Cards & fans & fans & fans…

 

The spreads I almost always use are the Grand Tableau, the 3×3 and lines of 3, 5, 7 or 9. But sometimes it’s fun to play with something else. I see a lot of people adapting Tarot spreads to Lenormand, etc., or inventing spreads, and this is actually OK, there’s just a simple trick to making it effective.

 

In cartomancy with playing cards, you’ll run across spreads that use a fan for each position. This generally consists of three cards – they can be laid side-by-side, or laid out in a fan formation, similar to the way a person holds a poker hand:

 

 

Hence the name. 🙂 You can see an example of a spread that uses named positions, like Tarot, but with three-card fans for each position, at Cardseer’s blog here.

 

So, using this logic, you can adapt just about ANY Tarot spread to Lenormand, playing cards, Sibilla, Kipperkarten, or whatever. Just remember to use three cards for each position.

 

Recently, there’s been a trend in american Lenormand called “mobile” Houses. It’s done by laying out random cards in a small spread, and laying more random cards on top of them. It’s a fun technique, but “Houses” is actually a misnomer, since Houses require the entire deck in set order. “Mobile” Houses remind me of nothing so much as two-card fans! Why not make it three cards?

 

There’s a good reason for using three cards – you can see the logic in Chanah’s piece called Why Three Card Draws?
She makes the case that the third card can be VITAL, so take time to look over the examples! There’s a big different between Heart + Key, and Heart + Key + Fox! The third card makes all the difference in Lilies + Cross + Ring, too.

So if you’re going to venture off the beaten path with your spreads, just remember the fans. It takes a few words to make a sentence, after all! 😉

Running The Learning Gauntlet: The Lennies

Soldier running the gauntlet, 1695

This is the best of times, this is the worst of times. There’s more english language material available than ever. The problem with this is, most of it’s bogus.

There are courses and blogs recommended in the sidebar, and there’s some excellent starter info here at Andy’s blog: http://myfortunae.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/open-letter-so-you-want-to-learn-lenormand/

But the purpose of this post is to let you know what to avoid, so here’s a list of red flags. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything and these are the five pillars of what to run like hell from. If you think of anything else, leave me a comment!

1. The person “teaching” hasn’t got the necessary experience.
Lenormand is a language, and it’s been mentioned elsewhere that it takes AT LEAST five years to become fluent. People who haven’t been reading Lenormand professionally for at least this long shouldn’t be offering courses. It’s the blind leading the blind.

2. Anything called “New School”.
“New School” is not a school. It’s an advertising hook used by people who haven’t learned the system and they’re filling in the gaps with anything they can think of or scavenge.
Lenormand just IS old fashioned continental European fortune telling. When you take that away, it’s not Lenormand anymore. It’s just some noob playing with cards. They might come up with something fun now and then, but it’s not authentic. It certainly isn’t worth shelling out your hard-earned cash for.

3. “Psychological” Lenormand
I actually saw this quote on a blog: “Cartomancy without a deep understanding of the human psyche is not only ‘fluff’ but could potentially do harm.”
Let me say firstly that the term “fluff” is a term used by Wiccans to discredit other Wiccans. It says a lot more about the person using the term than it does about what they’re attempting to address. Secondly, it should go without saying that a card reader is obviously not a substitute for a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist with the proper degrees and certifications. Thirdly, if the reader IS in one of these professions, it’s illegal for them to use fortune telling in their practice. Fourthly, Lenormand has always been a predictive system, it’s not DESIGNED for psychology. And lastly, choosing your words carefully when a client seems a little unstable is common sense – which these psychological “readers” seem to lack.

4. General lack of knowledge
Just this morning I’ve been told that someone is peddling an idea that in German Lenormand they don’t use or advocate combinations – that they’re using mostly single card/placement methods à la Celtic Cross. If someone advocates this idea, reading off the pictures, or creating your own meanings, if they’re dragging in Tarot meanings for either the cards (“deception” for the Moon, for instance) or the insets (RWS Swords for Spades – the trouble suit in Lenormand is CLUBS), if they’re trying to “make their mark”, start a “new” school rather than learning the system and passing it on – they’re frauds. The definition is a perfect fit:

fraud /frôd/ noun
1.Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
2.A person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.

This is not to say that everyone who comes up with something novel is a fraud. However, they do need to be clear that it’s just a fun thing they made up, and not offer it as “Lenormand” for financial gain.

5. The person has created a wonky deck, and is promoting it with “teaching”.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for extra Man and Woman cards. They’re not necessary (The Rider is traditionally a male lover, the Snake female) but they’re a nice gesture. Including a few extra cards (Sibyl, Happy Squirrel, Clock, Dice, etc.) doesn’t hurt and you might have fun experimenting with them for yourself.
The Lenormand system, however, is capable of saying just about anything without these. If it’s something that happens, there’s a card or combo for it. Reliance on extra cards is a sign of inexperience.

The same goes for themes: they can totally alter the cards. When the Birchrods/Whips become simply a broom because it’s more pagan, or celtic, or whatever, you’ve gone from lashing to cleaning. It’s not Lenormand anymore. People who don’t grasp this don’t know the system well enough to teach it.

Pot, Meet Kettle

Sometimes you see articles with instructions on finding a good reader and avoiding frauds. Some of them are quite good. Others are the bottom of the barrel, like this one, which essentially says you should choose a reader by ethnicity. Has anyone seen this? (warning: EXTREMELY offensive content) http://tarottrends.com/content/clear-line-sand

Ms. Gaudet states:“I, myself, own a gypsy costume – sometimes clients require it. When a client requests it, we don’t have much choice.”

If a client asked her to wear blackface, I don’t imagine she’d have a problem with that, either.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, the link is crammed with worse: bigotry, libel, and nazi rhetoric about predatory “neon gypsies”, amid claims that she’s “ethical” because she has “Tarot certifications”. I won’t quote any more here, it’s all in the link if you can read it without throwing up.

It doesn’t take much googling to find tons of scandals and pyramid schemes attached to the Tarot certification racket. From http://www.tarotcertification.org/ :
Certified Apprentice Tarot Reader Examination (CATR)© 50.00
Certified Tarot Reader Examination (CTR)© 50.00
Certified Professional Tarot Reader Examination (CPTR)© 50.00
Certified Tarot Consultant Examination (CTC)© 75.00
Certified Tarot Master Examination (CTM)© 75.00
Certified Tarot Instructor Examination (CTI)© 75.00
Certified Tarot GrandMaster Examination (CTGM)©100.00
At one point, you have to verify that you’ve qualified students for at least 25 certification ranks. Which is a minimum of $50 per rank.

Who’s scamming, again?

Follow the money: what this is, is essentially a cartel discussing how to use sham certifications and standards to destroy business rivals.

McLennies

Some people aren’t going to like this, but it needs to be said:

Lenormand is lean.

Let me explain:
It’s stripped down. Each card consists of a single symbol (Rider, Clover, etc.), a playing card association and a number. That’s it. And it isn’t read pictorially, but like Kipperkarten, it’s a language with keywords for each card that you string together according to the context of the question. Some people are so purely visual that they just can’t pick this up, and if Lenormand isn’t your thing, I can respect that.

When you add to the symbols – when you add anything – it can throw the whole thing off. You’re “clogging the tubes”, the same way bad food clogs the intestines. Admittedly, I sometimes use decks with a bit of additional imagery, but I ignore it. It’s “there for looks”. And when there’s too much additional stuff, when it dominates, the deck becomes useless. Imagine trying to quickly locate a card in a Grand Tableau when the cards are crammed with imagery. I suppose some americanization is inevitable, it’s just a shame to see it happening to Lenormand. There’s a glut of such decks now, and new ones appearing almost daily. Some are attractive, if useless as Lenormands. Others look like they were done with crayons. It’s a bandwagon. Newsflash: This isn’t “innovating”. It’s broadcasting the fact that the deck creator is a noob, no more.

It’s been said by many that Lenormand is like learning a language. You don’t become fluent overnight, it takes 5-7 years. Of course you’re free to make a deck that’s been “supersized” with Wicca, US holidays, power animals, gimmicks, medicine wheels, and other distortions – just don’t forget that the experienced readers are also free to criticize. There seems to be some kind of taboo against publicly criticizing this trend. It’s a Honey Boo Boo mentality, exercising the right to not learn anything and shouting it from the rooftops. But bear in mind that “freedom of expression” cuts both ways. (Some tend get their panties in a horrible knot when you criticize this stuff. There are some who will take ANY traditionalist statement as RUDE and NARROW and THE PERSON MAKING THE STATEMENT IS A MEAN OLD POOPY HEAD. LMAO. Deal with it.)

Lenormand is a very no-bullshit, to-the-point German concept and this is something to keep in mind. Some say they create these decks in order to better understand the system, but the ONLY thing that actually helps one understand is study and practice. You don’t “learn” Lenormand by drawing, or googling for public domain images. You’re reinforcing your own misconceptions when you do this. And while the deck may be “Lenormand inspired”, it’s no longer a Lenormand.

Attn: Bloggers

In recent months, several blogs I follow have had content stolen. In addition, someone tried to publish an entire e-book using content from someone else’s book. And it was happening long before that, but the recent surge of interest in Lenormand has exacerbated it.

If you see plagiarism, report it. I don’t mean to sound like McGruff the Crime Dog here, but a person’s work is their own. Even though they give the information freely on a blog, they also deserve the credit, the rep and any reading fees generated by blog traffic.

So alert the author or blog owner, if at all possible, and share this link with them (for wordpress – alter as needed)…there’s links to downloadable form letters, everything needed. You might send a Cease and Desist letter yourself, as well, changing the wording of the form letter as appropriate. You’ll find additional info here.

You won’t be wasting your time and effort, response time is generally prompt and the plagiarized content will be removed.

If you’re in a group or forum, let everyone know the original source of the information as well. The person who stole it isn’t a reliable source, they’re often morons and they’re fronting off like someone else’s knowledge is their own, or that they’re privy to something and getting it from their “notes”, when the original blog still exists, if only on the Internet Archive.

And if you see something awesome and want to quote it, give attribution. Don’t copypaste the whole thing, consider Fair Use. Or just LINK to it. Thanks. 🙂

On Simplicity, Elegance and Folk Tradition

It isn’t often that you find a near-pure folk tradition these days, but somehow Lenormand managed that. There have been some slight changes over the centuries, some additions, but for the most part you have something that’s remained intact somehow, and surprisingly consistent, in spite of the regional variations.

You’d think people would be falling over each other to catalogue this. It’s important, like Childe Ballads, dirty blues, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The main book I’m watching for in 2013 is by Andybc, you can see his blog here, it’s wonderful. He gives you Lenormand intact. (Another good source is Waldfee, a german language site.)

A lot of what I see online is cause for alarm, though. Newcomers are pouring in, trying to reinvent Lenormand, to redefine it, to add to it, to leave some kind of “mark” on it even before they’ve comprehended it.

Uhhhhh…isn’t “marking” what dogs do to utility poles? Or the corner of your couch, if you neglect to take them outside?

It takes – at the very least – five years to become fluent with this deck. Sure, you can read before then, but I mean really fluent. And you keep learning after that. You keep learning all your life. “Lenormand for the masses” means “whoever has money they want to spend on it”, I suppose. But Lenormand isn’t FOR everybody. It’s a very verbal system, it’s finding just the right keywords…I notice that a lot of the best readers are also writers in at least some capacity. Everybody’s wired differently, we don’t all have the same aptitudes. I love music, but I can’t play. That’s ok, I belly up to the stage every chance I get and just soak it up. I don’t have to be ON the stage. 😉

Some people just aren’t meant for Lenormand. They might do great with Tarot, or intuitive-type oracle decks, or some other system, but they just don’t have that peculiar wiring that makes a Lenormand reader. Rather than trying to force-fit Lenormand to their shortcomings with add-ons, crutches, and alterations, shouldn’t they be working someplace they can shine? As Chanah once said, “Not everybody can read. And that’s actually okay, and not everybody needs to.”

I totally concur. 🙂

Before it was called Lenormand

Some years ago, noticing the similarities in various European oracle decks like the Lenormand, Italian Sibillas, Biedermeier, etc., and guessing that they had a common ancestor, we went searching for the ur-deck. We never found it, of course, though Enrique Enriquez guessed (correctly) that they might be derived in part from emblem books. (They share a common ancestor called Biribissi, an Italian board game that spawned Mexican Loteria as well!)

But a proto-Lenormand should be simpler to trace, right? Not quite. The earliest images anyone could find were from an 1846 deck printed in France, but primarily for the German market. I only knew two things: A) That the deck had nothing to do with Mlle. Lenormand, and B) That the deck was German (French oracles tend to be less stark, more rococo, with multiple figures playing out a scene on each card. Lenormand is more German than Wurstfest. 😉 ) When you google “Lenormand”, you don’t get anything prior to the deck being named “Lenormand”. And if it was named “Lenormand” as a marketing ploy after Mlle.’s passing, did it exist before that? Well…

“Detleff Hoffman has shown that their prototype can be clearly traced back to a lovely little pack of fancy cards called “Das Spiel der Hoffnung” (The Game of Hope), published around 1800 by G.P.J. Bieling in Nuremberg.”
– A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot (1996), Ronald Decker, Thierry Deplaulis & Michael Dummett

Fortunately, the entire deck still exists, and the British Museum has an intact copy, which only went online last spring.

As you can see from the translated instructions here, it was used a lot like our modern Monopoly game. However, when I gave the link to Cat Yronwode (her luckymojo.com site is fascinating and worth checking out) her reaction was, “As described by the British Museum, that is not a board game. It’s a pack of pasteboard playing cards. It is not a proto Lenormand deck — it just *is* a Lenormand deck. ‘Description. Cards with French suits: complete pack of 36 playing-cards'” And she is correct.

The eerily-accurate Lenormand sprang full-blown into this world in 1799. Via a man who was trying to make a game.

I don’t know about you, and I won’t venture into “what it all means”, if anything, but I find this mind-blowing. 😀

Of course everybody wanted a copy – the most recommended Lenormands are the traditional, mostly-unadorned ones like the Mertz, Gluck, Dondorf, Piatnik and Blue Owl, and this one fit the bill perfectly – the only “extra” features are the German playing card insets, in addition to the more familiar French-suited ones. I almost went to the print shop with my scans, and would have ended up with a hot mess – the original deck was crudely cut. Tarot Professionals Ltd. to the rescue, and Ciro Marchetti did the tweaking: extending the aged coloring, adding a back design (the originals had plain backs) and framing each card with a thin black line. The resulting deck is pure pleasure. (It has a washed-out greenish tinge, like a paler version of mottled old green turquoise, that was probably a printing error. However, I quite like it, and don’t the Thoth “greenies” fetch the best price?)

The deck was printed in a limited run of 250 copies, but if you’re quick about it, you might still get one here.

Special thanks to Helen Riding, Caitlin Matthews, Mary Greer, Marcus Katz, Tali Goodwin, Ciro Marchetti – in no particular order – and anyone I may have left out who had a hand in making this all come together and bringing it to my attention.

Lenormand Is Not A Religion

Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? So why am I blogging this?

I spend a lot of time talking with other readers online. We swap notes, we help each other out, sometimes we disagree. Not so many years ago, hardly anybody in the US or UK gave a thought to Lenormand, they considered it inferior to Tarot, if they’d heard of it at all. It’s only recently that there’s been a surge of interest here, and I’m seeing new people popping up every day, trying to learn.

Immediately they hit a wall – there’s very few books in english about Lenormand, and to be honest, the ones that are out there won’t get you where you want to be. With Lenormand, courses are best. Iris Treppner and Britta Kienle both have wonderful inexpensive courses available in english, and Andybc is offering a free course that’s actually top quality.

And of course there’s the community, you can post a question at any of the good Lenormand forums or the facebook group and almost instantly get answers. The Lenormand community is happy to mentor you, free of charge.

It occurred to me that this same generosity might be WHY we sometimes get accused of “bullying” when we tell someone that no, the Moon doesn’t mean “deception” in Lenormand, or that their best option is to study a tradition rather than make things up. We’re not trying to persecute anyone. Maybe if we called ourselves “Priestesses” or “Gurus” and charged hundreds – even thousands of dollars, they’d be sitting at our feet like disciples. (And I’m NOT implying that all religious leaders are crooks – just that that element definitely exists.) Which would be creepy. I’d rather be broke.

It’s kind of sad that so many people don’t trust something that’s given freely.

Someone (someone nice, no persecution complex, I see a very good reader in the making) posted a question at the facebook group today about placing more emphasis on the playing card insets in order to cull additional meanings. I thought I’d share my reply here:

I wouldn’t advise actively seeking additional meanings, it only muddies the water. If you stick with the traditional meanings and training your mind to combine them, you’ll find that they “stretch to fit” any situation and your accuracy rate should be 80-90%. It takes some discipline to get to this point, but it’s worth it.

I’m not trying to “tell you what to do”. A lot of people get huffy when we say things like this but we’re trying to help, we’re trying to transmit a tradition. Maybe it would be easier for us if we called it an “initiation” or “empowerment” and exploited it, but the Lenormand world is (happily) lacking that particular element of sleaze. People seem more accepting of things that aren’t given to them freely. I’m not rolling in money and I don’t have newbies cleaning my bathroom or hot young guys giving me funny massages, but I can look at myself in the mirror.

“Additional meanings” will come on their own, don’t try to look for them. I noticed the Heart coming up repeatedly as “the wish card” in my readings (logically it would be the Key, cartomantically it would be the Rider, 9H) so I use it that way. I see it as a personal idiosyncracy and don’t put it out there as “the way”, but there ARE “right ways” – trust me on this.

Lenormand: Doing It Right

Having recently shared
https://andybctarot.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/new-lenormand-and-the-new-age/
(a timely warning at AndybC’s wonderful blog regarding self-proclaimed “experts” and the need to put in the effort if we want to accomplish anything) I want to add that he has a course you can sign up for here:
http://z13.invisionfree.com/Cartomantes_Cabinet/index.php?act=idx

You can study the TRADITIONAL method of your choice here, in english, at no charge. 😀 This is real Lenormand and not “intuitive” reading. (While I do encourage being creative and finding what works for you, it’s important to know the tradition inside and out first, and make no mistake about it, Lenormand is a standalone system in its own right and a tradition, not a modern Tarot deck or “anything you want it to be”. Anything other than traditional Lenormand is just playing at it.

I can’t recommend it enough, no matter if you’re new to Lenormand or a professional reader, there’s a lot to be gained, and when you’re done you’ll be reading LIKE A BOSS. 😀 See you there!

The Trajectory of US Lenormand…and Melissa Hill!

America: home of Black Friday WalMart riots and Big Mac-fueled rampant consumerism. Even Tarot isn’t immune, make no mistake about it. For every great american deck, there’s a glut of ill-thought-out ones attempting to cash in on the current trends. As much as they try to be cutting edge, though, there’s a definite lameness to them, kind of a bland woowoo-and-bubbles-of-pink-light vibe. So it’s with some trepidation that I’ve been watching Lenormand catch on here in recent years.

Don’t get me wrong, in their native Germany* there are various theme Lenormands, including a version with angels. Some of the German decks can be a little twee and at times, even smarmy…but they just don’t run it into the ground over there. There’s a certain neatness and simplicity to it all, a very structured framework that encourages your own impressions, associations and intuitions but doesn’t allow them to float off into foofooland. The system is as blunt and incisive as runes, it works, and they don’t seem to monkey with it overmuch. Here, on the other hand…well, I’m still cringing at the mere thought of a Precious Moments Wicca Crystal The Secret Lenormand. From Hallmark.

For now, though, we’re ok.  Big shoutout to Melissa Hill! I recently acquired two decks from her, The Melissa Lenormand and The Postmark Lenormand.  The Melissa is stunning, with collaged images from the 1800’s up to the 1930’s or so. It’s at least as pretty as anything Baba Studios ever turned out: Victorian postcards, faded photos, steampunky gears and curious old ads, often with a backdrop of old handwritten letters. The complexity of the images is a departure from the traditional stripped-down symbolism of Lenormand, but she’s done it so well that it doesn’t seem like a liability at all. Just read them the same as you would any other Lenormand. All in all, it’s a fun departure from “regular” Lenormand and if you’ve been doing a lot of readings and started to burn out, this is the cure. Here’s a few of the cards:

The Postmark, on the other hand, is a very traditional Lenormand: single images marked with the card number and playing card designation. And this is where the similarity stops…the deck is a lively scavenger hunt packed with old photos and art in various mediums, some of it quite old, some more contemporary. This one also has extra cards: Melissa’s trademark extra Man and Woman, plus a #18 Dog alternative, the Cat, and the dreaded Happy Squirrel. I love doing layouts with it for the sheer quirky variety of the thing. Check these out:

I’m really looking forward to Melissa’s Cirque de Lenormand…a Lenormand taken entirely from old circus posters!  You can check out her website here http://sassysibyl.com/

*I don’t buy the alleged connection to the real Mlle. Lenormand and the earliest images I’ve been able to turn up, though printed in France in 1845, were primarily for the German market, since the German titles are most prominent http://www.lenormand-museum.de/lenormandkarten-frankreich-unbekannt.html I imagine they were printing them in Germany before that. If anyone has info to prove or disprove this, please comment!

Posted by Stella aka "fennario". Categories: cartomancy, fortunetelling, Lenormand. Tags: Lenormand. 7 Comments