Lenormand Thoughts on Combining Cards (or Not!)

Newbies to the Lenormand are at some point inundated with long lists of card combinations. These are lengthy but non-exhaustive lists of how each card might be read when paired with another. This is understandably daunting to the newcomer, who often thinks that these all have to be memorized in order to do a good Lenormand reading.

I have good news: these lists are meant to be samples of how cards work together, and don’t need to be memorized. They illustrate how their author thinks about the cards and how they might work for that author in a reading. It’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking that they are rules for card interactions. They are examples, no more.

So it’s important to go beyond these lists and develop your own way of determining how Lenormand cards interact.

Experimental Audio Post

Welcome to the first ever audio blog entry for Jase On Cards! I had always wanted to do a podcast; and sometimes I’d like to get my thoughts up without having to write and edit everything into the usual neat package. So I thought I would try an audio blog post. This is a “quick-and-dirty,” without any special audio processing or sound effects. That said, I think it sounds decent.

I also admit that doing a practice reading this way was a lot harder than I thought it would be! The editing and typing I usually do gives me a lot of time to polish, which is missing when I’m speaking into a voice recorder. 🙂 However, I’m still willing to put myself out there with this. And practice makes perfect, right?

Hit me in the comments or email, and let me know what you think about this audio blog post!

The subject is a no-layout Lenormand reading for a hypothetical woman named Joanie, who wants to know the outcome if she accepts a new job she’s been offered. The cards are below, for your reference. Listen to the mp3 for my take on these.

Scythe + Lily + Tree + Lady + Dog  + Man + Fish

Cross + Tower + Crossroads + Fox + Clover + Bear + Mice

Listen: Jase On Cards – Aug 14, 2010 (mp3)

Lenormand Reading About a Meeting at Work

Long time, no see, gentle readers! I haven’t done much with cards for a while, and so I haven’t had a lot to write about. My break has been good to refresh my mind and my energy, although I still have many things to juggle right now.

I have a meeting at work this afternoon, and to get some Lenormand reading practice in, I asked about the outcome.

This is the no-layout method, charging the Garden as the keycard to focus the reading. It’s a small meeting but I still think the Garden —  people, public and meetings — is appropriate. I’d considered the Birds but as I might want them to highlight some communication aspect, I felt it best to stick with Garden.

Snake + Tree + Key + Garden + Sun + Lady + Anchor

Lenormand Reading (Updated)

I hope you aren’t tired of reading my readings about homes yet, becuase that’s the topic of this post. 🙂

I confess having a hard time with this reading. Partly because my question might have been too fuzzy; I asked the cards to tell me about a particular home I’m seeing tonight, and anything I should know about it. And partly because I only had five hours of sleep, through no fault of my own. I’m going to give my thought process and break this down in “real time” as I write.

Without further ado, the cards are:

Book + Rider + House + Coffin + Clouds

The House, of course, represents the house I have in mind. This is a property whose location has some appeal, but this is also a disadvantage because the location is further away from the city in which I work. I’m not a fan of lengthy commute times.

The House is described by the Rider and the Coffin. The Coffin is not the best omen as far as I’m concerned, at least at first glance (and followed by the Clouds). Looking at this particular Rider card, I couldn’t help but notice the house set way back in the distance, off the road. I don’t normally read into a Lenormand card beyond the meaning of its symbol; that is, I don’t pay special attention to the rendering of an image in a given deck. Yet the connection jumped out at me. So the Rider may be emphasizing the travel required to and from this home daily.

On the right is the Coffin, which I could interpret three ways. The first — that this home is falling apart. The second is that it will end my search for a home, although with the Clouds following I don’t feel confident about this. The third is that I will be done with the house the minute I see it, for whatever reason.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for physical descriptions, but perhaps this suggests a modest house in a state of some disrepair.

Now, following the flow of action from left to right. The Book indicates paperwork, documents, or secrets. So there could be something unknown about this home, something I won’t know. Paperwork doesn’t seem to make sense in the past here, at least as applying to me; unless the home has some complication that would make it take longer to purchase.

The Rider makes me think this House was put up for sale due to whatever the Book indicates; or maybe that it was put on the market rather quickly (and recently). With the Coffin I see this home is not going to be considered for long, and because of the Clouds I’m likely to feel conflicted about this.

As a side note, I have found the Clouds came up for air- or circulation-related issues in homes so far: both for bad odor, and for damp basements. So this is another discouraging sign.

I hope my thought process was helpful, even though my reading leaves a couple of unknowns. If anyone else has a take, feel free to post in the comments, as always. I’ll leave feedback based on my actual experience visiting this house.

Update:

These cards were fairly accurate as far as I’m concerned. The home was recently put up for sale because the owners are getting a divorce, and I believe they would like to sell it sooner rather than later. That seems to fit the Book and Rider. The House is a bit further out west than I thought it was, which corresponds to the Rider as a descriptor. It also needs a bit of work on the outside, which looks a bit shabby, so that seems to fit in with the Coffin. I reluctantly decided I didn’t want to buy that home (Coffin and Clouds). I was rather torn because the location is wonderful, being near a lake. But seeing the work the home needs, and the increased commute time, don’t quite make up the difference.

This ended up being a more accurate reading than I’d expected.

Lenormand About a House 8/18/09 (update added)

A reading about another prospective home. I didn’t know anything about the house when I drew these cards.

Whip + Heart + House + Clouds + Child

I chose the House for the significator because it best represents that I’m looking at a potential home.

The two surrounding cards give a description of the house. I immediately looked first at the Clouds because I remember how they turned up in my last home reading. Of course this reinforces my natural thought about the air, and a possible problem with the airflow (air conditioner or furnace). However, the other card is a Heart, so I am trying to not automatically give the Clouds a negative interpretation.

In this case I am reading the Clouds as an open-feeling house; a place that feels spacious or has open floorplans. The Heart makes me think it will be attractive, cosy, and the thought of a feminine decor came to mind.

Looking at the flow of all the cards, Whips — a card of discussion and often debate — makes me think there will be some debate or arguing with my partner about the house. With the Heart it makes me think we’ll like the home overall, but it may have some feature that’s really a sticking point. This is emphasized by the appearance of the Clouds, which conveys some doubt about the home, particularly in regard to some work the home is likely to need (Child). This might be a small bit of work, or limited to one item, but presumably it’s enough to entail the debate indicated by the Whip.

After I did this reading, I got some information about the home, including pictures. The interior looks lovely and  it’s owned by an older lady who presumably has a feminine decor, so the Heart makes sense so far. I’ll post an update after I view the house.

Update (Aug 20, 2009): I saw the house that these cards applied to, and to be honest I wasn’t sure how to apply all of them after the fact. The Heart seemed applicable; the home is owned by a “little old lady” which was reflected in the layout and decor. The layout wasn’t really open, as I thought the Clouds might have indicated; although with three bedrooms it was big enough. I did notice what seemed to be extra moisture in the air of the basement, so that is a possibility. The home has a pot-bellied stove, which we briefly debated the merits of; that’s the closest thing to the Whips that I can think of. And of course it would need some work to make into my kind of home, especially in the basement; hence the Child

Lenormand Comes Through

I was scheduled to look at a couple of homes for sale last night, and I had a few minutes to do a quick couple of Lenormand card draws. I wanted to get a feel for what I would be seeing, and see how the cards matched up to the reality afterwards. The short answer: the cards were spot on!

I based my draw on the no-layout technique, which involves a row of approximately five cards, including the central significator. The cards around the significator describe the nature of that central card.

It made sense to use the House as significator; and what I did was to thoroughly shuffle the cards, then search through them for the House. I laid out the House with its two neighbors on either side, maintaining the order of the cards in the deck. (It would be the same as if I’d dealt the cards out in order.) I apologize for not showing all five cards for both of these layouts; I was in a hurry and didn’t note the spreads.

House #1 was advertised as needing a little bit of work. The cards:

I interpreted this as being a place that would need some change (Child); it would be like a new project. I debated on what the Scythe meant, and I decided it meant there would be holes or cracks in the walls. The reality was a bit simpler, but reflected in these cards. The place was a blank slate that would need a bit of work: new carpeting, new paint, and some general work to get the place in tiptop shape. It’s not the kind of home that needs a complete overhaul, but it would be like a new project to make it liveable and pleasant. Score for Lenormand!

House #2 came up as these cards:

I read this one as a home having some problems with the air or air circulation (Clouds); and having a winding approach or driveway (Snake) that I wouldn’t like. This one was really interesting; upon walking in, I was assaulted with a horrible smell. A lot of the house was reminiscent of wet dog, or a dirty hamster cage. It was really strong. I was amazed that the cards picked up on that! As for the Snake, that was also true. The house is on the corner of a winding, snake-shape road that gets a lot of traffic. Getting in and out of the driveway was tricky due to this. (I noted a bit of horn-honking while I was in the house as well.)

If I want to take this reading a bit further, the Dog was left of the Clouds. When I got to the house I realized I’d driven by it dozens of times, as I often use its street as a “cut-through,” and Dog can imply something already known. I’d seen the house many times but not realized it until I was there. (Dog could also relate to the Clouds with that animal smell.) Lily was on the right; and the house is an older, dated style. Score again for Lenormand!

I’ve had some good readings before, but results like this about concrete events in my own life are very encouraging.

When Cards Reinforce Eachother

I had a rather disconcerting moment while doing some readings tonight. I wanted to get in some Lenormand reading practice and thought to do some practical readings about the move. I first did a couple of quick readings about two homes that my partner and I are interested in looking at, using the “No-Layout” spread as described by Sylvie Steinbach in her book Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle*. In one of these readings, which consisted of a string of five cards, the first card was the Mountain and the second card was the House. This immediately suggested some upfront delays or obstacles involved with at least one property. Coming as the first two cards in the spread, this was a pretty strong message.

I then wanted to practice the Grand Tableau, the full 36-card layout. (I use the 9×4 layout for this.) I was using the pattern techniques, the first of which I did was to use the system of houses. For those unfamiliar, this means looking at the “house” or position that represents the subject of interest, and seeing what card is in that position. Not unlike an astrological house, except there are 36, one for each card. Then this card is chained by checking it’s house, to see what card is there; and so on. It sounds convoluted but isn’t once you’ve done it or seen an example.

The first house I wanted to look at was position #4, house of the House; as expected, this is where to look for situations involving a home or real estate. Imagine my surprise (and if I’m honest, a little bit of dismay) to see that this position was occupied by the Mountain! Once again, a blockage related to the House.

I’ll have to see what happens. I’m still fairly new to this, so my interpretations have more room for error. But two readings with the Mountain affecting the House… time will tell!

* Ms. Steinbach’s reading techniques have their share of fans and detractors alike. I stick closer to the German tradition for card meanings, but I feel the No-Layout technique is a helpful tool in the Lenormand reader’s arsenal.