Reasons We DON'T buy certain Lenormands

I agree ^. Not a fan of themed Lenormand. I don't get the fuss over the Gilded either. It is not my taste.

I like something pretty to look at yes. I like to see the playing card insert too. If I could right now I would get a McLoughlin (sp?) Lenormand but I am trying to cut back on all decks at the moment. Simple, traditional, and to the point.

I don't need other imagery on my Lenormand cards to read them. Stars is always stars, ring is always a ring. Please leave the themes off my Lennies.

I don't like... a bird holding a bunch of flowers in it's mouth flying over a mountain.
A dog trotting down a road next to a rider on a horse
A sky with a bunch of clouds and a sun shining over a meadow with flowers.
A snake, chasing a mouse into a house.
etc. etc. etc..

Make it clear, make it uncluttered and stick to the original theme.
I am very picky about this, it has to be instantly recognizable as a sun, as a cloud, as a house.
If I see the image and it doesn't instantly make itself known loud and clear I am not buying the deck.

I think as a long time former deck collector in hind sight I realize that I want working decks...not works of art.
The stacks of decks I have that are silent as far as reading go and are only looked through a few times a year as pretty art decks don't bring me half the joy that my good old hard working decks do.

I don't want to discourage deck makers...but it makes me kind of sad to see lenormand become so popular and tainted in a way with all this theme, clutter, and noise.

My favorites are my no verse Blue Owl and my Piatnik.
I also like my two Lo Scarabeo decks.... French Cartomancy and Oracle Lenormand.
I started collecting, but quickly stopped as I could see the market being flooded with new theme decks.
And it would take a lot of funds and time to keep up with the newest and the greatest decks coming out.
And I found from being a collector before that the collecting can over shadow the learning and doing of being a reader.
And I really wanted to learn lenormand....so my time when to that.
And I found a sort of sweet peace in having just a few lenormand decks...they all fit in my little bag...no time spent in humming and hawing over which deck to use today.
I have come to love the simplicity of it.

I have often thought about what would be the perfect lenormand deck for me...and I think it would be one where I could go on a site and pick from a range of pictures and have it printed just for me.
My favorite dog, an Italian grey hound
My favorite flower, an iris
My dream house
My idea of a garden...and it would have vegetables in it!
The cutest sweetest blue birds I could find.
Mice nibbling on some cookies.
I think I could even pick out a favorite snake...not one of those colorful exotic snakes, but a little garter snake like I see in my world.

Because I think what attracts us to a deck is the pictures in it that match how we see... or would like to see our world.
And if it falls short in to many areas it is a deck we will put on the shelf and not use.

Sorry so long...I've thought about this a lot...

But you know lark, I agree with everything you say. And I'm sure many others do. In fact, what I most see here and elsewhere is people saying keep them simple, leave off the clutter, don't obfuscate the symbolism.

And yet deck creators often can't contain themelves. I think they probably know that they shouldn't, but it's like chocolate, Pringles, you just can't help yourself. I think it's probably newbie Lenormand readers who fall for it - the prettiness and the invitation to "intuit." Because it's what they know of card reading.

It amazes me how most people don't want clutter and yet decks keep coming out with clutter. Presumably for short-term sales.

Le Fanu said:

But you know lark, I agree with everything you say. And I'm sure many others do. In fact, what I most see here and elsewhere is people saying keep them simple, leave off the clutter, don't obfuscate the symbolism.

And yet deck creators often can't contain themelves. I think they probably know that they shouldn't, but it's like chocolate, Pringles, you just can't help yourself. I think it's probably newbie Lenormand readers who fall for it - the prettiness and the invitation to "intuit." Because it's what they know of card reading.

It amazes me how most people don't want clutter and yet decks keep coming out with clutter. Presumably for short-term sales.

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They should ask us ...I appreciate danielnogo asking what we thought.
And there have been others who have asked...
For some I think it is all about the joy of creating, and for some it is about the money it might generate...and then for others it is a nitch in the market they can slide another deck in.

Yes, they probably do lose control and go a little over board.
But Lenormand shouldn't look like a Mardi Gras float, it's more like a little red wagon.
Oh God now someone will create the little red wagon lenormand.

We only have ourselves to blame, we fueled it.
We started getting interested in lenormand here on AT.
We started buying up any traditional decks we could find out there and there aren't that many...no books to speak of...and boom
3 years later we have books...and decks coming out of our ears.

If you build it they will come.

I ask because everything I create is intended for other people, if I make a deck and it's got things that turn off it's entire demographic it will be a useless creation and a year of my life's creative juices go down the drain :/

I take creative liberties with my lenormand, and you're right, it's because I just can't help it, but any changes I make that I know people may take an issue with, I make sure to include an alternative, best of both worls, I get to express my full creativity without pissing off traditionalist.

I know there are quite a few lenormand's out there, but compared to tarot and oracle cards, we have nothing. There's like 20 or 30 decks out there that I've seen, IF that. Most people I mention it to don't have any idea what lenormand is, even in occult stores.

The card I always check out before I buy a deck is The Garden. For ages this card confused me as I always thought it was The Fountain. Why? Because, front and centre in most of the cards was a whopping great big fountain. The garden was hidden in behind it. So now, if a fountain in the garden card is the first thing I see, then I don't buy the deck.

As for the Gilded Reverie, when it was a self-published, limited edition deck the price on it was CRAZY!! Yes, now you can get the mass market version for cheap, but the LE is still very sought after. So I can understand people who do charge a bit more for the SP and LE decks (mine was $40 and I thought that was a bit high).

I too like simple and I don't like card inserts. So when I made the Flonz, I made it simple, really simple. And I used suit symbols instead of inserts. The cards look cleaner and less cluttered as a result.

I do have another Lenormand deck burbling away in the back of my brain, but I doubt it will ever come to fruition. And that's fine. But I know it's there if I want it someday.

lark said:

We started buying up any traditional decks we could find out there and there aren't that many...

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But much as it pains me - I think the silent majority just don't like traditional decks. I have come to accept this. I think the majority of Lenormand fans now (I won't say readers) don't like the traditional / historical ones - even though they are perhaps a bit embarassed to admit it. Collaging and themes are much more appealing, new stuff, gimmicky stuff. That's just the way it is. For me, the Dondorf decks are the most beautiful non-tarot cartomantic decks in the world.

I think there are lots of people reading this thread thinking Dondorf yuk. And I think ok, yes, philistines, but what does it matter?

Clear, traditional, 1800s decks are just too dull and dry for most people. Sad fact.

I notice a lot of the styles of artwork I hate in tarot, continue into Lenormand and into the art I like generally. Too cgi / cartoony is not for me. I have to say though I like an innovative take on the cards, for example the Gilded Reverie Coffin with it's Egyptian Sarcophagus, genius! There is a balance though that it has to do a take on the symbol and not make the symbol insignificant. Playing Card inserts is a deal breaker for me too. I know some of my friends refer the Lenormand cards back to the playing cards and also read cartomancy but I don't (at the moment).

oh the scythe card looks so much better now Daniel!

Le Fanu said:

Clear, traditional, 1800s decks are just too dull and dry for most people. Sad fact.

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Sigh...you're right, but I think they are beautiful...and I hope they will always be around as a choice for new readers.

My fav's are the piatnik and the gilded, absolutely love them. I also like the enchanted lenormand with it's crystal ball motif but not as much as those two. The gilded is just a great deck with easy imagery, idk whats not to like.