Which Lenormand to purchase?

Astraea

I have been following Diana's, Aerin's, and other threads about the Lenormand deck with great interest. I would like to purchase a Lenormand deck, but am wondering which of the many options would be best for one who understands only basic French.

Le Petit Lenormand seems like an excellent deck, but I understand that the English translations of the French verses are awful. Le Grand Lenormand seems to have no English instructions to accompany it, nor do the cards appear to incorporate keywords or verses.

Have you any recommendations? Thank you in advance!
 

Diana

Astraea: I would suggest you buy Le Petit Lenormand in French. I would gladly help you with the translations if you so wished, and you'll soon get to know the cards so well, that you won't need to read the poems. It's the picture on the card that is the most important. (The English translations of the poems are too silly, and are too far from the original meanings.)

Then it just needs practice and lot of common sense when it comes to reading the card combinations.

There is also the Piatnik deck which doesn't have poems, only pictures. It's a lovely deck, although they've changed the Clouds card (the cloudy side and the sunny side change sides) and I find this muddles the readings.

The Grand Lenormand would take a LOT of study to understand correctly. It is a very very complicated deck.
 

Astraea

Thank you, Diana!

I so appreciate your recommendation and kind offer to help me with the French. I will order Le Petit Lenormand today. Many thanks!
 

Astraea

Confusion about les Petits Lenormand

Hi! I have run into a confusing situation in trying to order Le Petit Lenormand with French verses.

Grimaud makes a Petit Lenormand, but it seems to be a smaller version of the large astromythological deck; it does not have the verses.

In another thread, Aerin mentioned that the Lenormand cards with French verses are published by a company called Lenormand, but I can't find any such company via searches.

The Serena Powers site shows the French cards with verses on the example reading page, but I don't find them for sale on the site or in her catalogue.

I did manage to find a US distributor for the Piatnik Le Petit Normand (which has the backward clouds and playing card insets, but no French verses), and ordered it; but nowhere am I able to find, or identify the publisher, of the Le Petit Lenormand that has the French verses.

Advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.
 

Rusty Neon

Hi Astraea ... A deck that I have is the one you've mentioned: Lenormand cards with French verses are published by a company called Lenormand. That deck is called 'Jeu Lenormand'. From a brief cruise on the web, it seems that the current publisher for that exact deck is Carta Mundi.

For example, at
http://homeusers.brutele.be/magicka/tarotE.htm
the picture on that website looks like it's a picture of the box of the Jeu Lenormand that I have. The Jeu Lenormand comes in several different languages. I recommend the French, of course.

Check around for prices.
 

Astraea

Thank you

Rusty Neon, thank you very much! I definitely want the French deck and will research the availability and prices of the Jeu Lenormand. Your assistance is appreciated!
 

felicityk

I am confused as to the difference between the Grand Lenormand and the Petit Lenormand decks. Obviously the former has a greater number of cards, and I assume they correspond to the cards of a regular bridge deck. Are the meanings the same for the cards the two decks have in common?

For what it's worth, I read in A Wicked Pack of Cards that Mlle. Lenormand never used a full 52-card deck for divination. She only ever used the smaller "piquet" deck (32 cards). Does the Petit Lenormand usually have 32 or 36 cards?

Felicity
 

BoomVoom

hi!
i just kouldn't help butting in. (fan of the lenormande)

i think what you say is true felicityk. but i have heard that apparentaly in mell. Lenormand's wrightings, she did mention things about the etilla method, which from what i understood used all the cards. i believe that this method must be (somehow) the predecesor of the sibyl, which also uses all 52 cards.

on certain levels i think the grand lenormand has things in comun with the petit. the thing is that each card is devided into 5 or 6 parts with deverent images. these include, the playing card equivilant, a main central image of a mothological subject, flowers and herbs, and even star formations. there's so much information charged onto each card that it's minde bogleing!

is there a study group for the lenormand? if there is i'd realy like to join! :D
*wink, wink. nudge nudge.*

i know that some people interpret the face cards of the lenormand as people and not only as the image. is this posible?

BoomVoom
 

Diana

I think I understand better now which Lenormand deck is which....

There are four Lenormand decks.

1) Grand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand. There are 54 cards. Publishers: Grimaud, France.
2) Petit Lenormand - Je de cartes divinatoires d'après la méthode admirablement simplifiée de Mlle Lenormand. There are 36 (or 37 cards, can't make it out). Publishers: Grimaud, France.
3) Jeu Lenormand: Cartes de bonne aventure d'après la méthode reconnue si exacte de Mlle Lenormand. There are 36 cards. Publishers: Carta Mundi, Belgium.
4) Mlle Lenormand - Jeu du Destin. There are 36 cards. Publishers: Piatnik, Austria.

Number one (54 cards) is apparently the exact reproduction of the one Mlle Lenormand created. It's a very complicated deck with astro-mythological figures.

Number two was also designed by Mlle Lenormand herself. It is a bit simpler (less cards), but also has astro-mythological figures.

Number three is a more modern deck. Designed at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was not created by her at all.

Number four is just an even more modern version than number three.

I personally have decided to use the number three. The Piatnik deck has the clouds the wrong way round for me.

I will keep number one and two for when I have time to study a lot. Because they are really pretty complicated and I cannot make head or tail of them, even with the help of books. I even tried to read a book which apparently was written by Mlle Lenormand herself, but I didn't understand it.

A course with an expert would be more up my sleeve..........
 

Astraea

Thank you for that helpful list, Diana. Since starting this thread, I have purchased both the Piatnik Lenormand and the Jeu du Destin (#4 on your list); Jeannette at Tarot Garden is looking for Carta Mundi's Jeu Lenormand (#3) for me. I might add #1 and #2 to the collection when I have more time to devote to study (as you say, they are quite complicated). The Lenormands appear to be as complex a family as the Sybillas! :)

Thanks again, Diana.