a bottomless pension are the next two cards, and they remain of primary importance to the Woman after marriage as well: Letter and Garden. It is hard to fathom how important the letter was to a certain class of female in bygone days. In Victorian London, the post was delivered 7 times a day. You could actually carry out a complete conversation all in one day, through the post, and people did so with alacrity. A lady could spend hours each day on various correspondences. It is the obsession with letters that created the epistolary novel. Have you read Les Liaisons Dangereuses?

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

The letter writing is all part of the wider social picture, represented by the Garden card, which is not a card about nature at all, but about community, society and public standing. A garden can be considered the taming and refining of the natural, and few things are more tamed and refined than 18th-19th century social life. So many rules and regulations! So many ways to 'ruin one's reputation' and no longer be 'received by polite society'. All so deliciously complicated and distracting, for these ladies who have secured their future and now have long, empty days to fill.

I think it's interesting that the Anchor and the Ship fall next to one another, and that the Anchor is closer to the Woman than the Ship. A bottomless supply for the long haul (Tower) is not actually as essential to survival as stability in the here and now (Anchor). So this card is higher in number, but further away from the woman, because it is more essential for survival but also more taken for granted in daily life. The Ship is often seen as travel, and it can be read as that in this suit work-through as well; travel is less important to the Woman but its absence would be felt. The Ship, according to Andy in Lenormand: 36 Cards, can also mean an inheritance, gift or trust fund, and that would no doubt be something taken a bit for granted by the Woman but keenly missed if it were not there!

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

So now we have arrived at the last three cards, which, being furthest from the Woman and yet the highest in the suit, would represent those things most taken for granted by her and yet most essential to her being. They are Child - Bouquet - Lily, and to me they seem inextricably linked. Until quite recently, women have been seen as being entirely ruled by their reproductive system, and all their emotions, needs and very being find the reason for existence in procreation, nesting, and fecundity. A woman's whole happiness lies in a healthy reproductive system and her progeny.

In contrast, the line of Hearts, linked to the Man, shows a much more balanced experience of life, with motivations and hygiene factors that have to do with matters both higher (spiritual guidance in the Star) and more fundamental (basic shelter in House). This does not surprise me, because as I mentioned in my Hearts post, the male was considered the more fully developed as a human being. The female weaker and defined solely by her reproductive system and pettier concerns.

This makes sense to me. So far so good! Onward tomorrow to have a think about Clubs. 

Lenormand suit by suit: Diamonds

The Lenormand suit of Diamonds is the Alemannic suit of Bells, and according to Andy Boroveshengra's book Lenormand: 36 Cards, is associated with the season of summer. The nine cards are:

Sun - Clover - Birds - Key - Coffin - Book - Scythe - Path - Fish 

I notice that 6 out of 9 cards are outdoors/nature cards and easily associated with summer life and activities -- Sun, Clover, Birds, Scythe (first harvest being traditionally August 1st), Path and Fish. The Sun shines in summer, the lawns are full of Clover, Birds everywhere, first harvest takes place (Scythe), we like to go walking (Path) and fishing (Fish). Simplistic, but effective. I've looked through the rest of deck, and though there are more animal and nature cards, none seems as overtly 'summery' to me as these. Only Garden, and it is in the suit of Spades, and I have a few ideas about why that I will cover later.

Andy says in his book that the Diamonds suit deals with 'matters concerning one's prosperity, the precarious nature of life, and one's individual cares and concerns.' So even though the Diamonds represent summer, which we associate with fun times, they can represent stress, or as Andy says, 'a need to be cautious or that your shoulders are too burdened.' In a way this makes perfect sense. I imagine summertime must have been very stressful in the past. It is a relatively short time and in that time, people needed to get all the growth and much of the harvesting done to sustain them through the long, cold winter, the spring, and through to the next summer again. That's a lot of pressure. It also helps make the connection between summer and financial matters and the 'precarious nature of life'. I imagine it must have seemed like one great big crap shoot, summertime. Happy and joyous because it's filled with light and warmth and food, but lots of worries, too.

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

The Sun is out, it's summer! Will we be Lucky this year? Will Happiness be on our side? (Clover) The Voices of worry niggle. Lots of talk. But we also might get to take a nice break some time this season.(Birds)

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

This season is the Key to everything. (Key) If we don't get this right, if luck is not on our side, we're dead. We might barely break even, or we might lose everything. (Coffin) It's the unknown, you see. We just don't know how things will turn out. All we can do is follow the Farmer's Almanac and hope for the best. (Book)

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

We begin the first harvest of our labours, though much of it is yet to come. It's hard work, and we never know what the yield is going to be.  Even after all the work of bringing the harvest in, there are dangers that could strike - a barn burning, infestation of rats, or damp getting in and spoiling the lot. It's a scary and dangerous proposition, this business of life. (Scythe) We have so many choices to make this season -- what to plant, when to plant it, how to tend it, when to harvest it, how to store it -- it's hard to know where each option might lead. (Paths) At the end of it, we hope to prosper. (Fish)

Caitlin Matthews in her book The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook says that Diamonds represent 'dynamic energy, enterprise, strategy, luck, money, wisdom, and decisions,' all of which makes perfect sense to me in the context I've explored here.

This helps me get a handle on the Diamonds.

Lenormand suit by suit: Hearts

www.phrases.org.uk

You may be aware that the suits we in the English-speaking world are familiar with are French: Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. You also may be aware that our beloved tarot suits are actually Italian playing card suits, and that you can go into any news agents in Italy, apparently, and get a playing card deck that uses these emblems. Thus you may associate Clover with Swords, and consider that to be the suit of thoughts, Spades as Batons and see that as a suit of action, Hearts as Cups and view that as emotions, and Diamonds as Coins, concerned with finances and security. That's a natural reaction for a tarot reader learning Lenormand, but guess what? Though the Lenormand deck uses French emblems, they are not interpreted as either French or Italian -- they are in the Alemannic, or 'German-Swiss', tradition. So a Club is an Acorn, a Spade is a Leaf, a Heart is a Flower or Rose, and a Diamond is a Bell.

What the heck, we tarot reader students may ask, does that mean?

I am only just learning this and my blog is serving as my 'learning journal', so do set me straight if I go wrong, but I'm going to take a look at each suit in turn this week, gleaning information from the books of Caitlin Matthews and Andy Boroveshengra, and adding any flashes of insight of my own as I go (a dangerous proposition.)

Today's suit is Hearts. I've chosen to examine Hearts first because Andy's book, Lenormand: 36 Cards, teaches that Hearts are associated with spring, and I thought it would be nice to look at the suits in season order and consider how this information may colour meaning. Plus, I just like things to be in some kind of order. (The seasons are Hearts - Spring, Diamonds - Summer, Spades - Autumn, Clubs - Winter).

According to Andy's book, the Hearts suit deals with 'domestic affairs, daily life and immediate surroundings'.  Caitlin's book says that Hearts deal with 'home and friendship; emotion, love, trust, encouragement.' So, Hearts are about the home and and the day to day. One could say that Hearts are about the essence of life, or the basics of life.

It may come as a surprise that the suit of Hearts is associated with masculinity. As Andy only hints at but I will dare to expand upon, this no doubt hearkens back to ideas that males are more fully developed human beings spiritually, mentally and emotionally, whereas women are mere slaves to their reproductive systems and thus have much a narrower, underdeveloped and erratic experience of life. How Victorian. (The feminine suit is Spades -- which sounds doubly bad, but it turns out the 'Big Bad' suit in the Alemannic system is not the Spades but the Clubs. More on that later.)

I had all nine of these cards laid out in a line in front of me and it occurred to me that this arrangement reminds me of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory (aka Motivation-Hygiene Theory). In a nutshell, what motivates us are higher level needs; the basic fundamentals are not motivational, we only notice them when they are absent. It's a workplace theory, but it seems to me to be a truth about life, and I noticed it in this line of nine.

projectmanagementtraining.net.au/

If you look at the line, which consists of the cards put in order by suit and number, we have Man - Stars - Tree - Moon - Rider - Dog - Heart - Stork - House. The line starts with Man, and if you consider both the near/far reading method and the number of suits, you can see that the things with the higher numeric value (companionship, love, variety, housing) are things that we tend to take for granted until they're missing; they are far from the Man, because he pays less attention to them, but have a higher number value, because they are more essential to life. That's what reminded me of Herzberg's Theory. The things closest to the man (a sense of a mission in life, of guidance, longevity, recognition and being valued, especially at work) are the things that he finds rewarding and motivational, but which are not 'hygiene factors' (ie, physical life necessities) and thus have a lower number.

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

Whether you see the Ace as the source of or the pinnacle of the suit, it comes as no surprise that the Man is the Ace of Hearts. Following through with the sexist bent of the suits, Man is the source from which life springs. (Woman is the Ace of Spades, or the source/pinnacle of growth and cultivation. The man starts the life, the woman incubates and harvests it, so to speak.)

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

So carrying on the line, above we have recognition and praise, especially at work (Moon), vigorous activity promoting health (Rider), loyal companions (Dog)...

French Cartomancy, LoScarabeo

...and finishing the line, love (Heart), change/growth especially in domestic matters (Stork), and of course the home itself (House).

Well, this certainly helps me get my head around the Hearts suit, and if nothing else, provides a framework for remembering what playing card goes with which Lenormand emblem. I wonder what will spring to mind when I examine the rest of the suits. :)

Thoughts?

Mnemonic for Lenormand House Placement

This week I'm going to be looking at Caitlin Matthews' phenomenal new book, The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook (Destiny, 2014). I've just finished reading Chapter 1 'Learning the Language of Lenormand'. In this chapter, Matthews suggests a practice of developing a verse to help you remember House order. This will come in handy when laying out a grand tableau. She offers her own verse, but I didn't like it, so I wrote my own, based on hers. My lines are in the form of the Piquet Tableau, in which cards are laid out in 4 rows of 8 and one row of 4. I must point out, when you read this mnemonic, it makes no sense at all. But when you go through the cards in order, laying them down as you chant the verse, you soon memorise it. Then you can say it without the cards. Then you can quiz yourself or get someone to quiz you. Have them name a card, like CHILD. Your challenge is to name all the cards in the same line as CHILD, in order. Then try a quiz where you just name the cards to the left and right of CHILD. And for super university challenge status, try a quiz where you name the cards above and below CHILD. 

He RIDES through CLOVER, a SHIP is his HOME, where the TREE SHADES the SNAKE in the BOX

The FLOWERS are CUT to SHAKE at the BIRDS, and the CHILD sees a FOX and a BEAR in the STARS

The STORK flies the DOG up the TOWER, over the GARDEN, past the MOUNTAIN, and down the PATH, where the MICE steal his HEART

The RING on the BOOK on the LETTER are the MAN's, while the WOMAN offers LILIES to the SUN and the MOON

The KEY in the FISH belly ANCHORS the CROSS. 

This technique has worked for me in memorising House placement. Why not try out making your own?