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Lenormand in Five Minutes

T
he most important thing to remember when you 1. Rider – (An expected message) news, messages, ideas
read a Lenormand card, is that the cards don’t exist 2. Clover – good luck, rewards for hard work, hope
in a vacuum. Each card blends with the cards 3. Ship – (Travel) journey, navigating, commerce
around it - on every side, and throughout the space 4. House – (Your
(Your house/property) home life, materialism
of a reading. Think of it as though each card is a dab 5. Tree – (Health) health, body,
body, natural environment, time
of a specific paint color, blended with another dab of color 6. Clouds – doubts, fears, misunderstandings
right next to it. The closer a card is to your focus card, the 7. Snake – temptation, seduction, cunning, distraction
more of that card’s color is blended. The farther away a card 8. Coffin – death, endings, mourning 
is from your focus card, the less “paint” that is blended in. 9. Bouquet – gifts, love, happiness, abundance
10. Scythe – reaping, cutting ties, verdicts, quick pain
One easy way to wrap your mind around this is to 11. Whip – taking inventory, purging, arguments & debate
form a kind of Lenormand Thesaurus with your keywords. 12. Birds – new vision, happily paired, excitement, nervous
 Assign each card several nouns, verbs, adjectives and 13. Child – (A child/younger person)
person) childlike, blank slate
adverbs. 14. Fox – (Employment)
(Employment) being watched, wits, cleverness
cleverness
15.
15. Bear – (Career) strength, strong words, overwhelmed
Now when you focus on a card, think of that card as 16. Stars – the universe, cosmos, the occult, blessings
a noun or verb. The cards around that focus card are 17. Stork – (Pregnancy) beginnings, birth, starting, giving 
adjectives or adverbs that help describe and clarify them. 18. Dog – (A friend) loyalty, satisfaction, companionship
19. Tower – innovation, discovery, structure, enlightenment
Try a two-card reading. Shuffle your deck and pull 20. Garden – socialization,
socialization, parties, gathering,
gathering, escapism
 your first card. Note the number of the card. Now, come up 21. Mountain – (A big problem) problems & obstacles
 with a single
single noun or verb
verb to describe this
this card: 22. Path – (A decision) choices, wheel of fortune
23. Mice – problems, mistakes, debts, lies
__________________________________________________________ 24. Hearts – (Love) love, romances, wishes coming true
25. Ring – (Commitment) marriage, contracts,
contracts, cycles
Now, using the number of the first card you drew, 26. Book – (Education) secrets, hidden knowledge, school
count down into the deck that many times (for example, if 27. Letter – news, intentions, correspondence, exchanges
 you drew the House, count four cards down). Pull that card 28. Man – (A man) a specific man
and place it next to the first card you drew. This card serves 29. 29. Woman
Woman – (A woman) a specific woman woman
as a modifier, adjective or adverb. Come up with an adjective 30. Lily – passion, sex, power relationships
or adverb that invokes the essence of the card and write it 31. Sun – power, insight, spirit, God/ess
here: 32. Moon – night, shadows, fame,
fame, honor,
honor, dreams
33. Key – opening doors,
doors, coming to an understanding 
understanding 
__________________________________________________________ 34. Fish – (Money) success in money, indulgences
indulgences
35. Anchor – security, playing safe, handling obligations
Now, combine your adjective (or adverb) and noun 36. Cross – (Spirituality) guilt, depth, good & evil
(or verb).

____________________________ + ____________________________

Congratulations! You’re reading Lenormand cards!

 sas
 s as s y s i b y l .co
.c o m : s i b y l s c hoo
ho o l . c o m 

Lenormand No. 1
T
he Grand Tableau that I teach in come up with an appropriate significant
Lenormand 101 is a time-based card otherwise, pick no. 28 or 29.
Tableau. That means that there is a
natural past-present-future Throw your Tableau using four
formed on the grid of the Tableau rows of nine cards and find the
 when you examine each significant card. significant card you chose. Examine
In this form, it is common to read the the cards surr ound ing the
lines (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) significant card as you would a
that the cards are contained in.  block of nine. Imagi ne the way
 water ripples out from a rock thrown
The Tableau we’re going to be in a quiet pond. The rock is the
using in this workshop does not make significant card in this type of
use of a past-present-future paradigm. reading. The cards surrounding it
Rather, all the cards of the Tableau ripple out.
should be considered “Future” cards.
Techniques such as reflection (or Next, see how your
mirroring), counting cards and decision affects other areas of your
“knighting” are more common life (money, work or business,
among readers who employ this love, family, health, etc.) using
method.  what you understand of significant
cards in the Lenormand system
 What we will be examining  you prefer.
in this workshop is the ripple effect
that making a particular decision Use the cheat-sheet below
 will have in our lives. With that to add an additional layer of
intent in mind, we will choose a card interpretation to your reading.
from the deck to represent that Think of it as the spread positions
specific choice. Pick your card with of the Grand Tableau. The card
some deliberation - use a pendulum that sits in each position is the
or base the significant card on the noun and the position reveals an
topic of the reading. If you can’t adjective that modifies it.
S
ussing out Advice from the Universe (TM) from a 1. Use another method of divination
Lenormand spread is a lot like trying to find the life
lessons in a reality television show. You’re sure it’s  After you read the Lenormand, pull a Tarot card or two.
there, but it can be hard to see past the train wreck. Throw your runes or junk oracle over your Tableau and
That’s because the Lenormand, perhaps more so interpret them with the card in the House where they land.
than the Tarot, illustrates the mundane with such acute Use a pendulum over your cards to determine an area of
attention. focus, to discern and distill your next course of action, or to
determine a significant card for the next reading.

The Question is Key 2. Make the sign of a cross

 Asking well-formed questions that you’ve distilled Or if you’re not Catholic, after you’ve read a line of cards (3,
to their very essence is the absolute KEY to getting 5, 7, 9), draw two or three cards above and below the
good Lenormand reading results. It may be focus card to form a cross. Read the cross as
helpful to write down your questions as you advice/next steps.
ask them, so that when you go back to
 verify your results, you’ll know exactly 3. Look in the advice columns
 what was asked.
If you read a Grand Tableau in four
The Lenormand speaks in rows of eight with four hanging cards,
narrative form. In other words, the read that bottom row of four cards as
the advice or insight row.
Lenormand tells you  what will be or
 what is based on the context of the If you read a Grand Tableau in four
question asked. Reading the cards is a rows of nine, read the fifth column
form of storytelling. The symbols on as the advice column.
the cards and their associated
meanings form plot lines that play out in 4. A list of cards
the lives of your querents - but unlike the
Tarot, you don’t find the same kind of For every option you’re faced with, cut
emotional or psychological layers of  your deck in to a pile. Turn over the top
interpretation built into the stories formed. two cards in each pile to compare options.
There are pros and cons to this point, but it’s best Read each pile, card by card, as though you’re
for now to just accept that it is part of the quirk and reading a pro/con list for each option.
charm of Lenormand. Think of it this way - the Tarot can
 write a novel while the Lenormand reports the daily news. 5. Get over your block 
For this reason, the Lenormand doesn’t offer Throw nine cards with no focus card. The middle row will
advice AND prediction in the same linear narrative. If you confirm the situation. The top and bottom rows show two
have more than one question (such as, What will possible courses of action. The columns form a natural
happen? and What should I do about it?) you must ask past/present/future timeline for the advice and the corners
two questions. indicate the most important consideration to be made.

6.Read the ripples in the pond

How to find advice Read a Grand Tableau using the “Ripples in the Pond”
methods to determine how your choices might affect other
The easiest way to offer advice after you’ve areas of your life.
finished the prediction round is to ask another question
and do another reading. How else might you add 7.Look for the Key 
insight to your predictive Lenormand?
Some readers look to the Key card, no. 33, to
show what is certain or fated to happen. I prefer
melissa @ sassysibyl.com 
  to view this card as significant of the ways we
might take hold of our destiny. Look for the
on twitter @m  elissajohill  Key to find the open doors.