Bat Chicken
I have only just recently been introduced to the Lenormand. I am finally thinking about getting one - but which one?? I did see the Les Vieux Jours cards but I got the impression she would not send them to Canada.... they are gorgeous...
All about Lenormand Cards
Seaqueen
Selecting Lenormand cards
Hello,
There about 4-5 decks available in North America, either through Ebay (very reasonably priced, usually $7- $10) or though higher end book stores.
The French Cartomancy deck is a softly colored deck- I use this one all the time because it reminds me of the original Rider Tarot in it's color scheme.
I find that less intricate is better, this allows for expansion of the psychic awareness or intuition.
If you are the type of person that works better with a deck in more pronounced color then the No. 1941 deck is a nice one to get started with.
Also some decks have the standard deck imposed in the background and the Mystical Lenormand doesn't, it has Astrological glyphs.
As a beginner deck, the more simpler images are better until you get used to them and are comfortable with a few key phrases pertaining to the cards.
It also depends on your background- do you know a bit about Astrology, are you a student of color & symbolism, etc.
It is important to keep in mind that you don't want to be swayed by the artists perception in the Lenormand, it is not the Tarot type system unless of course those cards are "calling" you to buy them. Each person is attracted to different decks.
I have found that I was attracted to certain decks only to find out that I could not work comfortably with them for one reason or another. The Les Vieux Jours cards are a collage of the creator's perception of what Lenormand means to her. I like looking at the pretty images but avoid extensive shuffling to protect the cards.
Soaring Eagle New Age Shoppe on Ebay has the French Cartomancy deck Kit for sale at $13.45 US & a few others. If you Email Veronica and ask her to ship to Canada, she is very accommodating and a nice lady.
http://cgi.ebay.com/FRENCH-CARTOMAN...yZ102523QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Bat Chicken said:
Hello,
There about 4-5 decks available in North America, either through Ebay (very reasonably priced, usually $7- $10) or though higher end book stores.
The French Cartomancy deck is a softly colored deck- I use this one all the time because it reminds me of the original Rider Tarot in it's color scheme.
I find that less intricate is better, this allows for expansion of the psychic awareness or intuition.
If you are the type of person that works better with a deck in more pronounced color then the No. 1941 deck is a nice one to get started with.
Also some decks have the standard deck imposed in the background and the Mystical Lenormand doesn't, it has Astrological glyphs.
As a beginner deck, the more simpler images are better until you get used to them and are comfortable with a few key phrases pertaining to the cards.
It also depends on your background- do you know a bit about Astrology, are you a student of color & symbolism, etc.
It is important to keep in mind that you don't want to be swayed by the artists perception in the Lenormand, it is not the Tarot type system unless of course those cards are "calling" you to buy them. Each person is attracted to different decks.
I have found that I was attracted to certain decks only to find out that I could not work comfortably with them for one reason or another. The Les Vieux Jours cards are a collage of the creator's perception of what Lenormand means to her. I like looking at the pretty images but avoid extensive shuffling to protect the cards.
Soaring Eagle New Age Shoppe on Ebay has the French Cartomancy deck Kit for sale at $13.45 US & a few others. If you Email Veronica and ask her to ship to Canada, she is very accommodating and a nice lady.
http://cgi.ebay.com/FRENCH-CARTOMAN...yZ102523QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Bat Chicken
I know very little about astrology but I am more of a 'student' color and symbolism.... I actually like the French Cartomancy deck and the Mystical just from appearance. I guess I am going to have to use them...! It's all mail order up here! 
Thank you for your detailed answer. I have gotten very enthusiastic about getting deeper into these thanks to the ATF project and this thread.
Thank you for your detailed answer. I have gotten very enthusiastic about getting deeper into these thanks to the ATF project and this thread.
Gavriela
I really like French Cartomancy. Mystical Lenormand looks nice, but I might get lost without the playing card symbol. I'm an astrologer, but still can't quite wrap my head around Lenormand with astrology and without playing cards - though I may cave in and buy one anyway cos it's so pretty.
And if you need more enabling, BatChicken, R Somerville has lots of Lenormand and gipsy style decks, and he's happy to ship here. Lovely man, as well. Just hit Tarot at the top of the frame, and then 'fortunetelling packs' when it asks what kind of cards you want to look at.
And if you need more enabling, BatChicken, R Somerville has lots of Lenormand and gipsy style decks, and he's happy to ship here. Lovely man, as well. Just hit Tarot at the top of the frame, and then 'fortunetelling packs' when it asks what kind of cards you want to look at.
Seaqueen
Loving the Lenormands
I was studying the Coffin card (because I did a post on Ask My Cards blog) and used the Mystical Lenormand deck. The image gave me such a different feeling in comparison to the French Cartomancy deck. I prefer working with the standard card insets as well.
There is reference to the 8th house on the Coffin card but only in the capacity of death or endings not so much as far as other people's money & sex (Scorpio). But maybe that could also be a meaning for that card.
What do you think?
Gavriela said:
I was studying the Coffin card (because I did a post on Ask My Cards blog) and used the Mystical Lenormand deck. The image gave me such a different feeling in comparison to the French Cartomancy deck. I prefer working with the standard card insets as well.
There is reference to the 8th house on the Coffin card but only in the capacity of death or endings not so much as far as other people's money & sex (Scorpio). But maybe that could also be a meaning for that card.
What do you think?
Gavriela
I think the Mystical is a gorgeous pack of cards, but it's a bit difficult to wrap my head around some of the images.
It may sound dumb (probably is), but Lenormand is a complex system in some ways. Like if the book is open, or the coffin isn't draped on one side or the clouds thing we were talking about yesterday - there are so many visual cues I seem to need to wrap my head around to get the combos - plus the playing card symbols - without those, I'd probably forget who's where in the courts. I learnt to read in Europe more years ago than I care to admit, but have only taken up Lenormand again fairly recently, so I need to relearn a whole lot. Combinations especially, because that's the key to reading it.
On the particular issue of the 8th house, I have seen people make good arguments that it's not about sex (Dave Roell had an essay on his site, it may still be up), or it's only sex on the astral plane, and that you can cover intimate relationships in 5 and 7, but I'm not so sure I agree. I tend to see a lot of other people issues in 7-12, and a lot of personal in 1-6. Granted, that isn't a hard and fast rule, but it works pretty well. Where would joint values go if you didn't put them in 8? Maybe in 7, to a point, but money usually represents so much to us humans that it deserves that 2/8 axis - what's the thing that most marriages break up over, after all?
Granted, astrological correspondences are a little more set than maybe tarot would be, but as a friend of mine once said, after enough study, at some point it becomes a democracy of one deciding which you're going to use.
It may sound dumb (probably is), but Lenormand is a complex system in some ways. Like if the book is open, or the coffin isn't draped on one side or the clouds thing we were talking about yesterday - there are so many visual cues I seem to need to wrap my head around to get the combos - plus the playing card symbols - without those, I'd probably forget who's where in the courts. I learnt to read in Europe more years ago than I care to admit, but have only taken up Lenormand again fairly recently, so I need to relearn a whole lot. Combinations especially, because that's the key to reading it.
On the particular issue of the 8th house, I have seen people make good arguments that it's not about sex (Dave Roell had an essay on his site, it may still be up), or it's only sex on the astral plane, and that you can cover intimate relationships in 5 and 7, but I'm not so sure I agree. I tend to see a lot of other people issues in 7-12, and a lot of personal in 1-6. Granted, that isn't a hard and fast rule, but it works pretty well. Where would joint values go if you didn't put them in 8? Maybe in 7, to a point, but money usually represents so much to us humans that it deserves that 2/8 axis - what's the thing that most marriages break up over, after all?
Granted, astrological correspondences are a little more set than maybe tarot would be, but as a friend of mine once said, after enough study, at some point it becomes a democracy of one deciding which you're going to use.
Seaqueen
Gavriela said:
Sex on the astral plane, that may be true. Sex is suppose to be a spiritual experience if both parties surrender to each other. I agree that it belongs more to the 5th and 7th houses and even the first because it does involve our physical bodies in most cases, ha-ha-ha.
I agree that the Mystical Lenormand has more complexity to it, similar to the Tarot in a broad sense. I like using the courts as well, I find I get more information that way if the "other" meaning of the card doesn't fit in.
Several years ago, I had a repeat of several cards that kept coming up (French Cartomancy deck), always around #24 heart card. There was usually the #7 snake, #25 ring, #29 lady and close by #8 coffin.
At the time I was at the beginning stages of dating a man who seems to be to good to be true (you know-one of those). Had I not seen those card combination so often I never would have stopped to think about the potentially perfect relationship. One night I did the layout and sure enough those cards were looming close to the Lady. I started to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach (earlier that day the date was called off without much notice and said he was going to another city on business). Then it dawned on me like a big lightbulb that went off in my head- this man could be married. Dam did that ever tick me off, to think I didn't pick up on that immediately.
I could not leave it alone, because I believed in the cards so much (based on past accuracy rate) that I confronted this person. I didn't mince words either. I didn't tell him the cards told me so, ha-ha-ha (it is usually not something I speak of right away, my interest in divination by cards).
BINGO! To make a long story short, he was married and she lived in another city, and this city I live was where he operated his business from. I shook my head for days. Luckily I paid attention to the cards because I could have ended up being very hurt in the process.
So the moral of my story is, the cards tell you things sometimes you don't see or want to see.
Gavriela
OUCH. But I'm glad you did find out. I've had a few things like that happen, too, though not so much in relationships (except my phantom Jack of Hearts there - I think I know who - maybe? I'll find out, I'm sure). Usually it's around business stuff - chances are if the cards say it won't happen - it won't happen, so I don't depend on it.
I ignored that once - and I'm still recovering from that little disaster seven years later. Now I listen.
As for telling, it depends on who it is - some people are fine with it, some I think I'd hide the tarot decks before they ever came in (though lately that's getting difficult - too many beautiful cards out these days, I need to stop collecting!).
With Lenormand, you can kinda-sorta get away with having one around, cos they're just an old decorated pack of playing cards you found if someone who might otherwise freak sees them. Then you bore them to death with all your history of playing cards site bookmarks
I ignored that once - and I'm still recovering from that little disaster seven years later. Now I listen.
As for telling, it depends on who it is - some people are fine with it, some I think I'd hide the tarot decks before they ever came in (though lately that's getting difficult - too many beautiful cards out these days, I need to stop collecting!).
With Lenormand, you can kinda-sorta get away with having one around, cos they're just an old decorated pack of playing cards you found if someone who might otherwise freak sees them. Then you bore them to death with all your history of playing cards site bookmarks
MysticalMoose
Hello Seaqueen & everyone
Thanks for the link to your blog its v. interesting! I had the Mystical Lenormand cards for a while & as much I liked the illustrations I found them a little "pale" (colourwise) & I traded them.....Then....a friend gave me as a gift some cards that I dont think I would have bought myself from the packaging, they are Titanias Fortune Cards & when I opened them they were based on the Lenormand cards, all I think with the same names but the images are bright , colourful & strong. She says in the accompanying book that she has stayed faithful to the symbols & much of the meaning. I was fascinated by these & laid out a 9 card spread for the week: made a few notes myself & am waiting to see how it all pans out.!!!!!
MM
Thanks for the link to your blog its v. interesting! I had the Mystical Lenormand cards for a while & as much I liked the illustrations I found them a little "pale" (colourwise) & I traded them.....Then....a friend gave me as a gift some cards that I dont think I would have bought myself from the packaging, they are Titanias Fortune Cards & when I opened them they were based on the Lenormand cards, all I think with the same names but the images are bright , colourful & strong. She says in the accompanying book that she has stayed faithful to the symbols & much of the meaning. I was fascinated by these & laid out a 9 card spread for the week: made a few notes myself & am waiting to see how it all pans out.!!!!!
MMEios
Playing card inserts in Lenormand
Hello everyone,
I'm new to the Lenormand Oracle, so I'm clueless about the inserts of playing cards in the lenormand. Do the meaning of the cards follow the traditional meaning of playing cards? Do you use them in any other way?
Regards,
Eios
Hello everyone,
I'm new to the Lenormand Oracle, so I'm clueless about the inserts of playing cards in the lenormand. Do the meaning of the cards follow the traditional meaning of playing cards? Do you use them in any other way?
Regards,
Eios
