30-Day Lenormand Challenge–Q 14

Depepi’s next question has contributed a lot to the debate over how to use this oracle: How much emphasis do you put to the text-book meanings/ explanations/ combinations? How much emphasis do you put to your own intuition?

Tricky question, kind of like the Fox himself (see card at left).

I take a traditional view of the Lenormand. The illustrations are fairly simple, like having a word in front of you for each card instead of a spectrum of words to choose from. The meaning is in combining the cards. In the Tarot, you have a whole spectrum of symbols, particularly in the Major Arcana, but also in the Minors since the early 20th century. This wealth of imagery, I think, lends itself more to an intuitive approach, allowing one’s impressions of the mood of the artwork to affect the interpretation. For example, I think I’d interpret the Mary-El deck’s Strength card differently from the RWS deck’s card, just because of the art and the intent of the illustrator and author.

I like the linguistic emphasis and the practical nature of the Lenormand oracle. I don’t want it to be just a simplified Tarot. As a matter of fact, like most languages, it’s rather complex, but only when you start putting the pieces (words or card meanings) together. I look for practical advice from the Lenormand in the form of a sentence or descriptive phrase about some aspect of the day (3-card draw) or month (3X3) or my life as a whole (GT). The number of cards used dictates the scope in time and space of the reading.

I will only employ my intuition, if one can call it that in this case, when the standard meanings could be multiple; it helps me draw a conclusion within the traditional meaning combinations. If I’m given a specific enough question, I don’t have to use intuition at all, really. So a lot depends on the nature of the question.

This is one of the most interesting questions in the debate over how to read the Lenormand here in the 21st century, so I’m definitely interested in how you approach it. Let me know in the comments, if you are so inclined. 🙂