Barleywine
During an early discussion with andybc when I first picked up Lenormand a couple of years ago, he made the point that the tradition didn't have a "sex" card or a "work" card. Conversely, every modern writer feels compelled to ascribe both of these to particular cards. It seems like "Well, everyone wants sex, and everyone needs work, so we gotta fit them in there somewhere." I had a rather stark encounter with this mindset over the past week-end.
I did three Grand Tableaux and and a 9-card square. The GTs all turned out to be mainly about work and career matters, while the question put to the square was about the advisability of long-distance travel. I still do occasional combo look-ups to check myself, and in all four readings there were narrowly worded sexual connotations in the reference material that had absolutely nothing to do with the realities at hand; the real crux of the matter was supervisor/employee professional relations in the GTs, and a platonic friendship between two female business partners in the fouth case. I was able to work these around to a more germane perspective, but it struck me as odd that my sources didn't display a more expansive and even-handed overview of the broader possibilites. They were definitely lacking in nuance.
What has your experience been with the Lilies, the Whip and the Snake, all of which have been pressed into service to denote sexual expression in certain combinations? Do you find the sexual overlay meaningful or just a display of expedience to address a void in the tradition that seems to be out of sync with modern interpretation? (Note that I'm more of a traditionalist and tend not to fall into the "modern" camp in many ways, but I know a lot of readers do.)
I did three Grand Tableaux and and a 9-card square. The GTs all turned out to be mainly about work and career matters, while the question put to the square was about the advisability of long-distance travel. I still do occasional combo look-ups to check myself, and in all four readings there were narrowly worded sexual connotations in the reference material that had absolutely nothing to do with the realities at hand; the real crux of the matter was supervisor/employee professional relations in the GTs, and a platonic friendship between two female business partners in the fouth case. I was able to work these around to a more germane perspective, but it struck me as odd that my sources didn't display a more expansive and even-handed overview of the broader possibilites. They were definitely lacking in nuance.
What has your experience been with the Lilies, the Whip and the Snake, all of which have been pressed into service to denote sexual expression in certain combinations? Do you find the sexual overlay meaningful or just a display of expedience to address a void in the tradition that seems to be out of sync with modern interpretation? (Note that I'm more of a traditionalist and tend not to fall into the "modern" camp in many ways, but I know a lot of readers do.)