Greetings, my friends. Sorry in advance for the length of this.
This is Donnaleigh, and thanks to those who contributed to the conversation on the origins of meanings and the different styles. Even with Lenormand's hard-bound rules, we'd be hard pressed to find any two Lenormand readers who read exactly alike. That said, if all the users of a similar method use the same system and interpret a particular spread, we'll get very similar readings throughout the room. What's important is to determine our personal meanings based on a system that works, and stick to them. If we keep changing them from reading to reading, we become confused as interpreters of the cards and the readings do get loose.
Because of the tight rules, the slight variations in meanings for only a hand full of the cards can cause some serious tension for readers. I've watched people pitch fights over what readings could mean. Whenever someone sends me a small set of cards and asks me to help me interpret them, I have to take note of the cards that might employ different meanings for different systems and ask, "What does the Lily card mean to you?" If Lily is their purity card, that card is not meant to mean sex for that reader. The cards come down for the reader, I always say. If the deck has to tell me about sex, I'll get the Whip. If a German reader asks about sex, they'll get the Lilies. It's about a language between the cards and the reader, speaking a shared dialect together.
Over time, I've refined my reading style and I would probably critique my older videos. Hopefully this shows that I've learned and have grown. I hope we all continue to do so. Also, through extensive experience, I have found what works and what doesn't and hope to pass that information along as best I can, while sticking tightly to tradition. I believe wholeheartedly in tradition. And I believe wholeheartedly in the honesty of the system. To some Lenormand feels stiff because of rules and they're used to free-style tarot readings; to me, Lenormand feels just plain blunt and clear. I LOVE it.
That said, there are so many traditions, and no person can (nor should) use all of them (mass confusion!). We have to be careful to respect that there are other ways, and I've tried to express this in many of my videos so people know when I'm explaining why I am using certain techniques, and when it might or might not work. But I can't repeat everything in every video, either, so there are limitations. Today, my goal is to get out fast, no-commitment videos of 30-90 seconds (rarely, some are up to 4-6 minutes), to keep things in small, digestible doses for people's fast-paced lives.
That long Grand Tableau paternity reading was one of my earlier videos, and the funny thing about making videos, is you go back and hear yourself make mistakes or say something different than the way you were thinking it (even moments after recording it), and sometimes I wonder, "Damn...do I redo the whole thing just to fix that?" But overall, I am not unhappy with it. Tower would not likely have been in itself my hospital card, today or any day, I'm not sure whether that fits the context of the question that was asked. Context dictates the way certain cards go.
You'll find that if you take a picture of a GT spread after reading it, and look at it again in a month, you'll be amazed at the additional things that might pop up at you. It would be impossible to get them all in in one gulp. If you review it yet again after the circumstances unfold, you'll find that more evolves.... a remarkable learning experience that will enrich one's knowledge of the layers of multiple meanings. Likewise, I'm sure every time I look at that paternity spread, more and more stuff would pop out at me.
When I made that, there was little in English regarding reading Lenormand and I felt it very important that people see the value and use of this amazing, rule-bound oracle. I loved that it was different than tarot and stretched my brain and my reading abilities in different directions. I wanted people to be able to explore it. Few people at the time seemed to know what the word "Lenormand" meant when I brought up the topic. Some labeled it a passing fad that would fade out. I believed it was a living language that needed to be uncovered. Now, there is a lot of information available for us to explore in books and on the internet for the English-speaking world. Use it! There are many outstanding teachers.
Most of my card meanings weigh heavily toward the French method, with just minor tweaks here and there. The German meaning for Bear, in Helen Riding's teachings, suggests a male energy. For me, I sway more toward the Belgian-Dutch or Droesbeke method for that card when it comes to masculine/feminine, and it is my mother/protection card, as I was taught by traditionalist Rana George, who uses a French-weighted system. When I use Bear as a work-related card, it is not necessarily for the job itself, but more for the managerial role (administrator, boss, manager, supervisor). So in a work reading, this bear takes on a boss-like role, or being in charge. It works for me. I agree with Mary Greer that Bear also can indicate stored money, finances put aside to build like stocks or a 401K. I also see it as powerful or strong, depending on context. Rana and I read very, very similarly and can dance through a reading in tandem together with ease. And yet, we both have some slightly different nuances based on what each of our lives has taught us through personal experience and multiple readings. This is a natural evolving process for any reader who does extensive readings. Experience broadens us through our whole lives.
You asked about Whip and Lily:
I use the Whip for my sex card, not the Lily (German). For me, Lily is purity, an elder, or something harmonious, or something that takes a long time to develop. Purity and sex did not seem to me to be the same thing whatsoever, so I was happy to stick with the French Whip for sex.
For what it's worth, I got very thorough feedback from the querent on that spread, a couple pages of feedback actually, about how the different parts of that spread shocked her because it applied so clearly to her life and made perfect sense to her. So in the end, it worked. The parents did "swing," it turns out, and there were a lot of shared activities between the couples. It was apparently consensual. If I used the word "cheating" for this and anyone takes offense for that because it wasn't cheating because it was consensual, that was an error in word choice for my part. But the reading stands true. Today, I am very busy writing my book every spare moment I have, and I just don't have the time to put out another GT reading as it is a full day project between filming and editing. In the future I likely will do more, but for now, those will have to stay. I'm sure that after these multiple years of more practice, if I were to read that paternity spread again, I'd see different nuances or interpret things with a subtly different twist, but come out with exactly the same outcome of who was the client's likely father.
If my newer videos continue to make you prickle, it may be because we're embracing different systems and that would create the tension of different results in readings. If that's the case, I may not be the right person for you to watch on video. But I've been doing it long enough now that I feel confident and happy with the choices I've made with the cards and I love the way the cards can communicate with me and the accuracy of the predictions has demonstrated itself over and over again, so I am happy with the system I chose. I feel it is an awesome experience to use this oracle and I want others to feel inspired to use the system, too, if it calls to them.
I guess the bottom line is, even with its rules, you won't find anyone who will be 100% the same from top to bottom, and what's important is that the rules be learned and that the little nuances we take aren't too far removed from what the cards are meant to be.
The one Lenormand book I personally am waiting for is Mary K Greer's, because no one will get the details of the history nailed down as well as she does, and she'll stick right to the original methods while using her natural teaching styles that make you feel like you're sitting right at the table with her. I'll wait another 20 years for that if I have to.
Until then, maybe my book will satisfy some small niche for readers who are curious about these 36 little pictures and would like to try some dialogue with them. I hope to set them up for success and get their divinatory motors running.
Enjoy the system, everyone. No matter which you choose, learn as much as you can about it from a good mentor and practice, practice, practice. It's a good thing!
Blessings,
DL
