This is my online Grimoire, complete with my spells, the spells of others, and masterposts. Feel free to use this as your own Grimoire, or take bits and pieces from it.
“An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt.”
Monday, August 24, 2015
“House” means…house? Divination Stuff
“House” means…house?
So here’s the thing about interpretation with any divination method: it’s all about synthesizing. What do I mean by that? I mean that coming up with an interpretation requires (1) understanding all the elements that come together to (2) create an answer that (3) makes sense within the context of the reading.
In Lenormand, these elements are:
The individual card meanings,
The positive, negative, or neutral orientations of the cards,
The specific situation and question being addressed,
How the cards combine meanings, and
The person being read for.
For this week, we’re going to focus on the individual card meanings, their orientations, and how they address different situations. Why? Because I want us to start learning how to shift the card meanings to address the question as early as possible. Next week’s posts will focus on how to ask clear questions, how to read cards in combination, and practice 2-card Quick N’ Dirty readings.
This week, however, we’re going to work on three foundational pieces:
Learning the numbers, names, meanings and vibes of the cards
Assigning our own personal keywords to each card, and
Applying those keywords to different situations.
Notes on reading Tarot vs. Lenny
First things first: one of the key differences between tarot and Lenormand is that tarot is visual, Lenormand is verbal. When you read tarot, you don’t just rely on the standard meanings of the cards - you look at the image, see how it interacts with images on the other cards, suss out additional meanings based on the specific symbols on the card, and so on. Because of this, the same card from two different decks can mean vastly different things depending on what the artist included in the image. Pretty fucking awesome, IMO! It allows for some lovely variations in personalities between decks and gives tarot readers the opportunity to learn and focus on different aspects of the card meanings.
Lenormand don’t play that though, because Lenny operates via key words. It doesn’t matter how the artist drew the card or what symbols they added to it; the cards will always mean the same thing across decks. As long as you know that the card is The Rider or The Sun or Fox, you have the meanings. The additional pretties don’t matter. The card interpretations can and do shift based on the situations being addressed, how they combine with other cards, and the questions being asked, but they still rely on those essential meanings. And those meanings don’t change based on the card image across decks.
The list of card names and meanings I’ve included here pretty much comes from Donna Leigh’s post here. They’re general one-card meanings and are easy to boil down to a few simple key words. If you have the ability to check out Rana George’s The Essential Lenormand, she takes a slightly different tack to organizing the card meanings and provides a lot more options for exploring them in chart format. I’ve included the card orientations in this list as well - that comes from Rana. If you’re doing yes/no questions, orientation really helps figure out the answer to the question!
Here, Have Your Card Meanings
Thanks, Donna Leigh and Rana George!
1. Rider (neutral): messages, moving along, happens quickly, transportation but without an engine (Ship card has a motor), horseback riding, lover who moves through quickly
2. Clover (positive): little luck, good, small amount of good fortune, small gamble. Grass or greenery. Not the big outcome (which would be bouquet or sun), but a little perk.
3. Ship (neutral): transportation, things with an engine, travel, foreign or foreigner, moving, commerce, International.
4. House (neutral): family, tight group of people, property, house, home
5. Tree (neutral): health, legacy, long time, slow but steady growth, family history or lineage
6. Clouds (negative): confusion, misled, storms, depression, unpleasant person, someone who stirs things up by causing misunderstandings, in a fog, smoky
7. Snake (negative-neutral): deceit, overt lies, envy, jealousy, the other woman, a competing person, a scam that is recognized or seen for what it is. May describe something long and thin like wiring, a hose, cable. A hurtful bite, snake oil, hurtful person. Nemesis.
8. Coffin (negative): over, painful ending, sickness, a box, grief, done for good (whereas Stork may be gone but coming back).
9. Bouquet (positive): big luck, a gift,talent, present, flowers, something beautiful, surprise
11. Rod/Whip (negative-neutral): repetitive pattern, over and over, sweeping away, painful, punishment, abuse, debates or verbal altercation, sex, criticism, to belittle.
12. Birds (neutral): voice, talking, gossip, singing, small meetings of people, two people, used to mean an older couple, talking by phone, some use for “pairs” or two of something. Next to a harsh card like the Scythe it can mean gossip, chatter, negotiations, using the phone. Traditionally showed 2 owls, so 2 people, usually an older couple.
13. Child (neutral): innocent, naïve, just starting out, youth, a son or daughter, small, child-like, new, literal child.
14. Fox (negative-neutral): covert lies, undercover, manipulator, wears a mask, deceiver, liar, scam artist or conman, clever, charming with bad intent, using cunning street smarts, could mean a small job or source of income, avocation or work, clever, cunning, street smarts, doing slick acts to get by. May be an entrepreneur.
15. Bear (neutral): Boss or authority figure, manager, strength, burly, large job, motherly, financial worth, watches over, protective, burly
16. Stars (positive): hope, aspiration, visible, networking, internet, metastasizing, a wish, many of something, something at night, spreading
17. Stork (positive): migrates, moving, relocating, changes, long legs, birth/delivery, cycle. “If it ends, it may return.”
18. Dog (positive): loyal, friend, trustworthy, dependable, a pet, there for you (but look at surrounding cards).
19. Tower (neutral): corporate, large office job, hierarchy of people, solitude or isolation (Rapunzel), boundaries, alone, structured rules, big business.
20. Garden (neutral-positive): Groups of people, conventions, large meetings or gatherings, celebrations, parties, events in public.
21. Mountain (negative): obstacle, long climb, difficult process, uphill climb, heavy process, hard to do, lots of effort and time, roadblock. Something in your way.
22. Path/Crossroad (neutral): choice, decisions, discernment, two of something, approaching a time of change or choices. A split of something.
23. Mice (negative): taking away, thief, stealing, making less than, disease, sickness, worrisome, pests, makes less than.
24. Heart (positive): love, romance, passion, can be a literal heart (heart and scythe would be heart surgery).
25. Ring (positive): promise, commitment, relationship, marriage or long-term relationship, binding, contract, can be a literal ring, earring, or other piece of jewelry, engagement
26. Book (neutral): diary, secrets, learning, knowledge, studies, college or school, training, authoring, publishing (book and tower is a publisher, school or library), literal book.
27. Letter (neutral): correspondence through writing, emails, texting, letter, prescription or written message, printed materials, fax, a written record of something, prescription or diagnosis in writing.
28. Man* (neutral): Man client or someone significant to the story who is a male
29. Woman* (neutral): woman client, or someone significant to the story who is a female
30. Lilies (neutral): trust, harmony, elder, innocence, purity, peace, well-intended, honest, older mentor, takes time to develop (like a 401K).
31. Sun (positive): joy, happiness, enlightenment, exposure, electricity, ego, out in the open, shining one’s light, seen,in the spotlight.
32. Moon (positive-neutral): reputation, the face we put on for the world, how we are seen, psychic, nighttime, dreams, with the Sun and Stars = fame
33. Key (positive): The answer, what unlocks the mystery, the pivot, the important thing to note, enlightenment, the way in, the secret knowledge, ability
34. Fish (positive-neutral): money, abundance, an increase, sperm, attention, entrepreneur energy, assets, the person’s “currency of need.”
35. Anchor (positive): setting port, staying put, stable, security, hard work, may mean near the ocean. Can potentially lift the anchor in the future.
36. Cross (negative): burden, sacrifice, martyr, oppression, spiritual, fate, oppression, metaphoric “cross on your back.”
* A note on the gendered cards: Lenormand, the traditional system it is, relies on the Western gender binary. It also assumes heterosexuality. I dislike that so. damn. much. Some newer decks have additional man & women cards, which allows for readings on same-sex relationships. That rocks like whoa. However, I have yet to run into a deck that has a non-gendered Person card (child isn’t really gendered, but it doesn’t indicate an adult, so…). If I ever get around to putting together my own deck, you best believe it will have Person, Man, and Woman. Because fuck the binary. I’d like to be represented in my divination systems too!
(yes, I do have Crowley level feelings about that)
TL;DR Tarot is a visual divination system whereas Lenormand is a verbal divination system. Keywords make the world go ‘round when it comes to learning Lenny. Check out the meanings listed above and see if you can distill them down even further - our first activity this week will be creating our own personal list of keywords!
