Teheuti
I've found Lenormand to be spot-on when I use it before watching a movie or book to indicate core aspects of the plot and occasionally theme. I thought it would be interesting if others want to join me in doing this. There are several examples on my blog (see Public Profile>Contacts) and I'll include the latest one below.
Rules: BEFORE viewing a movie or play or reading a book, do a spread to tell you something about it - usually plot or thematic elements that you should watch for in order to gain the greatest insight into the work. I recommend a 3 or 5 card layout, or Square of 9 at most. Sum up what you think the cards are saying. AFTER experiencing the work itself report back on what you now think the cards meant. I find it incredibly exciting to be watching a movie and see elements from the spread coming to life before my eyes!
Here's an example:
Before seeing the recent film The Imitation Game about Alan Turing and the breaking of the Enigma Code during WWII that saved millions of lives and significantly cut the duration of the war, I drew three cards from the Petit Lenormand deck, asking, “What should I focus on in this movie to gain the greatest insights (into the plot or message of the film)?”
From the Malpertuis Lenormand deck I received:
Fox – Clover – Bear
https://marygreer.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/14-2-15.jpg
Before the movie, I summed up my page of notes: “Risky strategy pays off by protecting Britain.”
Fox is cunning, trickery, strategy, false or wrong; and in modern Lenormand can mean a job.
Clover is luck, chance, risk, fortuitous, brief.
Bear is strength, protection or envy; modern meanings include investment, gain and authority figures like CEOs or police and military.
In my method of doing line-readings the first card is the subject, so Clover modifies Fox: a risky strategy. Clover also serves as a verb, “pays off” leading to a future result: protection (Bear).
I also considered that these cards could indicate a fortuitous relationship between an employer (Bear) and a worker (Fox), although with Fox and Bear looking in opposite directions, they might have different agendas. Furthermore, Bear could resent and be envious of the smartness of Fox.
After the movie, I also considered Fox+Clover as “code-breaking” and Bear as the fearsome enemy (Bear is described as a “ferocious beast” in the oldest text). So we simply have: “breaking the Nazi code.”
Imagine my surprise when the movie opens with a film of a bear! It turned out to be the logo of the production company: Black Bear. Part way into the movie Turing makes an unsuccessful attempt to tell a joke about two people running into a bear:
“The first one says, ‘You can’t outrun a bear.’ And the second one responds, ‘I don’t have to. I only have to outrun you.'”
This is a cunning strategy that can pay off when Fox is confronted by Bear.
(Later I learned that Turing’s childhood toy bear—I seem to remember it being shown late in the film (?)—was his constant companion and is now featured in a display at Bletchley Park where the code-breaking took place.)
At a more abstract level, Turing could be seen as the intelligent Fox, with Bear representing his monster of a machine that he named Christopher—after his only childhood friend who protected him at school. Additionally, Fox, which can also represent something false, a faked ploy, is key to how these cards can relate to the “Turing Test” of artificial intelligence and especially Turing’s example of it in his “Imitation Game.”
Rules: BEFORE viewing a movie or play or reading a book, do a spread to tell you something about it - usually plot or thematic elements that you should watch for in order to gain the greatest insight into the work. I recommend a 3 or 5 card layout, or Square of 9 at most. Sum up what you think the cards are saying. AFTER experiencing the work itself report back on what you now think the cards meant. I find it incredibly exciting to be watching a movie and see elements from the spread coming to life before my eyes!
Here's an example:
Before seeing the recent film The Imitation Game about Alan Turing and the breaking of the Enigma Code during WWII that saved millions of lives and significantly cut the duration of the war, I drew three cards from the Petit Lenormand deck, asking, “What should I focus on in this movie to gain the greatest insights (into the plot or message of the film)?”
From the Malpertuis Lenormand deck I received:
Fox – Clover – Bear
https://marygreer.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/14-2-15.jpg
Before the movie, I summed up my page of notes: “Risky strategy pays off by protecting Britain.”
Fox is cunning, trickery, strategy, false or wrong; and in modern Lenormand can mean a job.
Clover is luck, chance, risk, fortuitous, brief.
Bear is strength, protection or envy; modern meanings include investment, gain and authority figures like CEOs or police and military.
In my method of doing line-readings the first card is the subject, so Clover modifies Fox: a risky strategy. Clover also serves as a verb, “pays off” leading to a future result: protection (Bear).
I also considered that these cards could indicate a fortuitous relationship between an employer (Bear) and a worker (Fox), although with Fox and Bear looking in opposite directions, they might have different agendas. Furthermore, Bear could resent and be envious of the smartness of Fox.
After the movie, I also considered Fox+Clover as “code-breaking” and Bear as the fearsome enemy (Bear is described as a “ferocious beast” in the oldest text). So we simply have: “breaking the Nazi code.”
Imagine my surprise when the movie opens with a film of a bear! It turned out to be the logo of the production company: Black Bear. Part way into the movie Turing makes an unsuccessful attempt to tell a joke about two people running into a bear:
“The first one says, ‘You can’t outrun a bear.’ And the second one responds, ‘I don’t have to. I only have to outrun you.'”
This is a cunning strategy that can pay off when Fox is confronted by Bear.
(Later I learned that Turing’s childhood toy bear—I seem to remember it being shown late in the film (?)—was his constant companion and is now featured in a display at Bletchley Park where the code-breaking took place.)
At a more abstract level, Turing could be seen as the intelligent Fox, with Bear representing his monster of a machine that he named Christopher—after his only childhood friend who protected him at school. Additionally, Fox, which can also represent something false, a faked ploy, is key to how these cards can relate to the “Turing Test” of artificial intelligence and especially Turing’s example of it in his “Imitation Game.”
