The Simple Lenormand card meanings - cards 1 - 9

Here's an introduction to the cards from my deck, The Simple Lenormand. I've changed some of the cards and I have my own interpretations of the Lenormand card meanings. I am also trying to simplify the meanings because I have trouble with all of the different interpretations for each card in the traditional Lenormand.

RIDER

Rider = making progress, someone coming to visit or making a departure.

CLOVER

Clover = luck, pleasant surprise, the unexpected.

SHIP

Ship = long-distance travel, a move, smooth sailing, getting distance, foreign.

HOUSE

House = buildings, status of home environment.

TREE

 Tree = personal growth, self-development, ancestral roots, family tree.

RAIN

 Rain = disappointment, tears, strong emotions, depression.

SNAKE

 Snake = a threat or attack, nasty surprise.

COFFIN

Coffin = ending, illness.

GIFT

Gift = a gift, congratulations, compliment, special occasion.


Purchase The Simple Lenormand
HERE

a weekly reading with The Simple Lenormand

I've been practicing with The Simple Lenormand but have no luck with daily 3-card readings. So, I'm doing weekly 3x3 readings and I wanted to share one I did last month that had a strong impact.

First, let me give you my correspondences for the cards. You probably notice that many of the cards are different from the traditional Lenormand. The Crown replaces Tower. It represents power and authority. The Scissors replace Scythe. The Fist is Whip. The Handshake is an extra card. It seems to come up for partnerships more frequently than Rings. Papers replace Letter and appear when there is a decision that needs to be made. Wine replaces Garden.

I tend to read these in columns with a strong use of directional aspecting (using the directions the images face and how they interact with each other).

Here's what I wrote at the beginning of the week:

The first card is Clouds and the final card is Rider. This suggests that this week may begin with confusion and disappointment and end with progress or possibly a departure.
~ cutting through confusion and disappointment (Scissors cutting Clouds)
~ important documents (Papers) related to work environment (Wine). Wine is the card I use for Garden which represents groups or gatherings, socializing and celebrating. It has been coming up as work environment or work team in many readings.
~ fighting (Fist) against authority (Crown) in a work environment (Wine)
~ an argument or disagreement (Fist) takes center stage
~ taking a new direction (Road)
~ meeting someone new (Handshake)
~ the beginning (Road) of a partnership or business deal (Handshake)
~ celebrating (Wine) progress or a departure (Rider). I see Rider in this position as a departure rather than visitor because he rides off of the spread.
~ I also get the impression from the cards in the right column like Road that leads nowhere and the Rider who rides into nothing that by the end of the week there may be uncertainty about where this new direction will lead.

This is what actually happened:

I received documents. Employment forms were emailed to me.

I found out a co-worker will be leaving to take another job. We did have cupcakes and cookies at work, not because the coworker was leaving but for Valentine's Day.

The fight was unfortunately with my boyfriend (on Valentine's Day) and it was about issues of power in the relationship. The disappointment was related to the fight. Things ended on a bad note so there is much uncertainty about the future of the relationship. I felt I had a tough decision (Papers) to make about the relationship.

However, everything with my boyfriend was reconciled (Handshake) pretty quickly. I also realized the purpose of Scissors. I interpret it as saying No or a rejection. Over dinner (Wine), I said No (Scissors) to a request which caused the fight (Fist) which was kind of a power struggle (Crown). There were tears (Clouds), but we made up (Handshake) by weekend's end.

Purchase The Simple Lenormand

HERE

The Simple Lenormand has arrived!

Several decks just came in from Printerstudio.com and I'm very pleased with how they turned out, especially the deck I conceived and created over the holidays, The Simple Lenormand.

The traditional Lenormand has 36 cards. I made 4 extra cards which you see in the bottom row. There's an extra male and female card, plus Fire and Handshake.

Of course, I wanted to do a reading right away and did a quick deck interview but with a little different format. I used a 9-card spread. The question: "What do you bring to the table?" The center card reflects the answer -- it shows the deck's core energy or purpose. I decided to use the rest of the cards to understand how the deck will best be used.

I was happy to see Road in the center. This tells me that the deck will help people find direction and also provide alternative paths and choices to contemplate. In what areas of life will the deck help people find direction? Since all of the people cards were included, this seems to be a great deck for (committed, stressful, dangerous, loving, and confusing) relationships. Here's my take on it....this deck will help shed light on:

Row 1: committed relationships (marriage contract, partnership agreement)
Row 2: women seeking love or direction in relationships
Row 3: passionate but problematic men
Column 1: men and the women they are passionate about
Column 2: stressful choices and commitments
Column 3: women asking, "How does he feel about me?"

I'm sure the deck will also be able to handle questions about money and career too but there may be a definite emphasis on all the gritty details of relationships, which is great because I designed it with that in mind.

The deck is poker-sized and I made a mini-sized too which will be easier to use when casting a Grand Tableau (large spread using all the cards).

I also added a little bag to store the cards and a journal for recording readings with the deck.

What do you think of the deck? Should I add numbers to the cards or keep them as is?

what i did over christmas break

Over the holidays, I obviously had too much time on my hands or just a lot of inspiration and creative juices flowing because I made a brand new oracle deck, a Lenormand deck.

I'm sure you've heard of the Lenormand cards. In case you haven't, here are some great websites:

LearnLenormand
DonnaLeigh's Lenormand Lessons
Helen's Lenormand Dictionary

I first picked up a deck of Lenormand cards about 10 years ago when no one had heard of them, but now they're all the rage! I had never (seriously) considered making a Lenormand deck because the system doesn't really resonate with me. Don't get me wrong - I love the cards and the concept of using basic symbols. My problem is that I don't understand many of the symbols like Bear, Lily, and Fish. These don't translate to work, sex and money in my brain.

But, I've recently been captivated again by the Lenormand cards, mostly from seeing Golden Mousedeer's fabulous readings on her blog. She does a terrific job of explaining the Grand Tableau (Lenormand's biggest and most intimidating spread). I was also inspired because she makes her own decks like I do and she has changed some of the cards in one of her Lennie (nickname for Lenormand) decks which made so much sense to me. I decided to give it a try.

One of the things I love about Lenormand is that it uses a system of simple symbolism. In my mind, the images should be equally simple. I get brain farts when I use oracle decks with complex images on them. I'm especially bad with collage decks. That's why I love the simplicity of a deck of playing cards.

Here's a quick preview. I have changed the name to The Simple Lenormand. We'll see if it sticks. If it comes back from Printerstudio.com looking okay, I'll show you more!