Man Right, Woman Left

Village Witch

In the Mystical Lenormand book, the author writes that the cards to the left of the Lady card in a GT are her future and cards to the right are her past. The opposite for the Man card.

I am thinking perhaps this is because the Lady faces left and the Man faces right in the Mystical Lenormand.

I've never heard this before. Does anyone here read this way?
 

Padma

In the Mystical Lenormand book, the author writes that the cards to the left of the Lady card in a GT are her future and cards to the right are her past. The opposite for the Man card.

I am thinking perhaps this is because the Lady faces left and the Man faces right in the Mystical Lenormand.

I've never heard this before. Does anyone here read this way?

I do. And I have often read it. Not everyone follows the directional tradition, however...and not only the Lady and Gent have a direction - the Scythe cuts what is on the side where the blade points, the Mice eat whatever they face on the left, the Clouds have a bright side and a dark side. Whatever falls on bright side will be fine, with minimal and rapid passing problems, but whatever falls beside the dark side of the Clouds is problematic.

I think it belongs to a specific school of Lenormand (i.e. French or German or whatever) but really, I couldn't say which one.

I think if it really is a thing for you, and niggles at you, you can do what I do - I read all the cards directly around the Lady or the Man (left, right, top, bottom) as being what directly affects them; what lays behind where the Lady points or Man faces, is only recently behind them; and the line they are on, horizontally, diagonally and vertically, matter more than the rest of the spread (for me).

That was how I sorted out my feelings about where they face :)
 

Teheuti

There are those who alway use the facing direction of the Man and Woman as future, and the reverse as past. So, with some decks, the Man's future may be the Woman's past, etc. It will vary with every deck you use. In a GT it's crazy-making and far too confusing.

I use a general timeline that goes from left to right, although I don't read it slavishly. Mirroring and other such techniques give me information that can override the timeline and yield a kind of gestalt. Occasionally a directional cue really speaks to me.

Padma feels Mice gnaw on what is to their left (a perfectly valid intent). I go along with HexenClaire (see her wonderful youtube videos) who says that Mice gnaw away at what is near its head (the head of the main mouse) and poops on what is by its bottom (dirties it). In her deck and most of mine, the main mouse faces to the right. Some decks show no dominant direction.
Mouse+Mountain = Mice diminishes or takes away from the Mountain's obstacles.
Mountain+Mice = a nasty detour or shitty enemy.
 

Village Witch

There are those who alway use the facing direction of the Man and Woman as future, and the reverse as past. So, with some decks, the Man's future may be the Woman's past, etc. It will vary with every deck you use. In a GT it's crazy-making and far too confusing.

I can see how that would be confusing! I don't use direction in any of my reads as to which way a symbol points or faces, but then I am a newcomer to Lenormand and have lots to learn.

Lots to ponder in your post. Thank you!
 

Village Witch

Mouse+Mountain = Mice diminishes or takes away from the Mountain's obstacles.
Mountain+Mice = a nasty detour or shitty enemy.

Try as I might, I cannot grasp reading the way most books teach. I read like a story line. Mountain + Mice says to me that obstacles will be diminished. As my readings for myself and friends are often very accurate, something is working.

I still don't have it all figured out, but I am finding my way slowly but surely.
 

Village Witch

I do. And I have often read it. Not everyone follows the directional tradition, however...and not only the Lady and Gent have a direction - the Scythe cuts what is on the side where the blade points, the Mice eat whatever they face on the left, the Clouds have a bright side and a dark side. Whatever falls on bright side will be fine, with minimal and rapid passing problems, but whatever falls beside the dark side of the Clouds is problematic.

I think it belongs to a specific school of Lenormand (i.e. French or German or whatever) but really, I couldn't say which one.

I think if it really is a thing for you, and niggles at you, you can do what I do - I read all the cards directly around the Lady or the Man (left, right, top, bottom) as being what directly affects them; what lays behind where the Lady points or Man faces, is only recently behind them; and the line they are on, horizontally, diagonally and vertically, matter more than the rest of the spread (for me).

That was how I sorted out my feelings about where they face :)

I tend to read the cards that surround the Lady/Man and/or topic cards as in a 3X3 spread. I also read line by line horizontally left to right. Of course I had never heard of reading in the direction the Man/Lady were facing.

Lots to explore here! Thanks for your reply! I love this forum!
 

Village Witch

I have questions about a few other cards too as to which way they are facing/looking.

Does anyone read the cards towards which the RIDER or the SHIP are facing?

If so, do you only use certain decks or are you okay with switching decks and reading whichever way certain cards face?
 

Barleywine

I don't use "facing" either, except in a very few instances like the Clouds and the Scythe. To the extent that I use "past/present/future" at all, the timeline invariably flows from far left to far right. This would be mainly in line spreads; in the GT and 3x3 spread, I use proximity and other techniques as more of a situational matrix or "blueprint" than in a progressively developmental way.
 

Village Witch

I don't use "facing" either, except in a very few instances like the Clouds and the Scythe. To the extent that I use "past/present/future" at all, the timeline invariably flows from far left to far right. This would be mainly in line spreads; in the GT and 3x3 spread, I use proximity and other techniques as more of a situational matrix or "blueprint" than in a progressively developmental way.

Clouds and Scythe are two cards where I totally ignore facing as most of my decks don't have a light/dark side for the Clouds.