Are all Lenormand decks read the same?

Padma

I like the Mystic Lenormand - but it makes me see dream images. LRichard, why do you find it disgusting, or rather, I am confused about *what* you find disgusting...?
 

Richard

I like the Mystic Lenormand - but it makes me see dream images. LRichard, why do you find it disgusting, or rather, I am confused about *what* you find disgusting...?
The Snake card of the Mystic is a well known very positive mythological symbol, the Orphic Egg, but the Lenormand meaning is very negative. It's like using a picture of Jesus to represent the Devil.

The artist obviously had something very different in mind than what Snake means in Lenormandese. There's even the alchemical Sun and Moon in the sky, and the snake has a gold crown. It is carrying the idea of [size=+2]not[/size] interpreting the images to an absolutely ridiculous extreme.

I like the Mystic, but why have an image at all if it blatantly violates the meaning of the card? It confuses things for no good reason.
 

Padma

I see...I think! ;) I have problems with that Snake card, too, mostly because when it crops up, I tend to think of a woman who is pregnant somehow. The Whips card in the deck drives me, too. It doesn't go with the traditional take. But somehow, the right cards in the deck come up to say the right thing.

BUT. I prefer the images paired down to the symbol - and that is what I meant by that deck making me dream - the images are too - illustrated, and very specifically so! So that you can have no other feeling but what the image gives you...

I do understand, LRichard. I especially see how a person with more in-depth knowledge on specific images like the Orphic Egg could be put off. Gotcha - thanks for explaining so coherently!

I like the Blue Owl...it's plain, pleasant, and simple. And traditional. That helps.
 

Padma

Oh, and...I don't think the Snake is always evil, as portrayed traditionally. And I think Mme Lenormand did not read with a deck like the Lenormands we have now. And I think some adapting to current times would help. It is not - shall we say - overly contemporary...? Some decks like Sibella are guiltier of that than the Lens, but I still think updated symbols/images might help.
 

Richard

The Modern Minimalist LEN strips the pictures down to just the basic no-frills Lenormand symbol, but it's not much fun to look at. Reminds me of pages in a child's ABC book. (I think the LEN deck is making a statement about 'something'. }))
 

greatdane

The Snake

Depending on the question and the reading, I have had the Snake come up as wisdom or knowledge before, but that's not what I usually see when I do a Lenormand reading. But it's all in the question, layout, and oh yeah, the reader helps. I think whatever works is great. Really isn't it about how the reader views the cards? A deck is just like a hammer sitting there til someone picks it up to build something. And the outcome of what is built justifies however the person holds and uses that hammer. I will not get into traditional vs intuitive reading of Lenormand, that's a no win situation. I'll just say readers should all do what works for them.
 

Padma

The Modern Minimalist LEN strips the pictures down to just the basic no-frills Lenormand symbol, but it's not much fun to look at. Reminds me of pages in a child's ABC book. (I think the LEN deck is making a statement about 'something'. }))

LOL! And I must say - it kind of reminds me of a certain Titania deck...

I think I prefer the older no-frill decks. If you are gonna go modern, put some power lines in the star card, at least! :p
 

Padma

Depending on the question and the reading, I have had the Snake come up as wisdom or knowledge before, but that's not what I usually see when I do a Lenormand reading. But it's all in the question, layout, and oh yeah, the reader helps. I think whatever works is great. Really isn't it about how the reader views the cards? A deck is just like a hammer sitting there til someone picks it up to build something. And the outcome of what is built justifies however the person holds and uses that hammer. I will not get into traditional vs intuitive reading of Lenormand, that's a no win situation. I'll just say readers should all do what works for them.

True enough!
 

Richard

.....But bear in mind that you never read the art in Lenormand. If you do, you are not reading Lenormand but your own concoction using Lenormand cards.

That's precisely why I stored away all my Lenormand decks. I'm getting the Gilded Reverie because I like the pictures, just as I like the pictures in the Mystical. I've lost all motivation to read with them. I never did read them anyhow, I only read my own "concoction." Jeeze!
 

Padma

That's precisely why I stored away all my Lenormand decks. I'm getting the Gilded Reverie because I like the pictures, just as I like the pictures in the Mystical. I've lost all motivation to read with them. I never did read them anyhow, I only read my own "concoction." Jeeze!

LRichard - read as thou wilt ;)