Learning how to work with my newest divination oracle, the Lenormand, has got me acting like a squirrel with a nut. (The Happy Squirrel, from the Malpertuis Lenormand)
In previous posts, I’ve been sharing about the newest divinatory tool in my life these days, the Lenormand oracle. In those posts, I shared how the Lenormand has appeared in my dreams, much like the Tarot has over the years.
And, just like I did when I started my study and practice of Tarot, every morning I have been pulling what is known as “daily draws,” consisting of three cards to see what the Lenormand has to say about how my day will go.
And, after I had the precognitive experience involving the cards The Lilies and The Whip, I wanted to ask the cards (or “Lennie” as some readers call them), “What do I need to know about my learning to read the Lenormand?”
Unlike Tarot, where I could pull a single card and receive an answer, the Lenormand is best read in pairs and triplets. So, I decided to pull three cards from my Malpertuis Lenormand deck to answer my question.
The first thing I decided was the use of a focus card, which would represent the subject of the reading. Since I was asking about the Lenormand itself, I decided to let The Book represent the deck (it is said The Book can symbolize a deck of cards).
I shuffled the cards, and then looked through them for The Book, my focus card. The cards that came before and after The Book would make up the other two cards for the reading.
Here are the cards that made up the reading: The Lilies, The Book, and The Crossroads.
The Lilies, The Book, and The Crossroads, from the Malpertuis Lenormnad.
I’ve heard it said that the Tarot is visual and the Lenormand is verbal. Here’s why: Each card in the Lenormand system represents a word in the reading overall. And then the words are strung together to make a sentence (also called a “forward narration”).
But before that can happen, I needed to take a look at the pairs that are present within this triplet. One is the pairing of The Lilies and The Book (or Lilies + Book); another is The Book and The Crossroads (Book + Crossroads); and the final pairing, using a process called “mirroring” or “reflecting,” is The Lilies and The Crossroads (Lilies + Crossroads).
When reading pairs, the first card typically represents the subject (noun), and the second card modifies the first in some way (either as an adjective or verb).
I already said that Book would represent the Lenormand deck; other meanings are secrets, education, knowledge, and teachings.
Lilies (it seems like this card shows up for me often, doesn’t it?) can mean experience, wisdom, elders, and maturity.
So, for the pair of Lilies + Book, I wrote in my journal: the maturation (Lilies) of knowledge (Book); learning (Book) from elders (Lilies); experience (Lilies) from reading the cards (Book); knowledge (Book) of elders (Lilies); and teachings (Book) of elders (Lilies).
This pairing suggests that my knowledge of reading will mature, and that the knowledge and teachings of elders (knowledgeable and experienced Lenormand readers) will play a part in my learning process. It also suggests that experience itself will be the best and greatest teacher—I will learn just by doing it (reading the cards).
Crossroads can represent choices, alternatives, options, multiples, and direction. When I shifted to the pairing of Book + Crossroads, I wrote: multiple (Crossroads) readings (Book); alternate (Crossroads) readings (Book); option (Crossroads) of readings (Book); and choice (Crossroads) of decks (Book).
My thoughts on this pairing is that learning to read the Lenormand would offer me (and possibly my clients) more options than just reading Tarot solely; it also reinforced the dream in which the Lenormand was mixed in with Tarot cards.
For the pairing of Lilies + Crossroads, I wrote: choice (Crossroads) of elders (Lilies); choice (Crossroads) of experiences (Lilies); path (Crossroads) to wisdom (Lilies); and multiple (Crossroads) experiences.
I thought this pairing was telling me that possibly two (the two paths on Crossroads card) elders (Lilies) would play a significant part in my learning. This is coupled by the fact that both these cards can also represent people (like the Court Cards in the Tarot).
For my summation, which is taking the meanings of the cards and stringing them together to create a sentence (forward narration, going from left to right), I came up with this: The experience (Lilies) gained from reading and studying the Lenormand (Book) will take me in new directions (Crossroads). Not a bad summation, don’t you think?
The Anchor, from the Malpertuis Lenormand.
My final step allows me to use my playing card reading skills, which is to add up the numerical values of the playing cards (known as the Pips) inserted into the cards. The Lilies has the King of Spades, which is 13; The Book has 10 of Diamonds, which is 10; and the Crossroads has the Queen of Diamonds, which is 12. Adding 13 + 10 + 12 together gives me a sum of 35.
The Lenormand oracle consists of 36 cards, so card 35 is my Advice Card. The card is The Anchor. The Anchor is a work card, and can represent stability and something that is long-term, becoming routine. With this card, I got the sense that my “work” with the Lenormand will be “long-term” and that I will be using the cards “routinely.”
And the advice right now? “Stick with it.”
I’ll be doing just that.
life of HIMM 