Crossover effect -- a good thing, I'm thinking

I did a 3-card draw with my Celtic Tarot this morning for the day, and I found myself doing something I seldom do with tarot: I looked at the first and second cards to see how they together make a new meaning. I almost always use positional spreads, and read cards as chunk-chunk-chunk of information and weave them into a story. But after only a week of pondering Lenormand cards, my first impulse was to look at the Star and 6 of Coins and wonder how they affect each other to create something that they couldn't mean apart from each other. I have to admit, I have never really done that.

Interestingly, my daily draw with Lenormand had the Stars card, and then my daily draw with tarot also had the Star card. I can't help but think it's a kind of little joke--because we're going to see a movie today about aliens. Ha ha!

I know it's not a good thing to try to read the Lenormand like tarot and vice versa, but surely card linking in tarot goes right back to Eteilla and is a true cartomantic skill. So this is all very exciting for me in my development as a reader.

I'm on my way now!

Okay, I've made a start. I've read several sources that suggest when learning you should choose one system of reading Lenormand cards and stick to it. And several sources that say the best way to learn is NOT to read a book (not that there are many available anyway) but to journal daily readings. So, you see before you my complete Lenormand learning kit (well, minus the Internet of course! I need that to get to Melissa's website, lenormand.info). The Melissa Lenormand, a journal and a pen.

I chose the blank book with the picture of Paris on front in honour of Mme Lenormand--even though I'm learning that the Lenormand deck as we know it today is likely not much like the deck she herself used. She might not even recognise it. Ha, she might even be bemused by it, who knows.  Still this is the deck we all have and love now, and the journal was cheap at the Works and I thought, 'Ooh! It's Paris! Mme Lenormand lived there (I think). And it has a postmark! Surely a sign that I will be able to buy the Postmark Lenormand when it comes out in its next edition!' And so I bought it. (Plus another one featuring Amsterdam. And another of Venice. Good to be prepared, you know).

Lenormand study -- KEY

Mystical Lenormand AGM 2005

I'm using an image of Mystical Lenormand today, and I can already see why so many Lenormand readers prefer simple card faces that show only a plain image, with perhaps the playing card as well. It really does confuse the matter, for me, as a Lenormand beginner, to have a lot of images on the card. The temptation to do a tarot-style springboard from those images is nearly too great to resist. BUT--all sources seem to point to the same advice: you must learn the card meanings by rote, and learn to read them according to tradition. It's that simple.  It makes sense. You have to learn to play your scales before you can indulge in jazz improvisation. You have to learn to draw before you can become the father of Cubism. So, here I am with today's doh-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-doh. 


Key (33), despite the fact that today's card shows a sleeping dragon and an egg with a key in it, is really just a key--a big, ornate key. What does a key mean to me? My first thought is, freedom. Release. A key is what you need to open a door. It is the answer to the problem. 

Lenormand Study -- WHIP

Melissa Lenormand, 2nd ed 2011

The first thing to spring to mind this morning is the song 'Whip It' by Devo. ha ha. Anyone remember that? 'When a problem comes along, you must whip it. When something's going wrong, you must whip it...Now whip it! Into shape! Shape it up! Get straight! Go forward! Move ahead! It's not too late... to whip it. Whip it good!' I don't think this song is entirely unrelated to this card, funnily enough. Though the song implies strong proactive responses to problems, while the card is mostly just the problems. 


A scourge or whip and sometimes a broom as well is what you usually get on card number 11 in the Lenormand oracle, and it is sometimes also called 'Birch rod'. A quick brainstorm of associations with this object yields: oppression, abuse, pain and suffering, strife, conflict, punishment, corporal punishment, whipping of course. These are on the right track. But from what I've seen in various sources, rather than focus entirely on physical punishment, the Whip also has a lot to do with verbal arguments: debate, discussions that degenerate, strong words that hurt, fights, power demonstrated through words. Now how to link words with a whip in the mind? 

Lenormand Study -- DOG

Melissa Lenormand 2nd Edition 2011

Lately I've been looking at my Mystical Lenormand quite a bit, and the other day, my 2nd edition Melissa Lenormand arrived, and so I would like to embark on a study of these cards. I am a complete newbie to the Lenormand cards and system, and so this will be a useful exercise for me. I encourage comments that will help me along my path to learning this system of divination.


In my reading about the Lenormand system, I've concluded that the best way to go about reading the cards is to develop my own set of associations (based on tradition as well), and to leave out analysis of individual artists' interpretation of the card. For my Lenormand style, I intend not to worry so much what direction a figure is facing, or what colours are used, etc. I want to do a pure Lenormand reading style from the beginning, then let it flow from there as I grow. I really hope that I take off with this system, as I haven't been this excited about any divination tool since I discovered tarot.