Talkin’ Tarot with the Lenormand

Recently, my Reiki Master-Teacher called me while I was in the middle of doing a practice reading with the Lenormand. The reason for the call was that she wanted to know if I would be interested in giving a talk to our group of practitioners at the Reiki clinic she heads up.

Having given a few talks for the group already (one on career guidance with numerology; one on my dream decoding process; one on Tarot birth cards; and the last one was on the 4 principles of dream decoding), I paused for a moment, wondering, “What would I talk about?”

No sooner than the words came from my mouth, the topic came: I told my Teacher that the topic for my talk would be “Tapping Your Inner Tarot Reader.”

Wrapping up the call, I turned my attention back to the reading I was doing, cards out on the floor (I do all my personal readings on the floor of my bedroom). Thinking this was a divine moment to ask the cards about this opportunity to talk about something near and dear to me, I gathered up the Lenormand (Under the Roses) and, shuffling the deck in my hands, focused on this question:

“How will my talk go for Practitioner’s Night at the Reiki Connection?”

As I continued to focus on the question while I shuffled, a card fell out from the deck. I stopped to look at the card. It was The Journal (also known as The Book).

If you’ve read about my previous Lenormand post, you may recall that The Journal was spotlighted. One of the things The Journal can symbolize is a deck of cards. This lets me know that the Lenormand is all for me looking at this topic; it’s like the cards were saying, “Let’s talk about this!”

Keeping The Journal out, I finished shuffling and pulled the following cards for a Line of 5 Reading, which is laying the cards in a horizontal line, from left to right: The Locket, The Lilies, The Anchor, The Gentleman, and The Bouquet.

The Locket, The Lilies, The Anchor, The Gentleman, and The Bouquet, from the Under the Roses Lenormand.

The first thing that catches my attention is that The Gentleman, the card that represents the male involved in the situation, is in the line. This is my card, representing me. This, like The Journal, is a positive indicator.

The Anchor, which is the middle card, is the focus of the reading. The Anchor is a work card, which again, is a positive indicator, because the focus of my presentation is my work with Tarot.

Also, having done this a number of times, The Anchor can suggest a situation that can be both long-term and routine.

The combination of Lilies + Gentleman tells me a bit more about the topic in-depth. The Lilies, another card I’ve talked about in previous posts, indicates experience. So, I read this pair as my experience (with Tarot).

The summation, which is represented by the pairing of Locket (also known as The Heart) + Bouquet, is read as the gift (Bouquet) of passion (Locket); hearts (Locket) and flowers (Bouquet); and love (Locket) + gift (Bouquet), which I wrote as love offering, which is a collection that is taken up and given to the presenter.

The pair of Locket + Lilies, which is formed to show something that influences the situation, I read as the experiences (Lilies) of something (Tarot) that I have passion (Locket) for.

The pair of Gentleman + Bouquet, which talks about a probable outcome, I read as my gift or an inviting (Bouquet, which can mean an invitation) man.

The Bouquet can also mean a surprise, so I also write a surprise for me and a gift for me.

Lilies + Anchor gets read as a long-term (Anchor) experience (Lilies), which is my 16 years working with the Tarot; work (Anchor) experience (Lilies); and a routine (Anchor) experience (Lilies).

The pairing of Anchor + Gentleman I read as simply my (Gentleman) work (Anchor), and a routine (Anchor) for me (Gentleman).

Stringing the cards together as a sentence, I read the line as “A passionate (Locket) experience (Lilies) of my work (Anchor + Gentleman) will be pleasant (Bouquet).”

The Essence card, which comes from the total of the numbers on the cards (24 + 30 + 35 + 28 +9 = 126; 1 + 2 + 6 = 9), is The Bouquet, a card already in the line. As I mentioned before, The Bouquet can mean an invitation, a gift, and a surprise. It can suggest a pleasant experience.

The final advice on the reading can come from adding the numbers of the playing card inserts. Adding 11 (Jack of Hearts) + 13 (King of Spades) + 9 (of Spades) + 1 (Ace of Hearts) + 12 (Queen of Spades), I get 46; 4 + 6 = 10. The 10th card in the deck is The Sickle (also known as The Scythe).

I pause for a moment to consider the card. Its meanings can suggest something fast, quick, swift, and sharp. The thought that comes is that the card is advising me that the method I want to present to the group is a fast and quick method to begin the reading process—but it is, by no means, extensive or exhaustive.

This card can sometimes represent danger, so the phrase “knowing just enough to make you dangerous” comes to mind.

So, the Lenormand told me to rely on my experiences with Tarot, that I would be presenting a quick and easy way to start the reading process, and that the night will end on a pleasant note.

What Actually Happened: The Update

So, I conducted that reading on February 25, 2015. I gave the presentation on March 3, 2015. As the cards predicted, the evening was very pleasant (Bouquet).

I opened by talking about my attraction (Gentleman and Locket) to Tarot—how it started and how it has grown and evolved over 16 years (Lilies can mean maturity).

A lot of the Reiki practitioners that attended had no working knowledge of Tarot, so after a brief talk about the structure of the deck, I invited (Bouquet) the group to participate in a couple of activities that didn’t require in-depth knowledge of the cards; rather, I wanted to create something experiential (Lilies).

A gift I received from a participant at a recent talk on Tarot. Even though the Lenormand predicted a gift, it still came as a surprise–which was also predicted.

A love offering was taken up and given to me (Locket + Bouquet). Also, as the participants were leaving, many stopped to share their experiences (Lilies) of the activities with me.

One man stopped and handed me a small metallic Angel token statuette. Thinking he was just showing it to me, I marveled it and went to hand it back to him. “Oh, no,” he said, “I brought it here to give to you. It’s a gift.” (Bouquet)

It’s a gift I’ve carried on my person since.

All in all, I think the Lenormand and I talk Tarot pretty well.