Nine

Card Layouts and Sample Readings

We very satisfactorily have received the Tarot cards which you sent us:
I have divided them according to their numbers … You alone could reinstate
the ancient Tarot cards in their true and primeval splendour, Thanks to you,
the study will become easier and more interesting since the hieroglyphs are
now much more significant and, therefore, more intelligible.

—Eliphas Levi to Alliette (Etteilla) 14 March 1789, quoted in
A Wicked Pack of Cards, Decker, DePaulis & Dummett

Here we start with single card layouts and progress to a four-card layout. We will take you through each layout in order to demonstrate how cards might be read.

One-Card Readings

Love & Relationships/Relating

The sitter asks the question: Can I trust David?

The question: What do I need to know regarding my romantic relationship with Carlos?

Two-Card Readings

Finances/Money

A sitter wants to know: Will I come into money?

All in all, it is very likely that the enquirer may be receiving some good fortune.

Three-Card Readings

The sitter asks: My job situation is uncertain at the moment. What action should I take to prepare myself if I am made redundant? Could it happen soon?

We carry out a three-card reading using the first card as the present, the second as action required, and the third as to the timing aspect.

Exercise: Lenormand Keying Method

In this method we “key” three cards to represent our question—and this is where the art comes into the practice. In our experience, we’ve found that any question can be represented by three cards. It must be done in as literal a fashion as possible. The Lenormand readers we’ve met or read always agree that in this style of reading the question is very important (perhaps even more so than in tarot), even for a vague “what will happen today?” We’ll incorporate it here, and perhaps you’ll find it as accurate as we do.

Take a very literal and practical question requiring an equally practical answer. Select out three cards to represent your question. These should be in the order of the words and meanings in the question.

Here’s a recent and real question we asked:

Where will we find a bigger venue for next year’s convention if the Theatre is not available?

Select three cards for the three most important or meaningful concepts in your question, such as:

Take these three cards out of the deck, and lay them face-up left to right in front of you.

Whilst looking at the three key cards representing the question, shuffle the remaining cards, split into three (with the left hand), and restack. Take the top three cards, and place them face-up on top of the three question cards.

In effect, the three question key cards now function as the “house” or context of the three answer cards. So, for this example we receive the following three cards:

We first read these cards as literally as possible. We find it best to say this bit out loud as if we were talking to a young child or as if we were first learning to read: “The Tree is in the place of the Ways. The Whip is in the Garden. The Child holds the Ring.”

This means that it is unlikely the Theatre will be the venue again, as each of the pairs seems constrained—the Tree should not be in the way of a crossroads, the whip has no place in a garden, and a child should not be let out to play with expensive jewelry. What does it mean? Where should we look for a venue?

The Book gives our first clue: a place of learning, a library, or close to a library or bookshop … perhaps even a school, although the Tower would probably be better for that.

Then we look at the actual cards. The Tree is in the position representing the “where” of the question. That is the answer, then—a tree! Should we hold our convention in a tree? Obviously not, so perhaps a tree is a symbol. Wherever we should look, it will be called “the Trees” or “the Pines” or perhaps have a symbol of a tree associated with it … perhaps a hotel called “the Birches” near a bookshop?

Actually, the answer turns out to be even more literal. We know the venues where we live, although we haven’t looked at all of them. One is near the school—in fact, it is between the school and the bookshop! Not only that—and here’s where these cards get spooky and clever—it is called Crossthwaite Centre. The word thwaite means “paddock”: a forested area cleared for something. The Cross(roads) and the Tree!

The cards have literally spelt out the answer, plain as day. This is a real reading with a real, practical answer. You may notice it is somewhat similar to the way Lyra reads the Alethiometer in the His Dark Materials trilogy, by “setting” three of the dials to symbols and then reading from the other three that come about through the divination.

Let’s look at the other two pairs. The Whip is in the Garden, meaning that it is unlikely to provide the social meeting place for the event, as the whip often means bad words or trouble. The indication here is that we’ll likely have to ensure we will provide another venue for socialising if we go for this place; otherwise there will be negative vibes. This is not something we would have considered in advance—the Lenormand can give us literal warnings in advance, too.

Finally, the Ring (contract) is in the place of our Child, representing the Theatre.

This suggests that we should contact them first and see if they will commit to an early contract, and not delay or “play around.” We should literally force them to play their hand (ring, finger) as early as possible.

I hope the above gives you an idea of how what we call “literal Lenormand” works. In selecting the three cards for the question, we actually key a literal question one level down into symbols. This makes the three answer cards even easier to read and more accurate (relevant) to the question, because they are answering the literal bits of the question. This method is one that works for Lenormand but not as well for tarot, for various reasons of symbolic analysis we won’t bother with here. There’s also a spooky mystery in it all—it gives you goosebumps when you see how accurate it can be, and for those lost in years of tarot’s complex symbolic interpretation, it can rekindle the cards’ magic.

Let the cards lead you again and they can show you all sorts of hidden wonders.

Four-Card Readings

A sitter asks: Where is my current job heading? Are things going to be successful or unsuccessful?

We draw four cards: the Moon, the Anchor, the Bouquet, and the Bear.

Five-Card Readings

In an example reading for a male sitter’s self-development, we draw five cards.

The question: What do I have to do to regain the self-confidence I used to have?

Exercise: The Fortunetelling Day Spread

In this method, you will practice developing accuracy in your fortunetelling by reading pairs of cards for nine aspects of your day. If you perform this reading in the morning, you can compare it with your day to see how accurate you are with your cards.

Take your deck and shuffle it. Place it face down on the table.

Lay out the top nine cards in a row face-down from left to right.

Lay out the next nine cards one at a time on top of each of the laid-out cards, making nine piles of two cards.

Starting from the left, each pair is then read together as a divination for the following aspects:

  1. Someone you will meet, and what comes out of that meeting.
  2. Someone you care about, what that person will do.
  3. Someone who annoys you, what that person will do.
  4. Something that will happen to console you.
  5. Something that awaits you.
  6. Something that will help you.
  7. Something that will happen that is a surprise to you.
  8. Something that you desire, whether it will happen or not.
  9. Something nice.

In this practice method, which can be uncannily accurate, it is important to keep a journal and read the cards as pairs, merging their meanings together with each card having equal weight. As you experience the day, you may see that one card in the pair carries the event and the other card carries the manner of the event. This will teach you the cards in your own experience and which way of reading them is best for you personally.

One example might be for the “Something Nice” position, you receive the Book + the Star. The most literal meaning of this might be a book on astronomy or astrology. However, in the “nice” position, it is also likely to predict that you will gain some knowledge, probably in the written word, that will give you hope. If you read on the Internet that day something nice that gave you something to look forward to later in the week, this would be it!

Fixed Positional Spreads

You may like to explore a few positional spreads with your cards and discover how they work in this manner. Spreads with fixed positions are not used in Lenormand readings as much as in tarot, although some German traditions have a fixed meaning for every position in the GT.

Here is a standard pattern with a little twist.

Decision Assister (Simple Three-Card Reading)

First, shuffle all thirty-six cards and then deal them face-down into three equal piles of twelve cards. Turn up the first card in each pile and read them as a simple three-card “spread.” Then, if you wish to tweak it, you can turn over the next three cards, lay them underneath the first three, and read them in continuation. This method allows you to build up your confidence, so you can start with just the first three cards, and work up to doing, in effect, a 3 x 12 tableau reading.

Other Readings

Three-Card “My Day Ahead” Reading

Three cards for the day—morning, afternoon, and evening—is good to perform each morning to help guide you through the day. Look on it as guidance from a good friend, the person whom you trust to point you in the right direction. You will find the cards have a special voice to communicate to you. Let your intuitive voice free-wheel, trust your inner voice. These are your own personal Lenormand fortunes for the day. Doing these minis reading each day will improve your overall oracular voice. Write them out in your oracular journal, and see how you get on in the day. Combine them all, and they tell a story.

Here are some examples from real life. In journaling, we simply write out the numbers of the cards as shorthand.

The day will begin well with the Bouquet (9), a show of appreciation. It may be for you or it may suggest you appreciate someone in your life.

The afternoon will bring a Ring (25); this symbolises an act of commitment coming your way. Or, is there something you have been delaying, or some commitment you have not fulfilled?

By the evening an event will arise from this, with the Garden (20) for example—a gathering of like-minded people. Accept an invitation that comes your way; you do not want to miss out on an opportunity to meet new people.

The morning will bring a lot of emotion with the sensitive energy of the Moon (32); you may hear news of something you have dreamed of doing for a long time finally materialising. It is a good time for being intuitive—a good time to do a Lenormand reading.

The afternoon will bring with it stability and the grounding energy of the Anchor (35).

The Evening will bring news of money and resources coming your way with the energy of the Fish (34). It is a good time to make an investment of time or energy.

The morning may be a good time to get in touch with an old friend: the Dog (18) with whom you have not been in touch with for a while, or you may be surprised with a call from an old friend.

In the afternoon, the Bear (15) making an appearance may find you coming head to head with an overbearing person who may want to pick a fight, perhaps a difficult boss or workmate. You may feel a bit intimidated; don’t let anyone bully you. If possible, go around this person—avoid and stay clear!

The evening with the presence of the Ways (22) could mean you finally make your mind up about whether you should carry on in that workplace, perhaps you need to go a new direction in life.

Five-Card Spread Mirror Readings

In the following, I perform this five-card reading, which I call the Mirror spread, for a client who asks, “What happens if I take this course of action?” I charge his significator card (the Gentleman), place it face-down, shuffle the rest of the deck, and select four cards. I place the first two to the left of the Gentleman and the remaining two to the right. Here are the cards:

The two cards to the left of the significator (Gentleman) represent the past, and those to the right represent the future. The Anchor speaks of stability and the Ring of a pledge, and that in the past the sitter had opted for a position in life of stable commitment. However, in the future cards, this has changed to a life with the Lady—one of cunning and who has patience to wait for an opportune time to act. What came out of the discussion with the sitter after the reading is that the Lenormand has a tendency to tell sitters what they need to know rather than what they want to know.

The Lenormand has the ability to see what is really going on within and on the outside and beyond. It is in some ways like a deck of your own hopes, fears, and dreams waiting to take form just for your asking.

When I finish a reading, I like to thank the cards for letting me access their wisdom.

Another Mirror Spread

A client asks about an opportunity for an overseas trip and wants to know if there’s anything to fear about taking up the offer.

I use the Mirror spread. I shuffle the cards, and in my mind create a dialogue with the cards. I ask them if they will help me again with this reading.

I charge the significator card for the female sitter (the Lady). I then shuffle the rest of the deck, take four cards out, and place the first two to the left of the Lady and the second two to the right. Here are the cards I received:

The two cards to the left of the significator (Lady) represent the sitter’s past and the two to the right represent the future. The Scythe in the past is about any work that has been done, from which something good has been reaped. The Rider has passed this on to our sitter, who in the spread is looking forward to her travel, but there are lingering fears in the form of the Fox, which represents the dangers that lurk in the world, and in travel. However, all will be fine with the presence of the House, which ensures a secure outcome. The House is the haven from the Fox.

Speaking with the sitter afterward, we deduced that the cards at play represented the work she has done and how she feels she deserves some good to come of it in the form of the opportunity to travel. The fear she felt was allayed by the security of the House card.

A Simple Nine-Card Lenormand Spread

In this traditional cartomantic method, we lay out a nine-card 3 x 3 square to divine the fortune of any domestic situation. It is useful for practice, as it provides a smaller reading than the Grand Tableau.

To do it, take your deck and shuffle whilst thinking about the situation. Place it face-down when you are ready, and cut it about two-thirds of the way down with your left hand. Place this larger cut of cards to the left, creating a second pile on the left of the first. Then cut it again in the same way from the second pile, creating a third pile on the left.

Take the top three cards, still face-down, from the left stack and place them in a row on your table from left to right. Then take the top three cards from the middle stack and place them in a row beneath the first row. Finally, take the top three cards from the right stack and make a third row below the other two, creating a 3 x 3 square. Move away the three remaining stacks and turn all the cards in the square face-up.

The first row of three cards signifies the sitter. The second row of three cards shows their domestic environment. The third row shows the fortune of the situation, its most likely outcome, and any advice.

The cards are read as a sequence creating an oracular sentence; each card to the right modifies the preceding cards like a story being developed to the end. Imagine the cards are the storyboard of a movie in three frames: what would you say about the movie when you left the cinema?

The Four Fans Spread

Deriving from an early and classic cartomantic tradition, this four-part spread is effective at parties and gatherings for presenting in an authentic salon style.

Shuffle the deck, ask the sitter to do likewise, and split it with your left hand into three piles. Restack the piles into one deck face-down, and then lay out the cards into four piles of eight cards each in a square with plenty of room between the four piles. Set the remaining four cards to one side. Then turn the four piles face-up and fan them out, whilst saying out loud the appropriate line from the verse below.

Read the lines in each fan as separate readings. The final four cards present a verdict or overall summary of the reading, and are read as a straight line or blend of four cards.

To clarify: the first fan of eight cards shows what is coming to you or your sitter, the second fan shows what will be lost in its attainment. The third fan shows the choices and opportunities ahead, and the fourth fan what is best chosen out of those. We have found it very effective and atmospheric to intone the rhyme for the four fans whilst actually fanning the four piles out in a dramatic fashion.

A Grand Tableau Reading

In this example, we will look at a full Grand Tableau reading from real life, and demonstrate how much information can be gained from the layout, and the numerous ways of approaching a reading. Whilst different readers will have their own methods, we hope to present here a wide range of the methods we have covered in this book to help you pull them together in a reading.

The sitter is a married woman who has lived with her husband in the same house since their daughter left home to live in her own apartment. She has a job but it no longer provides a challenge. She has been thinking about moving house and perhaps changing career for a long time; however, this has become a constant thought for the last few months. Her husband works as a musician and can technically work from any location, although he has many friends in their current town. Her question is: “If I work toward changing where I live, what success will I attain in my own career?” We leave the other elements of the situation out of the question, which needs to be specific—it is often that other elements will be discovered in the tableau, as we’ll see. This example is a real reading; nothing has been invented or created for it, despite its uncanny accuracy.

We lay out the tableau as illustrated:

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Figure 89. A Grand Tableau Reading

We first look and find the Lady card, as it represents the sitter. We immediately see it is in the bottom line of the tableau, facing the House card. This surprises the sitter with its immediate representation of her thoughts! We therefore decide to continue to quickly read this line as past and future—behind and ahead of the Lady card. Behind her we see the Lily and Stork, the cards of sexuality and delivery, and a literal return to the nest. We tell the sitter that her passion and the passage of her daughter through life is now behind her; however, it directly leads to her present thoughts.

We tend not to put too psychological gloss onto a Lenormand reading, although it may be apparent that the sitter has feelings about her daughter’s newly found freedom. If we were to go this route, we can likely tell from these two cards alone that the daughter has just started a passionate relationship, prompting the mother’s thoughts. A quick glimpse at the Snake card representing “the other woman” (here the daughter in the situation) shows this to be the case—in fact, that card is between the Bear above and the Dog below, showing a relationship with a strong and loyal man—but we do not have to raise this unless it seems relevant.25

We then look along the line to the future, seeing the House, Ring, Fish, Birds, Sun, and Mountain. This last card is of course in the last position of the tableau, so it represents doubly a “conclusion” of the reading.

In our fortunetelling style, then, we would read this line as “you will stay at your present location (the House represents the current home unless in the context of other “moving” cards such as the Ship) and make a commitment to doing so (House + Ring). Your resources will grow by networking (Fish + Birds) and your luck will improve despite the obstacle to movement (Sun + Mountain). The Mountain at the end of this line—and of the whole tableau—really tells us there is no movement.”

This would be quickly read in the first moments of the reading, in effect answering the entire question and opening up new lines of questioning.

Let us quickly take a look at the husband in this situation, the Gentleman card. We immediately see him positioned at the far right of the second line down. He does not really look ahead to the future—and when we say this, the sitter agrees, saying he is a “typical musician, just living for the now.” However, we also see quickly something else—the Snake is in the “past” of the Gentleman. As we have read this as the daughter, we can see that between the husband and the daughter cards are the Key and Book. We feel the need to raise this, and say, “Your husband wanted your daughter to unlock her knowledge, her education, but he has put this behind him now.” The sitter actually gasps and begins to cry, as this indeed has been a major issue in the family—the husband wished the daughter to go to university, but she did not. Actually, we understand why, although again we may not say it out loud—the Snake is in the house of the Bear, the symbol of strong force; she has inherited her father’s stubbornness, leading to lack of ambition.

All of this is apparent in the first few moments of scanning the reading, and is made possible by following literal and simple rules—concentrate on the Lady and Gentleman cards, see how the House card fits between them, then follow the investigation of the Snake as here it represents the daughter who is quickly revealed to be still present in an influential sense.

If we were to now look at other options for the sitter, who perhaps was hoping the cards would say she was going to move to an exotic location and change career overnight, we might want to try knighting from her card (again, the Lady). This, in our approach, allows us to look outside of the box, still within the layout of the situation, but with wiggle room to make the most of it.

If we knight (count two cards one direction, then one card another; see the previous section on knighting) from the Lady, our first knighting takes us through the House, to the Ring, then to the Garden. This tells us that the sitter can make new friends in her current area, the Garden being the card of society. However she will have to tread somewhat carefully, as the Garden is bordered by the Whip and the Dog on either side, meaning troublesome speech on one hand, and loyal friends on the other.

Another knighting takes us upwards through the Ship and the Rider to either the Clover or the Coffin, depending on which of either direction we moved last in the knighting. The indication here is of possible travel whilst staying in the same house. This will lead to new experiences (Rider) and through those both good luck (Clover) and endings (Coffin) in equal measure.

Interestingly, the knighting that takes us back into her past, through the Stork and the Lily, leads to nothing but confusion—the Clouds, particularly bordered by the Heart and Ways. There is no point in looking back, a sentiment with which the sitter agrees. She does like the new ideas of extending her social network and travelling, however.

Looking a little deeper now into the overall context of the reading, we can use the houses to see that the Lady card is in the house of the Lily, i.e., the thirtieth position of the tableau. This is the card of passion and sexuality, so there is perhaps a deeper current to this domestic dissatisfaction. We look to the Lily card itself, which has already been read, and find it in the House of the Gentleman (position 28). This is really no surprise, but opens up new emotions in the sitter, who reveals her husband has not been active in this regard for some time. So we move quickly to the Gentleman card and find he is in the House of the Dog, literally, “in the dog house.” (It sometimes becomes hard to believe the Lenormand cards can be so literal!) However, this is also the position of loyalty, so all is well in this context. We can then follow this chaining to find the Dog card, which is in the House of the Heart (position 24)—another positive position. The loyalty is deeply felt.

Whilst there are many other lines of reading we can explore, if we were to summarise thus far, we would reflect on the four corner cards to frame the reading, saying that whilst there is potential for a new childlike beginning and innocence, with the Child card commencing the whole tableau, there is no movement likely with the Mountain card concluding the layout. The frame is to work within the long-term development (Anchor, in the top-right corner) of passion (Lily in the bottom-left) for the benefit of both parties.

A Full Grand Tableau for a Pet

The following is an account of a personal GT reading Tali performed for Rufy, her dog who was unwell. It shows how the most mundane but meaningful events can be read with the Lenormand.

My five-year-old dog has recently been diagnosed with a kidney condition the vet has advised can be managed by feeding him a special kidney-friendly prescription diet. I am understandably concerned about my dog’s future health.

The first thing I do is create a personal space and choose a suitable time for divination, a place where I will not be distracted by external factors. My chosen time was in the morning, not long after having woken; I find this is a good time to connect to the oracle energies at play, as we are more open after having been one with dream imagery and the astral realm through the night.

I use the space where I meditate to perform the reading.

I looked through the deck in order to pick out the charged card, which for this reading was the Dog. I focused on the issue at hand, my dog’s health—the need to know more, perhaps clarification on managing the condition. I then slipped the card back into the deck and shuffled. Next I laid out all the Lenormand cards in a Grand Tableau.

Looking at the GT before me, I found where the Dog card was placed amongst the thirty-six houses. On the next page is the Grand Tableau for my reading, which I will take you through step by step.

The brilliant thing about reading the Grand Tableau is that once you have pinpointed your charged card, you have the key to opening up the reading. The charged card does as it promises: it charges you forward through the reading, acting as a triangulation point to aid in navigating the tableau. So let’s discover where the Dog card is and where it wants to take us.

My Dog card is in the House of the Lily, position 30. Now this is very interesting because the Lily card is symbolic of purity. Taking into account that my dog has a kidney disorder, I see this as meaning his kidneys are not as effective as they should be at purifying his system. I know from this point that the cards are aligned with the question. This house placement is stressing the importance of “purity” for my dog. I know we are doing something right, as the prescription food is very pure and will put less stress on Rufy’s kidneys.

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Figure 90. GT for a Pet

Knowing that, where do I go from here? Well, we can look into the future at the card next along on the right. The Fish is placed in the House of the Sun. Sylvie Steinbach alludes to this in her book, that the body connections for the Fish card are the kidneys and bladder. Again this confirming the reading is on the right track, and it offers reassurance in that the cards are aligned to the question. The Sun offers a future of positive growth, contentment—and combined with the next card in the line, the Coffin—transformation through making changes.

Moving backwards in the cards about the past, the card to the left of my significator is the Tower. This card is very much the watchtower of the Lenormand, the card of caution. It can relate to vision, surveying, and the need to know what is going on around us; the presence of this card indicates looking beyond, an outward projection. It is the all-seeing eye, the card of scaling great heights of awareness and being alert, on lookout. This to me very much summed up the role of the diagnostic blood screening that alerted me to my dog’s condition. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. In the House of the Lady, it can be about putting emphasis on female intuition.

Preceding this period of caution and worry about the dog’s health we have the past cards: the Bouquet combined with the Ring and the Lady. The Bouquet speaks of a gift that was unexpected from a lady (my sister) who entrusted us to look after her dog. We have made a pledge to care for him (the Ring).

The card directly above the Dog is the House, placed in the House of the Ways, whose context is one of choice, making decisions, and weighing the best action to protect my dog’s well-being. Below the Dog we have the House of the Cross, where the Bear is placed. The Bear is known to correspond to diet and nutrition; placed in the House of the Cross, it may speak of keeping faith along the way.

A Question about a Work Project

The question regards a work project coming about successfully or not; money is involved.

The significator represents a man who is important to the project. I charge this card and put it back into the deck. I then shuffle and lay out all thirty-six cards into the GT. I read the cards framing the Gentleman in order to focus. The Gentleman is placed in the House of the Bear, a house whose context is money. The underlying energies of this house are related to primal survival, strength, authority, and power.

The Gentleman pictured in the Piatnik card is standing reading a letter, and in his right hand he holds his cane—he very much looks like a man about his business. In the immediate future, the card to the right of him is the Garden, where an event will take place.

In his immediate past to the left of him, we have a pledge in the form of the Ring; the Gentleman has made a pledge or commitment. If we read the cards together in a line from left to right, it reads, “A pledge made by a businessman for an event to come.”

To know more about the Gentleman and his intentions, we look at the card directly beneath him, the Moon. Here we have dreamy aspirations, perhaps a wish for fame and recognition. The card above him is the Mice, representing surface-level activity in the practical world, the world of motivation and decision making. This is the energy of the mice doing things in bite-size pieces, working gradually to get things done for sheer survival.

To the left of the Mice we have the Fish, the card of resources and money. To the right of the Mice we have the Book: a source of knowledge and magic, it is a powerful tool one may use for self-mastery.

Knighting in the Reading

If we knight from the Gentleman to the Ring, then to the Fish, it speaks of a man making a pledge of money or resources.

Knighting from the Gentleman to the Moon, and then to the Clouds, the message is that the gentleman is emotionally changeable. The card to the left of him, the Clouds, signals uncertainty in the air, particularly if the darker edge of the clouds is closer to him.

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