Learn
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 dont 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 house/property) home life, materialism
        of a reading. Think of it as though each card is a dab   5. Tree  (Health) health, 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 cards 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) childlike, blank slate
adverbs.                                                         14. Fox  (Employment) being watched, wits, cleverness
                                                                 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, parties, gathering, escapism
your first card. Note the number of the card. Now, come up       21. Mountain  (A big problem) problems & obstacles
with a single noun or verb to describe 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, 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  (A woman) a specific 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, honor, dreams
                                                                 33. Key  opening doors, coming to an understanding
__________________________________________________________       34. Fish  (Money) success in money, 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! Youre reading Lenormand cards!
                                          sassysibyl.com : sibylschool.com
                                                   Lenormand No. 1
        he Grand Tableau that I teach in      come up with an appropriate significant
T
        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 surrounding the
lines (horizontal, vertical, diagonal)               significant card as you would a
that the cards are contained in.                     block of nine. Imagine the way
                                                    water ripples out from a rock thrown
        The Tableau were 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 cant                    adjective that modifies it.
      ussing out Advice from the Universe (TM) from a          1. Use another method of divination
S
      Lenormand spread is a lot like trying to find the life
      lessons in a reality television show. Youre sure its   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
      Thats 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 youve distilled    Or if youre not Catholic, after youve 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, youll 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 dont find the same kind of                                          For every option youre 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 its best                       Read each pile, card by card, as though youre
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 doesnt 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 youve          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@melissajohill                               Key to find the open doors.