{"id":17718,"date":"2018-08-01T01:10:11","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T06:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=18755"},"modified":"2018-07-29T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T21:08:58","slug":"learning-lenormand-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/08\/01\/learning-lenormand-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Lenormand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notes from My Lenormand Journal<\/span><\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Thirty years ago, when I received my first set of Tarot cards, I read the cards nearly every day. I didn\u2019t have a separate journal for my Tarot readings in those days \u2013 I just put the readings into my regular day-to-day diary. My life was very melodramatic in those days and the various readings reflected the histrionics of my daily life. Mostly I used the Celtic Cross spread but I would try out any spread that I discovered in my study of the Tarot. I was sure that I would eventually <\/span>find the answer. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i>Well, here we are all these years later and I am still looking for the answer \u2013 or maybe it would be more correct to say that I am looking for <\/span>answers<\/i><\/span> in general. Naturally some of the questions have changed radically in the past thirty years. But some questions \u2013 really, the most important and vital ones \u2013 have not changed at all. They have only become more critical and far-reaching. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the mid-1990\u2019s, a very dear friend gave me a beautiful bound journal with a marbled cover of a glorious royal blue. That was the start of the separation of my Tarot journal and my day-to-day journal. There are pros and cons to this. I like being able to see the divinatory reading in regards to what happened that very day \u2013 having the two posts side by side can be very instructive. But having all those Tarot readings \u2013 or any kind of reading \u2013 broke up the diary\u2019s natural prosaic flow. I have maintained two journals to this day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These days, I do a three-card Tarot reading and then a five-card Lenormand reading. While I am focusing on the Lenormand in this essay, I must say that I am constantly amazed at how the two systems reinforce the same message. Sometimes I pull a Rune from my bag and nine times out of ten, whatever Rune I pull has the same divinatory message! Somedays I go through all my various means of divination to see if I am getting the same vibes from all the sources! And sometimes they all add up to the same one message. BUT \u2013 sometimes it’s just a big fucking jumble of nothing. It\u2019s really tempting to say, the hell with all of this, and not write it down in the journal. I mean \u2013 that all takes time and time is not something I have a whole lot of nowadays. The thing is \u2013 just because you can\u2019t see the message today doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t see the message tomorrow or next week or next year. Or even five or ten years from now. It can be argued that being able to \u201csee\u201d a divination five years after the reading is dubious at best but on the other hand, it\u2019s all a learning experience, isn\u2019t it? And sometimes the cards <\/span>are <\/i><\/span>talking about events far in the future. It\u2019s human nature to see everything in the here and now. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The past several weeks, I have been pulling these cards over and over again:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, these five cards were pulled with other cards. These cards are just showing up more often in the daily 5-card spread than the rest of the cards in the pack. And given that in the Lenormand, card relationship \u2013 the combination of cards to create a single meaning \u2013 is more important that a card landing on a certain point, just looking at these cards in and of themselves <\/span>really <\/i><\/span>doesn\u2019t say very much. For instance, the 5 Tree 7 of Hearts card has come up fifteen times in the last twenty-two days, which is a pretty good percentage. But that doesn\u2019t say anymore than I have been concerned with family and health issues, which are paramount right now. It\u2019s the combination of the tree card with the surrounding cards that enhance and define its meaning. On July 5, the 5 Tree 7 of Hearts card was winged by 8 Coffin 9 of Diamonds and 36 Cross 6 of Clubs. Given the state of my father\u2019s health on that day, this was a totally apt reading \u2013 his bad health and the feeling that no matter what happened, it was going to be difficult for all of us in the family. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

26 Book 10 of Diamonds has been paired with 21 Mountain 8 of Clubs seven times in the last two weeks. I think this is pointing to the various problems I\u2019m having with my writing \u2013 not a writer\u2019s block per se \u2013 although that would be the obvious idea. But in my case, it\u2019s not so much that I have writer\u2019s block but I am so horrendously busy that I don\u2019t have the time to write \u2013 the mountain is keeping me from my book. Again \u2013 the tree is another modifier \u2013 it\u2019s family issues that are pressing on me. My father\u2019s ill health \u2013 my son, who recently moved back home and now I have triple the housework that I used to have \u2013 and sibling drama that doesn\u2019t really concern me but is nonetheless part of my life. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t 32 Moon 8 of Hearts a beautiful card? Caitl\u00edn Matthews says that this card is a \u201cfalse friend\u201d from the \u201cTarot World\u201d. She writes, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Tarot, the Moon means illusions, mutability, or anxiety \u2013 words that are better expressed in Lenormand by Clouds. Stork, and Birds,<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

respectively. Lenormand Moon is about work, honor, recognition, and creativity. This is because Moon governs the sublunary regions<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

and is symbiotic with the life of our planet. Everything that the Moon shines upon is under its influence. Beware of assigning disordered<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

emotions to the Moon, which has more to do with the emotional satisfaction arising from the act of our hands.\u201d <\/i><\/span>(Matthews, 83-84)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But again, in context of my personal life right now, the Moon card in its Lenormand aspect is perfectly apt. I <\/span>am <\/i><\/span>concerned with issues of work \u2013 writing, specifically \u2013 but also my collage work \u2013 and of course the additional housework with my son now living here! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, of course, 25 Ring Ace of Clubs represents my commitment to all of the above \u2013 my son, my family, my work <\/span>and <\/i><\/span>my divinatory studies. This card has been paired with each of these cards more than once in every way imaginable. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do keep a Divinatory Journal? What methods do you use the most? Do you use the Lenormand Oracle? What cards show up the most often? What relationship do you have with those cards? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Until next month, Brightest Blessings! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

References<\/u><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Matthews, Caitl\u00edn. <\/span>The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards<\/u><\/span>. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2014.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notes from My Lenormand Journal Thirty years ago, when I received my first set of Tarot cards, I read the cards nearly every day. I didn\u2019t have a separate journal for my Tarot readings in those days \u2013 I just put the readings into my regular day-to-day diary. My life was very melodramatic in those days and the various readings reflected the histrionics of my daily life. Mostly I used the Celtic Cross spread but I would try out any spread that I discovered in my study of the Tarot. I was sure that I would eventually find the answer. Well, here we are all these years later and I am still looking for the answer \u2013 or maybe it would be more correct to say that I am looking for answers in general. Naturally some of the questions have changed radically in the past thirty years. But some questions \u2013 really, the most important and vital ones \u2013 have not changed at all. They have only become more critical and far-reaching. In the mid-1990\u2019s, a very dear friend gave me a beautiful bound journal with a marbled cover of a glorious royal blue. That was the start of the separation of my Tarot journal and my day-to-day journal. There are pros and cons to this. I like being able to see the divinatory reading in regards to what happened that very day \u2013 having the two posts side by side can be very instructive. But having all those Tarot readings \u2013 or any kind of reading \u2013 broke up the diary\u2019s natural prosaic flow. I have maintained two journals to this day. These days, I do a three-card Tarot reading and then a five-card Lenormand reading. While I am focusing on the Lenormand in this essay, I must say that I am constantly amazed at how the two systems reinforce the same message. Sometimes I pull a Rune from my bag and nine times out of ten, whatever Rune I pull has the same divinatory message! Somedays I go through all my various means of divination to see if I am getting the same vibes from all the sources! And sometimes they all add up to the same one message. BUT \u2013 sometimes it’s just a big fucking jumble of nothing. It\u2019s really tempting to say, the hell with all of this, and not write it down in the journal. I mean \u2013 that all takes time and time is not something I have a whole lot of nowadays. The thing is \u2013 just because you can\u2019t see the message today doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t see the message tomorrow or next week or next year. Or even five or ten years from now. It can be argued that being able to \u201csee\u201d a divination five years after the reading is dubious at best but on the other hand, it\u2019s all a learning experience, isn\u2019t it? And sometimes the cards are talking about events far in the future. It\u2019s human nature to see everything in the here and now. The past several weeks, I have been pulling these cards over and over again: Of course, these five cards were pulled with other cards. These cards are just showing up more often in the daily 5-card spread than the rest of the cards in the pack. And given that in the Lenormand, card relationship \u2013 the combination of cards to create a single meaning \u2013 is more important that a card landing on a certain point, just looking at these cards in and of themselves really doesn\u2019t say very much. For instance, the 5 Tree 7 of Hearts card has come up fifteen times in the last twenty-two days, which is a pretty good percentage. But that doesn\u2019t say anymore than I have been concerned with family and health issues, which are paramount right now. It\u2019s the combination of the tree card with the surrounding cards that enhance and define its meaning. On July 5, the 5 Tree 7 of Hearts card was winged by 8 Coffin 9 of Diamonds and 36 Cross 6 of Clubs. Given the state of my father\u2019s health on that day, this was a totally apt reading \u2013 his bad health and the feeling that no matter what happened, it was going to be difficult for all of us in the family. 26 Book 10 of Diamonds has been paired with 21 Mountain 8 of Clubs seven times in the last two weeks. I think this is pointing to the various problems I\u2019m having with my writing \u2013 not a writer\u2019s block per se \u2013 although that would be the obvious idea. But in my case, it\u2019s not so much that I have writer\u2019s block but I am so horrendously busy that I don\u2019t have the time to write \u2013 the mountain is keeping me from my book. Again \u2013 the tree is another modifier \u2013 it\u2019s family issues that are pressing on me. My father\u2019s ill health \u2013 my son, who recently moved back home and now I have triple the housework that I used to have \u2013 and sibling drama that doesn\u2019t really concern me but is nonetheless part of my life. Isn\u2019t 32 Moon 8 of Hearts a beautiful card? Caitl\u00edn Matthews says that this card is a \u201cfalse friend\u201d from the \u201cTarot World\u201d. She writes, \u201cIn Tarot, the Moon means illusions, mutability, or anxiety \u2013 words that are better expressed in Lenormand by Clouds. Stork, and Birds, respectively. Lenormand Moon is about work, honor, recognition, and creativity. This is because Moon governs the sublunary regions and is symbiotic with the life of our planet. Everything that the Moon shines upon is under its influence. Beware of assigning disordered emotions to the Moon, which has more to do with the emotional satisfaction arising from the act of our hands.\u201d (Matthews, 83-84) But again, in context of my personal life right now, the Moon card in its Lenormand aspect is perfectly apt. I am concerned with issues of work \u2013 writing, specifically \u2013 but also my collage work \u2013 and of course the additional housework with my son now living here! Naturally, of course, 25 Ring Ace of Clubs represents my commitment to all of the above \u2013 my son, my family, my work and my divinatory studies. This card has been paired with each of these cards more than once in every way imaginable. Do keep a Divinatory Journal? What methods do you use the most? Do you use the Lenormand Oracle? What cards show up the most often? What relationship do you have with those cards? Until next month, Brightest Blessings! The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards References Matthews, Caitl\u00edn. The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2014. *** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}