Reasons We DON'T buy certain Lenormands

greatdane said:

My current deal breakers are:

Playing cards inserts. Big or small, doesn't matter. I just find a distraction as I don't read playing cards. A discreet SYMBOL in a bottom corner is fine tho. That I barely notice.
So no matter the deck, if it has playing cards on it, I pass.

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That's funny, I'm the opposite. I prefer playing card inserts because in the GT other key people show up. So I never use the decks without the inserts in a GT.

I've mentioned this before and my opinion isn't gonna change. The simpler, the better. All I want to see is the symbol (and inserts) without any other distractions. I don't care how pretty other decks are that have been created, for me they are useless. My fave reading decks are the cheap ones lik the Petit Carta Mundi, Piatnik, French, Iris, and the Blue/White Owl.

Miss Divine said:

That's funny, I'm the opposite. I prefer playing card inserts because in the GT other key people show up. So I never use the decks without the inserts in a GT.

I've mentioned this before and my opinion isn't gonna change. The simpler, the better. All I want to see is the symbol (and inserts) without any other distractions. I don't care how pretty other decks are that have been created, for me they are useless. My fave reading decks are the cheap ones lik the Petit Carta Mundi, Piatnik, French, Iris, and the Blue/White Owl.

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I agree with you there, those decks are absolute classics and will never be beaten, there is so much charm in those decks it's almost sinful. I do like some of the newer decks though, the gilded reverie is spectacular IMO.

danielnogo said:

Question: If you love everything else about a lenormand but it has one card that might stray from these rules, is that a dealbreaker for you?

The reason I ask is that for my scythe card in my storybook lenormand, I looked EVERYWHERE for a clean public domain scythe image and just could not find one that fit my deck theme, so my compromise is I have a small boy holding a huge scythe, here's the pic:

The last thing I want to do is alienate people because of one image, but sometimes finding these images is like finding a needle in a haystack, the sites I use to find these have terrible search engines, generally the images are named "12page.png" and have no indication in the title whats inside the pic, so this was the only scythe image I could find. Is it a dealbreaker?

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Unfortunately a firm yes. Like I said, no distractions (for me anyways). The child in this card is a MAJOR distraction.

danielnogo said:

I agree with you there, those decks are absolute classics and will never be beaten, there is so much charm in those decks it's almost sinful. I do like some of the newer decks though, the gilded reverie is spectacular IMO.

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I have and like the Gilded Reverie. But it's not simple enough for the GT for me. I just get overwhelmed and it interferes with my intuition too.

danielnogo said:

Good news

I was able to clone the boy out of the picture and it came out clean enough where I'd be comfortable releasing it

I am going to include both versions.

Where would I be without photoshop?

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Yay!!
I'm glad you changed it because it really makes all the difference. Ofcourse the child was cute, but not functional.

danielnogo said:

Would it bother you to have a crossroads card that is just a signpost with the pointers? I currently have an actual crossroads but its not very good and the illustration I have of the sign post is amazing.

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For me personally, a signpost would be just fine and would be even preferable to showing the roads. I have one deck that I use a lot (Alternate Realities Lenormand) which shows a compass for the Crossroads/Paths card, and I like that as well.

I do feel there is room for creativity and variety in a Lenormand deck, as long as the imagery remains simple and easily identifiable.

I agree with Lee

As long as I can easily read the card/image, it's fine. I would rather have LESS than too much where the card/meaning is not clearly and easily identifiable. A card that tries to change the basic meanings (like a SNARLING Dog wouldn't work well for me , getting too creative with the BASICS, wouldn't work well for me.

There are a few self published decks I won't buy, because the cost is beyond what I see is reasonable for a 36 card deck.

I appreciate self publishers have to make a profit - I really do, but when I see decks in the $30 region, if not higher? Sorry. I will pass.

Gilded Reverie cost in the region of $15 - now that I would have paid more for, due to the fact it is high quality, gilded and has a great box.

Davina

i dont like decks that change the words for certain cards.

Also, anything with photo manips, never been my cup of tea.

Contemporary Lenormand abhors a vacuum. Or that's how it sometimes seems.

Oh and themes - my goodness - really - Lenormand doesn't need themes. Don't bend my Lenormand into something irrelevant. Why should it be Pagan or Wiccan or Cats or Alexander the Great or whatever? Of course the rest of the world can like what they want etc etc but I cannot for the life of me understand why we need a theme like this other than for decoration or for people with a low concentration span that can't concentrate on a single disembodied heart or scythe (please let me rant awhile).

With tarot you can get away with "layers" and pointing the imagination hither and thither - but Lenormand doesn't need this and honestly, when I see a deck with a theme like this I just "oops, there goes another person who has no idea what Lenormand is."

I adore clutter - you should see my house and overflowing cabinets and shelves of curios - but there's a time and a place.