Lenormand Practices You Don't Use

Shade

So one of the things I liked most about reading Lenormand early on was the utter simplicity of things. Then after a little time spent learning, things would try to creep in about more arcane practices.

I was watching an online Lenormand class with a friend and the teacher talked about knighting. I turned immediately to my friend and said "We do not do knighting." He replied with "We definitely do not do knighting."

So just as Tarot has people in and out on significators and reversed cards what are you out on?

Mine:

Knighting seems complicated and mostly a way people soften a blow or just try to mine more information once they already have their answer. I'm out.

Houses are something I do not spend any time with. A grand tableau is enough to get through once the combinations are read; I absolutely avoid figuring out what it would mean for the Sun to be next to the Tree without wondering what a Sun in the house of the Snake means paired with a Tree in the house of the coffin.

What about others?
 

Village Witch

I use several techniques in a GT.

I read the first 3-4 cards and the last 3-4 cards as an overview and a summary.
Opposite corners
Knighting
Mirroring
Diagonals
9x9 around each significator
Line by Line horizontal
Core: the middle vertical line in a 4x9 GT
Above and below the significator
Houses

I find using all of the above techniques helps verify the reading. Many of the techniques say the same thing, but at times add extra dimension.

What I do not employ are near and far meanings or counting rounds.
 

Barleywine

As far as "additional" techniques, I draw the line at counting in the GT since it seems like overkill. I only use knighting if the focus cards I'm interested in share a common card by knighting. Mirroring I look at but I don't get a lot of value out of it most of the time. I don't use "past-present-future" in the GT, only proximity (near/far) and direction (left/right/above/below), although I do use it in line spreads. I've only just started using playing card insets.
 

Lee

For me, no mirroring, no knighting, no houses, no four corners, no counting, no near/far.
 

Village Witch

Lee said:
For me, no mirroring, no knighting, no houses, no four corners, no counting, no near/far.
Click to expand...

Then what the heck do you read? :-D
 

Padma

I have tried near and far, and I do try to bear it in mind, but it is slipping away from me. I am not sure I love or trust it.
 

Sharla

Im a typical Virgo so like to do things to the dot. So as you can expect in a GT i try to do everything i.e knighting, four corners, 1st 3 cards, diagonals, center line, houses, near and far, whats touching etc.

I am still learning Lenormand and trying to do all these things in a GT you may think is too much, but i enjoy doing it this way i find it interesting and mysterious doing the knighting techniques seeing what certain cards knight with, and seeing what houses certain cards land in etc, it totally amazes me how the cards lay themselves out in the order they do. And the amount of information you can squeeze out of a GT is incredible if you know what you are looking for.
 

Lee

Village Witch said:
Then what the heck do you read? :-D
Click to expand...
Good question! :)

I read lines cards sequentially like a sentence. I combine two or three adjacent cards. In a GT, if I feel like I need more information on a card, there's always adjacent cards other than the horizontal line I'm reading -- i.e. above, below, or diagonal. I don't feel I really need more "extra" input than that.

For the GT, I use the basic scheme of left being past, right being future, above being what you're aware of or what's out of your control, below being what you're unaware of or what you control. The vertical line containing the key card would be the present, the horizontal line would tell the story from past to future.

So it's the basic stuff, but without the mirroring, knighting, etc. To me it seems like if we look at too much stuff, the basic story will get muddied and become lost amid all the noise. It's like in an astrology chart -- you wouldn't want to look at every single astrological factor shown in the chart, because you'd be so caught up in the details, you'd lose the overall picture.

That's just me though. The great thing about cartomancy is that we can do what we want. :)
 

Padma

I find if I do every little thing possible in a GT, I just end up with repeated messages about the same things.
 

Barleywine

Lee said:
Good question! :)

I read lines cards sequentially like a sentence. I combine two or three adjacent cards. In a GT, if I feel like I need more information on a card, there's always adjacent cards other than the horizontal line I'm reading -- i.e. above, below, or diagonal. I don't feel I really need more "extra" input than that.

For the GT, I use the basic scheme of left being past, right being future, above being what you're aware of or what's out of your control, below being what you're unaware of or what you control. The vertical line containing the key card would be the present, the horizontal line would tell the story from past to future.

So it's the basic stuff, but without the mirroring, knighting, etc. To me it seems like if we look at too much stuff, the basic story will get muddied and become lost amid all the noise. It's like in an astrology chart -- you wouldn't want to look at every single astrological factor shown in the chart, because you'd be so caught up in the details, you'd lose the overall picture.

That's just me though. The great thing about cartomancy is that we can do what we want. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, Lee. That's pretty much "the basics" as I learned and use them. I tend to "radiate out" from the Significator or other "focus card" as I put it all together. One question, though: isn't there something slightly askew with the idea that you are in control of something you're unaware of? (Unless of course we posit that we each create our own reality at the subconscious level.)
 
Essential Lenormand by Rana George Study Group - 4. House UNDER THE ROSES US GAMES ED