Earlier this week, I shared an outlook reading using the Lenormand.
That was the first part of the reading.
In that post, I conducted the reading using keywords associated with the basic image on the cards. Those keywords are then strung together in combinations of pair and triplets to make meaning of the cards. This is one of the reasons the Lenormand is referred to as “speaking cards.”
And this is just one of the ways to have the cards communicate messages to us. Another way is to let the pips—the playing card inserts—have a say in the reading.
So, what do these pips have to say for the weekly outlook? Let’s take a look…
If you recall, our cards for this week’s reading are Mice, Book, Mountain, Tower, and House.
The playing cards inserted on those cards are: 7 of Clubs (Mice); 10 of Diamonds (Book); 8 of Clubs (Mountain); 6 of Spades (Tower); and King of Hearts (House).
One of the things I do in a reading with the inserts is looking for the Hidden Dynamics. As I mentioned in the past, this is a technique I discovered in the wonderful book “The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook” by divination expert Caitlin Matthews.
Starting with the pips from the outer cards and adding their numerical values together, we have 7 (7 of Clubs) and 13 (King of Hearts). Adding them together gives us 20.
The Lenormand deck has 36 numbered cards, so we look for card 20, which is Garden.
Garden is a card of groups and communities. It’s also about social events and public places, keeping with the idea of places and spaces where people gather together.
So, with the focus of the reading being setbacks, delays, and challenges (Mountain), one of the challenges may involve a group or community; there could also be a setback or delay with a social event (Garden).
Looking at the inner pips next, from the cards Book and Tower, we have 10 (10 of Diamonds) and 6 (6 of Spades). Adding them together gives us 16.
The 16th card in the deck is Stars. This is a card of inspiration and guidance; Stars can suggest something becoming clear. Stars can also be a card of ideals and goals—things that we aspire to.
So, there could be a challenge (Mountain) accomplishing or achieving some type of goal, especially with the aspect of Mountain that can suggest a challenge that takes some time to overcome.
Mountain being between Garden and Stars says the challenge (Mountain) may be between doing something in public, in-person (Garden) or doing something online (Stars can be a card of online activity and the internet).
The Hidden Dynamic is just another way of uncovering additional information that could be helpful in the reading.
The last thing I do in my Line of 5 readings with the pips is to add them all together, kind of as a final word on the reading. Using the pips from our weekly outlook, we have 7 + 10 + 8 + 6 + 13, which gives us 44.
Since there are only 36 cards in the deck, we take any number over 36 and add its digits together. In this case, we have 4 + 4 = 8. Card 8 in the deck is Coffin, so this becomes our final card for the reading.
Coffin is a card of endings, of limitations and restrictions. It’s a card that suggests bringing something to a close, something being finalized, and an issue being put to rest.
As the final word, so to speak, Coffin would suggest that when it comes to facing a challenge or obstacle, a setback or delay (Mountain), we must ask ourselves if we’re going to let the challenge limit and restrict us, to keep us trapped and stuck—or, rather, be determined to see things through to the end.
And with that, this weekly outlook with the Lenormand comes to its close.
Until next time,
(The cards used for the reading and in this post are from the Piatnik Lenormand deck.)
life of HIMM 