Reading Lenormand

Here’s an incomplete list of reasons I was destined to read Lenormand:

1. The narrative structure of a spread communicates precise messages so poetically. Three cards will tell a whole story. And with more complex spreads (like the grand tableau), strings of cards can form independent clauses as part of an overarching narrative. It’s a book-lover’s dream.

2. The cards don’t sugarcoat. There are limitations to the extent that a card’s symbol can be modified, which is helpful in keeping things tight.

3. Each of the 36 cards in a Lenormand deck corresponds to a traditional playing card. One of my longterm goals within my practice is to divine using a standard deck of playing cards (an Appalachian tradition) and Lenormand is making it easy to get there.

4. Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand, the fortune-teller and cartomancer who developed the system, was a reader and advisor to Joséphine Bonaparte (wife of Napoleon). I’ve been obsessed with Josephine’s story for as long as I can remember (starting when I was a teen because my middle name, which I adore, is Josephine).

(If you’re interested in reading more about her, I recommend The Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart.)

5. My main deck before I started studying Lenormand was my beloved Memento Mori oracle by @blackandthemoon, so I was overjoyed to learn that cards 1-36 double as a Lenormand deck. Right now I’m in the process of fine-tuning my personal 36 and it’s been a needed distraction.