I am frequently asked about the protected content within the archive on the Grand Tableau and also for more how-to-do a GT posts.  The aforementioned posts were actually part of the 2012 and 2013 Lenormand Course (I have since completely revised the course, which will now be run by the Traditional Lenormand Guild).

As for how-to-do posts , I will try and outline my basic method here with more of a walk-through. Bear in mind that this is just my preferred way.  It’s important to remember that tableaus out-date the petit-Lenormand , and come from playing card reading in general , so there are various ways of breaking them up – some are very similar, others different.

The approach below is really just a way of breaking it down.  Manageable chunks , per se.

We’ll be using the 8 x 4 + 4 (four rows of eight and one row of four) as that is my preferred variation.  You can use these techniques in the 9 x 4 (four rows of nine, which I showed in the last look, which was aimed at beginners) and 6 x 6 (six rows of six).  In the 18th and 19th century lots of fortune-tellers in Europe used a pack of thirty-two playing cards (piquet) and four rows of eight was the norm , the 9 x 4 recreates that symmetry , whilst 8 x 4 + 4 acknowledges the addition of the four sixes.

Right…

In the past I have said , several times that you can throw a tableau , if you were so inclined , every day or for any old question.  However , GTs are better left for readings that cover a longer period of time – it’s a “big picture” of your life , remember – from four weeks’ time to three months , six months , or twelve months.  I tend to do six months.  However long you want to cover , decide before throwing.

Personally , I like to read the cut.  That gives me a hint , or theme , that I find is important in interpreting the cards.  Below is a cut from the Wahrsagen mit Karten der Madame Lenormand by Bernd A. Mertz deck.

Heart + Birds

I think I’ve written before how this combination can mean palpitations (the Heart = your heart, Birds = flutter) , but it can also stand for two (Birds) loves (Heart) as well as getting in a flutter over love.

If this was a real GT I’d pay close attention to these cards later on.

Next part, once the cards are laid out , is to look at the first three-cards out of the pack.  If you’re new to GTs , I’d recommend you deal out the first three cards , stop , and read them and then deal out the next thirty-three.  These three-cards will mean other stuff later on (in terms of diagonals , attendance) , but here , you just want them as a trio – it’s a trigger or message , so don’t be factoring in what’s below them , houses , et cetera.

Below we have Letter + Clouds + Lilies.

Well, whilst these could show a short or not very serious (Letter = superficial) blizzard or snow storm (Clouds + Lilies) , or roll in the hay coming back to bite you , they are more likely to stand for bad or confusing news (Letter + Clouds) in the family or through dealings with social care and health or benefit agencies (Lilies). In terms of Lilies as an agency , these cards can be a stirrer – or a bad intermediary – like a carer or social worker who doesn’t like you , so they put you to the bottom of the pile or “misplace” an application , et cetera.

But we’ll go with some bad news within the family for now.

Now, all the cards are laid out I’d recommend you give them a glance.  Do any combinations stand out ?  Perhaps you see the Tree + Roads, which can mean more than two years’ time , and the Book comes first – a long period of study.

Above we have Child + Tree which can mean within five years , or a significant change in one’s established life – and Child + Birds, a pregnancy.  We also have Roads + Cross , which I was talking about yesterday elsewhere , which indicates you’re forced to change a plan.  I literally just dealt this tableau out of the pack , but if this was an actual one , I’d be intrigued.

My next bit is a standard from tableau readings – you examine the “extremities”, which means you read the corners in contemporary parlance.  These , for me anyway , show events or topics which are often overriding factors in whatever else is covered.  They don’t set a context which you have to relate everything else to , there will be other stuff going on in the cards , but the corners tend to be quite influential or important in the coming few months’ time.

The corners, left to right , and top to bottom are: Letter , Park, Mountain and Fish.  For combination , I go top left to bottom right ; top right and bottom left.

So we have Letter + Fish which can be financial documentation , as well as superficial feelings.  And Park + Mountain which is basically an alienation combination ; no avenues to explore , no real support ; but the Mountain is far away , so it’s not that bad.  Taken together , these could show a sense of loneliness or people who don’t care enough to help , but , also a lack of clients for a business entrepreneur!

We’ll leave it there for now, as this could turn into a ridiculously long post.  Next time around we’ll look at the method of distance in a bit more detail than before.

In the next part of revisiting of the grand tableau, we’ll look at some techniques for the last four cards.

Now not every reader , who uses the 8 x 4 + 4 , gives special significance to the last four cards. You can just treat them as a row of four with no more influence , or significance , than the four rows of eight. After all , they exist only because the petit-Lenormand follows the Alemannic-preference for thirty-six cards in gaming , over thirty-two.

Personally , I do give them some extra-significance.  I try not to call them “ fates ” anymore because of the different connotations we all have of what is “ fate ” and “ fateful ”. But you’ll see “ fate ” , “ destiny ” , “ spirit ” and other names in various sources.

Whilst they will mean , like the first three-cards and corners , other things later on in the tableau as a whole , I take them as a special message.  They describe an important , or triggering , event that can sometimes explain or give context to the other parts of the tableau; a quintessence , if you will.

To read them , again like the first three-cards and corners , you forget everything else. No houses , diagonals , no reflecting cards 33 and 36 , et cetera. You just read them , left to right , straight across as a combination of four as a single statement.

So , going back to our tableau :

Our last four cards are : the Dog , the Scythe , the Rod and the Heart.

I want to show you why I say single statement.  Here we have Dog + Scythe which can be a dog-bite* – I have had that when I’ve had to separate my pugs lol – but it doesn’t fit the latter cards’ testimonies.  Nor does a friendship or camaraderie with an element of danger – you know the kind , stupid stuff goes too far , pranks that result in paralysis.

The answer here is in the Scythe and the Rod.  It’s a combination where it doesn’t , very often , matter which one comes first – it’s arguments and strife that can play out violently and which can be , or lead to , physical violence..  And the Rod + Heart is more likely to show passionate problems and disputes in relationships than declarations in love (if were declarations , there is often a control-aspect involved , i.e. I love you , please don’t see your friends …).

So , as a single-statement , we’re really looking at passionate fights with the potential for violence with a friend/man.  Other than the Clouds , the Scythe is the only card I regular would look at the design , as the tip faces the Dog here the violence would come direct from him , rather than as result of what is said (if it faced the Rod ) which is what makes me think it’s unlikely to be a sudden appearance ( Dog + Scythe ) of a man.

Now we’ve got the single statement , we can get further information. We do this by adding in extra cards and interpreting them in the context of the single-statement.

For cards 33 and 34 we read cards in positions 27 and 28 and then cards 5 and 6. Here that is Dog + Scythe (an aggressive friend) , Tree + Ship (is bored and unhappy) and Mice + Bouquet (with a woman , or just the nicety/ordinariness of one’s life – as well as passive-aggressive).  Remember these extra pairs need to be read in context of the first pair of the last row of four.

Someone’s getting volatile because they are unhappy and resentful.

For cards 35 and 36 we read cards 29 and 30 and then cards 3 and 4. So , in this tableau we have Rod + Heart (passionate disputes) , Snake + Storks (over difficult changes , or two women) and Lilies + High Tower (isolation within or from the family , sexual impotence).

This unhappiness will lead to a lot of arguing over difficult changes or two women causing friction within the family – possibly forcing a separation. We’ll leave out the jealous rage triggered by a gift , and erectile dysfunction , for now – but they are all there ! 

This isn’t a real tableau , and if you were doing it for yourself , or for a client , the last four cards will make a lot of sense quite quickly – often having happened in the week or so before or the coming weeks – I can assure you. With a random and not real life deal we can play around with it.

* Scythe + Dog in terms of pets, is injury/cruelty towards a dog.

Distance was how my Aunt read and was the method I first learnt.  We have only touched on it before due to the complexity in explaining it (the method itself isn’t actually that hard ,  it’s just very layered).

So do you need to learn it ?  I’d say ,  “Yes”.  It’s original method of reading the petit-Lenormand.  In fact   the Belgian expert ,  Björn Meauris ,  recently pointed out that it’s THE petit-Lenormand method – and he’s quite right.  All the cards’ meanings in use now are derived from one solitary sheet which only described distance.

Even now ,  what you learn from other sources – even when they don’t mention distance – is derived from that sheet.  For instance ,  you’ll often see Tree + High Tower listed as meaning longevity ;  this is because the High Tower ,  in the method of distance ,  indicates a long life. Why do some class the Cavalier as a foreigner ?   Far away ,  it’s a message from abroad.

So ,  if you want proficiency ,  you do need to learn the method the cards were designed for.

But how do you decide what is far and what is near ?

Firstly ,  you find the card that is standing for you or the client.  That will always be – no exception – the Lady for woman and the Gentleman for a man. Next you count the cards to the significator’s left and the right.  Which side has more cards ?

In the example below ,  the Lady has six cards on her left.  That means ,  the cards furthest away from her must be six cards.  Now ,  you can count diagonally up and across and diagonally down and across to find other cards that six places away.

In our example all the cards in the first vertical column are six cards from the Lady.  The first card in the row of four is only four – it’s far away ,  but not as far as the others.

Let’s go back to our Grand Tableau and we’ll use the Gentleman:

You can see the first vertical column is the furthest away from the Gentleman, above.

Next ,  we return to the significator.  Note the diagram below:

Any card touching the Lady is close, and I’ve coloured these red ;  these cards contain the cards’ full weight in terms of meaning attribution (don’t worry about this for now ,  we’ll look at that later).  Depending on where she has fallen there could be between three cards and eight card closest to her.

Moving one card outwards ,  we have cards that are near ; I’ve coloured them yellow.  These are still heavy but not as heavy as the close cards.  This can be for good or bad.

In the example below, you can see the close and near from our Gentleman.

In the exact same way as the Lady has close and near cards ,  so do the cards furthest (blue, below) away as shown below.  Any card touching them is close (red) and those cards touching them are near (yellow).  You’ll normally get a vertical column that is neither ,  and this “in-between”.

Now we’ve got these cards ,  we need to find the Clouds.

In the example below you’ll see we count ,  just as we did with the Lady ,  to find the cards furthest from the Clouds. The eighth vertical column is far and some of the last row of four is very far.

The cards touching the Clouds are the closest to it.  One card further out it is near.  All these will be influenced by the Clouds and their proximity to the significator.

Going back to our tableau, you can see the close and near to the Clouds :

Please forgive me if I’m not explaining this well !  We will be looking at it further ,  so do bear with me.

As you can see ,  at the end of the dividing up on proximity ,  you have a spectrum :  close ,  near ,  in-between ,  near-far ,  close-far ,  and furthest.  Normally ,  you get between 5 or less cards in each one.

Cards will also ,  very often ,  fall into two camps or more ,  by being close to the significator and near to the Clouds , or far from the significator and close to the Clouds , et cetera.

In the example below ,  you can see the cards with a white “X” on are close ,  near ,  near-far ,  close-far to more than one denominator (Lady ,  Clouds ,  and the furthest cards).

These cards will receive special attention in your interpretation. This is because ,  when we begin the reading ,  each card will be read by its position from the significator (and several other key cards) and whatever it has fallen with i.e. touches and its thematic siblings i.e. Heart ,  Anchor and Ring for love ,  and Tree ,  High Tower and Coffin for health.

Before we begin to look at the cards in terms of distance , we need to introduce an extra topic which gages the cards’ influence.  Some of you might be familiar with LWBs that talk about the Clouds being on the left versus the right , rather than dark side and light side. If so , this might explain. You might start to understand the rules on the House , Ring and Lilies too.

In the method of distance we do not break the tableau up into past , present , and future ; nor do we note the direction cards look.  When you’re learning and doing your first tableaus , the past/present/future method is a good way to break stuff up into manageable chunks.  It’s not, however, practical professionally.

What we do observe , however , is this:

In the diagram above you can see the Lady card is white.  The cards to her left are coloured blue: they are weakened, for good or bad.  However , the cards to her right are red: they are amplified , for good or bad.

Now , look at this diagram.

The cards below the Lady are blue: these are weakened, also for good and bad. However, the cards above her are coloured red: they are amplified, again, for good or bad.

As such, if you think back to when we’ve discussed the three celestial-cards as augurs of great success, having the Sun on the right side, it’s amplified.  Above her it would be doubly so.  This position is increased the closer it gets.

If it was to her left it’s weakened.  On the left and below it’s doubly so.  The Ring to the right and above her would show a virtuous (in the old sense of the word i.e. very happy) relationship , right and below , less so.

Older cards normally show the darker side of the Clouds being on the left, for this reason.

This follows some of the oldest rules in playing card tableaus (remember, the petit-Lenormand is just a method of reading a set of 36-playing cards!).

If you look at this little diagram around the Lady: what is above her “crowns” her as the move around to her right it’s good (dexter) but ceases to be powerful and becomes just “strong” as it reaches the root i.e. it becomes her influence/less fateful.

What is to the left is typically seen as challenging in playing-card readings, because the left is “sinister”.  Being on the left and above is still “powerful” but the cards don’t have the same dexterity to move as the do on the right.

If the Ring was far away and in the lower left , the Lady would have to work harder to save a relationship – but could be aided by the Heart and Anchor being to her right and above and with good cards.

Now we have covered discerning the spectrum of proximity ,  and also how cards are affected by their placement around the significator ,  we need to turn our attention to the cards’ meanings.  Specifically ,  we are concerned if they are good ,  or bad ,  in this post.

I know Iris Treppner advocates looking at the bad cards first.  That’s a good habit to get into ;  it makes a lot of sense ,  in any spread ,  and ,  with any deck.

Unless you are working with the latest Rainbow Glitter Fairies and Unicorns style deck ,  there will be bad cards in any decent decks.  Thus, there are bad cards in the petit-Lenormand.  And no ,  you cannot rehabilitate them ,  the best you can hope for is that their effect is minimised by their placement in a reading.

The petit-Lenormand “always” bad cards are :

Clouds ;  Coffin ;  Scythe ;  Rod ;  Mice ;  Cross.

The Mice and the Cross are bad wherever they fall.  Nevertheless the Cross ,  very close to you ,  predicts tribulations of a short nature ,  and the Mice ,  that your losses could be recovered.

The following cards are bad when they are near to the significator ,  and made worse by their proximity to the Clouds :

Tree ;  Snake ;  Birds ;  Fox ;  Mountain ;  Roads ;  Book

The above cards are considered more neutral (i.e. not especially negative unless with negative cards) when they are far away ,  and free of the Clouds.  Seeing the Tree ,  far away ,  with bad cards still bodes ill-health but its severity is less than if it were close-by.  If the Tree is close (1-2) cards away from the House , Park ,  and Roads , and/or the High Tower is free of the Clouds , its negative effect on one’s health is off-set – you will get better.

The following cards are bad the further they are from you ,  and again ,  made worse by their proximity to the Clouds and the negative cards :

Cloverleaf ;  Dog ;  Park ;  Heart ;  Sun ;  Moon ;  Key ;  Fish

The Clouds is the most malefic card in the pack.  The following cards are considered negative when by the Clouds :

Cavalier ;  Cloverleaf ;  Bear ;  Stars ;  Dog ;  High Tower ;  Letter ;  Lilies ;  Anchor

The following cards are good , when free of the Clouds, pretty much anywhere Cavalier ; Ship ; Bouquet  and Child .  The Cloverleaf ; Bear ; Storks ; Dog ; Park ; Heart ; Sun ; Moon ; Key and Fish are good when near to the significator and not by the Clouds.  The Stars far away traditionally derives its meaning from whatever it is with , and can indicate bad luck for the period covered if with negative cards.  It carries the same meaning if it’s near but also below the Clouds.  In my opinion , the Stars far away is never good and indicates a disappointment.

Now ,  we’ll turn to cards that have meanings derived from their orientation to the significator.

The Clouds stands for hindrances and tribulations wherever it falls.  The best you can hope for is that it’s far away and ,  traditionally ,  in the lower left.

Not all readers observe the light-versus-dark side rules.  Yet ,  it was a part of distance.  However ,  because “left” in general was considered problematic ,  most old packs showed the dark side on the left ;  and falling to the left of the significator was considered “better” , as cards are weakened there , hence the light side being on the right.

Regardless ,  the dark side facing the significator always promises greater severity in the Clouds’ obstacles.  Also ,  unless the Clouds is more than three-cards away ,  having the light side to you is cold-comfort.

The Ring on the right of the significator is considered a good omen in your relationships ;  often ,  but limited to ,  the romantic kind.  The closer it falls to the significator increases this good augury.

To the left ,  it typically indicates challenges and break-ups in your relationships ,  which ,  if still close by ,  or if the Heart and Anchor are with good cards and on the right ,  do not need to be final.  However on the left and far-away is not a good sign.

The House traditionally portends good opportunities and luck in areas that you are “responsible” for i.e. your domesticity and your own business affairs.

The card ,  generally ,  has a good or at worst neutral flavour on the cards surrounding it.  Nevertheless ,  when it falls in the middle of tableau (think about it – it stands a chance of being touched by 8 cards i.e. basically a quarter of the deck and is therefore close to the left side of the tableau) ,  it bodes caution in domestic and personal ventures.

This is made worse if the significator is directly above it.

The Lilies above the significator (and for me ,  the partner card ,  also) indicates a virtuous character.   Now ,  in the 19th century ,  virtuous didn’t just mean you were “moral” – it meant someone who was happy ,  well liked ,  and in a “good place” in their life in terms of success.  So the Lilies ,  falling above you ,  bring you happiness.

When it is below the significator (and ,  again ,  the partner card in my opinion) it indicates that the person is of “ill” standing – which again ,  doesn’t just mean they are bad ,  but that their life reflects that ill-nature i.e. difficulties at home ,  barren opportunities ,  sorrow.