Following on from the reversals post, I have had some requests in the past for an opinion on “pictures” on the petit-Lenormand cards and what, if anything, they are used for in reading. Particularly, I want to draw your attention to the orientation of the 28 – the Gentleman and 29 – the Lady, and what, if anything this can mean.
Lots of “new” Lenormand readers, learning in the wake of the 1990s, adhere to a view that the Gentleman and Lady should face different directions, right and left, respectively. The combination for “man and wife” is Gentleman + Lady, so having them facing each other is a novelty [1].
However the different direction is represented in probably 80 % of petit-Lenormands, particularly the iconic Blaue Eule. However, the combination rests not on which way they look, just the order of Gentleman before the Lady. Order, be it by distance or attendance, is how this deck is read.
Thus, not all Lenormand-decks have this feature nor do they need it. In fact, quite a few older ones didn’t.
In the example below, from two 19th century petit-Lenormands [2], you can see that the Lady and Gentleman both face one way. Interestingly, one show them both facing right and the other left.
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New decks, such as Gilded Reverie Lenormand by Ciro Marchetti (USGames, inc.), follow this historical precedent whilst the Lenormand Oracle Cards by Gina di Roberto (Lo Scarabeo) choose to flip the Lady to face right and the Gentleman to the left.
Does it affect combinations? No.
In the combinations below, involving the High Tower and Tree with the Gentleman and Lady, it does not matter that the Lady and Gentleman both face one way. In the top row it shows a separation or schism between the Lady and Gentleman because the High Tower comes between them; as the Lady comes first, it will be at her instigation or her conduct.
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The second shows a general feeling of inertia between the two, that is actually often mutual, regardless of whichever card comes first. And again, their facing makes no difference.
As such, the cards’ images are overruled by the order they fall. This is always the case.
Our Lenormand-meanings derive from a sheet that accompanied the 19th century decks, from the so-called “Philippe Lenormand” sheets[3]. All the books published on the petit-Lenormand utilise meanings derived from this list, from Erna Droesbeke [4] to the more suspect Madame Sheyla [5].
If you look at the literature provided by German sources, they often give Tree + High Tower as a sign of longevity, this derives from the High Tower’s earliest meaning even though they might not put “age” as a keyword of the High Tower’s. [6] In fact, some people might use the combination and not know that the High Tower is a life-length card.
A minority practise in the Lenormand method is to sometimes follow the direction the Gentleman or Lady faces as the “future” [7]. This is not uniform nor is it as old as some adherents would have it. It may actually derive from a deck other than the petit-Lenormand; as, again, the oldest instructions do not talk about dividing the tableau up in past, present, and future, but rather seeing it all as present to future.
Dividing a tableau into the past, present, and future, is good for beginners. I taught my students [8] those techniques, but professionally if I did that, what would I do if the Lady fell on the far side meaning it was all past? I never divide my tableaus up professionally, these days.
Direction of any card is mentioned just twice in the most consistently applied cards’ meanings [9]:
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Firstly, the light and dark side of the Clouds is mentioned within the method of distance (the oldest method). In terms of the client’s cards, the dark side facing the significator is a bad omen of tribulations and difficulties to come in contrast to the “lucky” light side.
The dark side of the Clouds also affects other cards and its proximity to the significator, also.
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Secondly, the Ring: if this card falls to the left of the client’s card it harbingers a break in their relationships whereas on the right, it promises a fulfilling union. On the left, and close to the significator, this break does not necessarily have to be permanent and both the Heart and Anchor (cards dealing with relationships) can help in this respect.
The Lilies also has an orientation based meaning as does the House. However, these are based on being above and below or in the centre and below, respectively, and require additional insights [10].
What cards do you note? Personally, I note only the Clouds and the Scythe. I think anything more, in any regularity, complicates and detracts from the Lenormand method which grew from 18th and 19th century cartomancy done with suited-cards[11].
With the latter, however, I would see Dog + Scythe (below) as the sudden appearance of a man or aggressive friend regardless of whether the tip of the Scythe faced right or left. I just note the tip of the blade as a warning, or severity indicator i.e. if the tip was on the left, the friend might be aggressively-violent on the right probably just aggressive as likely here.
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Always remember, it’s A + B versus B + A not what picture A or picture B is doing.
Similarly, I would counsel that Snake + Fox and Fox + Snake do not change their meanings regardless of which way the Fox is sniffing. The two illustrations below both denote lies and treachery, and possibly a dishonest woman, even though the fox and snake a shown in different orientation [12].
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The reason Fox + Snake is considered malefic as opposed to Snake + Fox is because the Fox coming first introduces the MEANING of wrong and lies as opposed to lending ATTRIBUTES (if he follows i.e. like an adjective). [13]
As such, the picture itself doesn’t change the meanings. A lot of “beginners” decks, such as the Blaue Eule, have pictures that make this a lot clearer, however, that is just a bonus, not the origin of the rule or something to rely on in more creative decks [14].
For this reason, let me reassure one person particularly, that it doesn’t really matter if your Dog card has the wrong playing-card insert on it. You know what it should be, get on with it!
Footnotes and Sources:
[1] Lady + Gentleman is sometimes said to be a “cooling off” or a loss of interest in each other, by many sources. I learnt it as that, too. But, in a reality, a less chauvinistic, and probably more accurate view, would be a wife and husband or just a woman and man. A cooling off can occur regardless of whether they face each or other, or if the Lady precedes the Gentleman. In fact, having them face opposite directions would be completely overcalled by the position of cards such as the Heart and Dog being close, and the Ring on the right.
[2] Published by, Dondorf Frankfurt and Geuens-Seaux, Belgium.
[3] The deck now published as Wahrsagen à la Lenormand, is based on a deck published c. 1846. The original deck contained a sheet of cards’ meanings attributed to Philippe Lenormand. As with Camile Lenormand, or any relation to Mlle. Marié-Anne Le Normand, the name, meaning and deck is just marketing. This instruction sheet accompanied the majority, if not all, Lenormand cards in France, Germany, Holland and Belgium and latter importing to Russia, Bulgaria, Spain et cetera*. This sheet has recently been translated by the expert, Björn Meuris, from Dutch as well as by Helen Riding.
[4] The Oracle of Mlle Lenormand published 1989. First English book on the petit-Lenormand also published in Dutch, French and German. The Belgian author Erna Droesbeke von Enge is possibly the most influential post-1970s Lenormand-writer, with books having been translated into numerous languages.
[5] L’oracolo di Mademoiselle Lenormand. Italian book. Highly influenced by post-1990s “psychic” and “new age” publications.
[6] Despite differences, cards’ meanings as described by Iris Treppner; Britta Kienle; Malkiel Dietrich; Regula Elizabeth Fiechter; Colette Silvestre, and Pierre Ripert et cetera, all derive from the one source with only idiosyncratic differences that owe a lot more to language-and-culture than anything else.
[7] Appears in various but, predominantly, German literature. See Mario dos Ventos or the expert Malkiel Dietrich.
[8] Boroveshengra, Andy. Cartomantes’ Cabinet: Lenormand Course. Lesson 005: Modules 1-5 (2012-2013); Lesson 05 (2014).
[9] Ibid., Lesson 006 (2014).
[10] Boroveshengra, Andy “36 Cards: Fortune-Telling with the Petit-Lenormand” [2014]. Meuris, Björn (see 3). “The Gilded Reverie Lenormand” by Ciro Marchetti e-Book (chapter by Boroveshengra, Andy).
[11] Matthews, Caitlín. The Cartomantic Mindset, Part 1. Traditional Lenormand Fortunetellers’ Guild. http://lenormandguild.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/the-cartomantic-mindset-part-1/
[12] Blaue Eule. Müller. Jeu Lenormand Cartes de Bonne Aventure. Carta Mundi.
[13] See literature on building combinations by: Matthews, Caitlín. Treppner, Iris. Droesbeke, Erna.
[14] A number of minority practises, such as reversals, seem to derive from two sources: firstly, the dominant playing card practises in certain countries (Bésigue versus Jass et cetera), and secondly, post-World War I and II political and diplomatic restrictions, in certain countries and partition states, that affected the importing and interaction. Thus rather than the notion of national “schools” you just have regional/teacher-based influences.
In terms of iconography certainly, post 1950 and up 1980s and then, with growing ferocity, from the 1990s to 2013 publications of Lenormands all contain noticeable pictorial variations that are absent in the pre-1930s publications. It is also in the post-World War II publications that one finds the poems begin to prioritise rhyming above meaning.
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