Sometimes the Lenormand are so spot-on or literal that it both amazes me and makes me laugh. The Brits would say the cards are being cheeky at times like that! This is an example of such a reading I did this morning.
ASS Lenormand cards in the Square of Nine
I didn’t have a particular question in mind; I was mainly interested in practicing this spread, which isn’t a regular part of my repertoire. The central card should provide the focus of the reading, and this case, it is the Fish. (A list of the cards as spread can be found at the end of this post.)
As many of my readers know, I use the card meanings as presented in Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle, where the Fish is primarily a card of business, entrepreneurs and independence. I’ve been starting to associate the Fish with my personal projects — they may be like a business and require some work on my part, and often have a schedule or deadline. I figured that must be the Fish’s meaning… then it hit me: the Literal Lenormand strikes again!
My partner and I have a trip planned to the aquarium in the city today. Fish is a perfect card for that! It’s like a literal representation of our destination and main activity today. Noting the presence of both Ship (car) and Crossroad (road trip), that made perfect sense, so I went with that for the context of my reading.
The Bouquet triggers the Fish; so an invitation (Bouquet next to Letter) triggered this trip.
Corners
The corners further define this: a pleasant road trip (Bouquet + Crossroad) and getting out of the house (House + Coffin). This latter is of note because we are both homebodies and have been making more effort to do things out of the house; so Coffin seems appropriate.
Central cross
The cross-shaped cards are the center of the situation or the core of the reading. These cards are Letter + Lily + Fish + Ship + Birds. This shows the invitation (or tickets) after a long time — which makes sense as we’ve talking about visiting this new aquarium for a while now. The aquarium will be a peaceful activity (Lily + Fish). We will drive there (Ship), giving us time to talk and be close as a couple (Birds).
Columns (past, present, future)
The columns from left to right give past-present-future.
Bouquet + Lily + Coffin: Peace and complacency coming to an end. We have been arguing a bit this week and harmony has been lacking.
Letter + Fish + Birds: An invitation to the aquarium to spend the day together as a couple.
House + Ship + Crossroad: Taking a driving trip to get out of the home.
The “T”
Bouquet + Home + Birds: This looks like harmony at home as a couple — a good sign for any relationship.
Coffin + Crossroad + Letter: A change brought about by an offer to take a short trip. (This also seems to answer what comes after the Coffin in the past column.)
Other options
There are other steps that can be used here. Some people add information by reading the diagonals, or pairing the cards in various ways. Treppner teaches pairing all the cards with each other and turning them into a cohesive story, but I found that very confusing when I first saw it. There is also the possibility to read what’s on the querent’s mind by looking at the rows.
I am still amused by what I see as the literal description of this aquarium visit today.
Do you have Literal Lenormand moments? Also, do you like the Square of Nine? Let me know about either of these, in the comments!
For those who can’t see the cards well, there are three rows. They contain:
- Bouquet + Letter + House
- Lily + Fish + Ship
- Coffin + Birds + Crossroad
13 comments
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July 7, 2012 at 10:37 am
Helen
Go Fish!
July 8, 2012 at 11:06 am
Jason
They sure did!
We got so see some sharks and stingrays, among other things. The rays were in an open-top tank, so I could look down on them just a few inches below me. One of them would sit there at the surface and just churn water, it was weird, but neat.
July 7, 2012 at 11:48 pm
1960boy
Hi Jase,
I first learnt the Square of 9 from Andybc’s blog. It took me a couple of weeks trying to get comfortable with the spread but as time went on my eyes would automatically follow the set patterns of interpretation without having to constantly refer back to my written notes. It’s still a spread that I haven’t experienced an accurate reading from to the questions posed. However in saying that I too have experienced moments when the centre card was very literal to what I was doing and experiencing in that moment.
Enjoy your day at the Aquarian.
Andrew
July 8, 2012 at 11:04 am
Jason
Hi Andrew,
I first saw the square…. um… actually, from various sources online. Both for Lenormand and playing card reading. Then I saw Treppner’s version in that Lenormand course, and I thought it was confusing the way she presented it. The process of combining what seemed like every possible pair, then having to sort out what didn’t fit in order to tell a story, was awkward to me. But even the less simple versions of this spread and I just never got along. I’m not sure why.
I know this isn’t one of Andy’s favorites, per his blog. Yet other people love it. I suppose different spreads and methods work differently for everyone. Myself, I mainly like to read lines of cards. I am sure this is influenced by my tarot work with the Opening of the Key method.
Now that I think about it, perhaps dropping or changing the combinations that don’t fit the overall story as told by the majority of cards would make this square work better… because there are a lot of permutations that are possible, and it doesn’t surprise me that some of them aren’t going to fit the situation. (Or at least in a way that can be recognized by the querent.) Food for thought!
The aquarium was fun, thanks.
July 8, 2012 at 3:33 pm
woley
You got me on this one too Jase, I went and ordered the ASS Lenormand from Book Depository and they also had the funny little Piatnik deck numbered 194115 for under $6 so I bought that too because I liked the watercolours.
I don’t have Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle–didn’t appeal to me. I have two French books, one on the regular Lenormand and one on the Astro Mythological Lenormand. You know how I love to translate books! (much rolling of eyes.)
My books:
1) Le Petite Lenormand by Colette Silvestre
2) Le Grand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand by Corinne Morel
Both are fairly easy to translate. I don’t think you have the Astro deck, right? It’s very interesting (the Trojan War!!) and geomantic figures, flowers, constellations–lots of neat things to look up. I like this book because it tells you what the central subject and the left and right subjects are, plus the flowers etc.
July 8, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Jason
Ah, the Piatnik is a very pretty deck. I don’t read with it often, but it was my second deck, after the French Cartomancy.
I don’t have any French books. If I read French I would be able to read Etteilla’s book, which I’d like; and perhaps a Petit Etteilla deck as well.
I recognize Colette Silvestre, she might be somewhat prolific?
I do have the Astro deck! I also have the Petit Lenormand version. I find them both to be quaint, but the small one doesn’t work as a Lenormand for me at all. The Astro deck is something I never had the time (nor motivation) to dig into really. Maybe someday I’ll find more time.
Let me know how you enjoy the new decks. I’m sure you’ll share on your blog.
August 7, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Rhettarot
I have the Piatnik deck
It’s beautiful; it looks kind of Victorian to me.
July 9, 2012 at 12:45 am
Rhettarot
Yes. I drew the Fish & The Anchor for a trip I was planning to take to the beach.
July 9, 2012 at 6:59 am
Jason
That’s great.
August 3, 2012 at 10:32 am
Rhettarot
I just tried my 1st square of nine & for some reason when I read the past/present/future part of it, the meanings are quite accurate if they’re read in horizontal rows, but not so much when read in columns. Why would that be? Also, do the corners, the cross & the T talk about things that will happen in the future, things happening now or things that happened in the past? Thanks for this article by the way!
August 5, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Jason
I don’t have a good answer for you, about why the rows worked better for you than the columns. It could be the way your mind works; it could be that you didn’t focus your intent (determining how you would read the spread) enough beforehand; it could be that the columns do describe the situation except it’s like a blind spot for you. If you use this spread more, perhaps you could keep track and determine if that is consistent for you. If so, use the rows instead of columns.
Corners are like an overview of the situation, so that is a look at the present. The cross, for me, is future (or present-to-future). The “T” provides some extra information, which is most likely to also be about the future.
I am still not a fan of this spread, but it is popular online, and I know some readers who really like it. Some people seem to get good results from it, and some don’t. I suspect it works best when read organically; I think the more combinations you make, the harder it is to be accurate, unless you start dropping stuff that doesn’t fit.
For example, if someone read just rows and columns, they might find it more accurate than doing all the steps I did above; but then it becomes a fairly general reading. Treppner has an approach that combines just about every card together, but she ignores combos that don’t fit the developing story, which shows how it works better when done organically.
Maybe I’ll try a more freeform reading using this spread, to see how a more organic approach works.
August 7, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Rhettarot
Thanks for explaining this spread to me!
August 3, 2012 at 10:45 am
Rhettarot
Reblogged this on Rhettarot SagGemini and commented:
very helpful!