Laura’s New Love: Lenormand

Sometimes, you get the perfect gift. My deck of Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Reverie Lenormand arrived in the post one day when I was stuck at home because of dangerous road conditions. I’d been scheduled to spend the day in a nearby town with my most enduring friend, so I was feeling pretty blue. It wasn’t my birthday or anything, but my sister knows how much I love Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot and she bought me his Lenormand deck as a “just because” gift. I fell in love with the beautiful imagery, and the more I explored it, the more I realized that I’d found an oracle deck that truly speaks to me. The simplicity of the imagery helps focus my mind on the archetypes represented in the deck’s 36 cards. And the way Lenormand is read, with the symbols influencing each other, is very similar to dream reading. I’m delighted to be offering Lenormand readings as part of the Healing Team at the Spring Dream Retreat hosted by Billie Ortiz on May 1-3, 2015. I am also available by teleconference for readings.

To give you an idea of what I do, I dealt a spread to read as a sample for First Church of Metaphor. We’ll read this for a woman who has chosen to keep her question to herself, so it’s unknown to me as the reader. Here’s the spread:

The center card provides the focus of the reading, and the anchor is traditionally linked to hope and faith, so right away, when I read this for myself, I see a question about persevering in a hope or dream. Lenormand cards are always read in the context of the cards nearby, so let’s see what the cards can tell us about this central theme.

Starting with the top row, we have Mountain, Choice, and Heart. Mountain in the traditional Lenormand represents obstacles in our way. With Choice beside it, it can carry the nuance of turning aside and taking a different path, rather than trying to surmount the obstacles. With heart at the end of the row, I see this as a suggestion  to follow my heart in the choice I make. Reading the three cards left to right as past/present/future, the obstacles may have dogged me for a while, and now I’m at a point where I need to make a choice, and my heart is already out ahead of me, leading the way.

The center row contains Fox, Anchor, and Child. Fox is traditionally the trickster, deceit or betrayal. Since it’s next to the anchor, perhaps it suggests that I haven’t given my all to my hopes, or that my hopes have been betrayed in the past. Perhaps as long ago as my childhood. The Child card also represents an early stage of development, whether of a project or of an insight. Since it’s so near the Choice card, I would even read the Child here as a possible new path.

The bottom row shows Book, Clouds, and Fish. The book could be a literal book, if I, as the querent, am a writer. Or it can suggest knowledge, sometimes secret knowledge. Followed by Clouds, which stands for confusion, doubts, and emotional storms. It is often read according to its position in the spread, which in this case is in the center column, or the present. In this position, the worst of confusion is behind me, and ahead lie abundant resources in the Fish. This row can also be read that the knowledge I need is about the confusion itself, and once I figure that out, prosperity lies ahead.

The cards can also be read in their columns, diagonals, and various other combinations. Sometimes the columns are read as past, present, and future. In the left column, we have Mountain, Fox, and Book. This suggests to me that there have been obstacles and possible betrayals having to do with some knowledge I worked hard to acquire.  In the center, the present, Choice-Anchor-Clouds suggest a lot of questioning of my faith and perseverance. It looks like a crisis of faith, perhaps triggered by the obstacles and trickery I’ve already encountered. The final column suggests the answer, I think, with Heart/Child/Fish. Heart can signify love with another person or passions that I follow. In this combination, I see that my passions, when combined with a childlike wonder and imagination, lead to abundance.

Overall, the cards suggest a cross-roads. Is it worth persevering in the face of so many obstacles, so much confusion? There’s a choice to be made, and the cards want me to follow my heart.