{"id":18633,"date":"2018-10-01T01:10:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T06:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=19222"},"modified":"2018-09-30T20:12:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T01:12:56","slug":"seeing-the-signs-book-review-of-cartomancy-with-the-lenormand-and-the-tarot-by-patrick-dunn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/10\/01\/seeing-the-signs-book-review-of-cartomancy-with-the-lenormand-and-the-tarot-by-patrick-dunn\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Signs – Book Review of Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot by Patrick Dunn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book <\/b>Review of <\/b>Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot<\/b><\/u> by Patrick Dunn<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I found Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot: Create Meaning & Gain Insight from the Cards<\/a><\/u>, by Patrick Dunn, at my local public library. As usual, I discovered it while looking for something else which naturally wasn\u2019t on the shelf. (This happens so often that I expect it). I got it out and read it quickly and returned it within the borrowing period. A few weeks ago, I borrowed it again. This is the kind of library book that you don\u2019t want to return. I plan on purchasing it for my own sometime in the future. It\u2019s a mass-market paperback, put out by Llewellyn Publications. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

As regular readers of my column, \u201cLearning the Lenormand\u201d already know, I have been using The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards<\/a> <\/u> by Caitl\u00edn Matthews as my \u201cbasic text\u201d for learning the Lenormand. This is a wonderful book and I can\u2019t recommend it enough. But as fabulous as this book is, I want to read other books about the Lenormand. Let\u2019s face it \u2013 the more you study, the better you\u2019re going to be able to read the cards. Books have always been an important part of my spiritual quest. Reading, taking notes and working with the concepts that I learn through the printed medium \u2013 or online, nowadays \u2013 is how someone like me learns.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My original intent was to review this book for \u201cLearning the Lenormand\u201d but the scope of this book is way beyond simply either the Lenormand or the Tarot. After reading this book several times and taking notes, my take is that Dunn\u2019s main reason for writing this book is to show the relationship between the Lenormand and the Tarot. He has a bunch of very interesting ideas. This is much more than a \u201chow-to\u201d book on reading the cards. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the introduction, Dunn writes that he wanted to write about \u201cdivination through the use of cards\u201d (Dunn, xv) and that he is focusing on the Lenormand and Tarot cards \u2013 the Lenormand because it is relatively \u201clittle-known\u201d in the United States while the Tarot is familiar to most people, even with folks who have never sought its wisdom and knowledge. He also writes that he wanted \u201cto provide some ways to use the two systems together\u201d (Dunn, xv). But he goes on to say that \u201cthis is a book about types of knowledge and ways of listening\u201d and that \u201cthis book serves as a meditation\u201d on that particular worldview (Dunn, xv-xvi). He also says that while you can use the book as a how-to book, it is really about \u201chow to develop a relationship\u201d with the cards (Dunn, xvi). I think anyone who has spent time with any <\/i>divination method will agree with this \u2013 you need to have a good working relationship with your cards \u2013 whether they are Tarot, Lenormand or some other oracle deck. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He starts off talking about the Lenormand. He covers its history and association with playing cards and fortune-telling. I find it interesting that he does not mention \u201cThe Game of Hope\u201d or \u201cCoffee Cards\u201d, both mentioned in The Complete Lenormand Oracle<\/u>. (Matthews, 4-6) He asserts that Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Lenormand\u2019s method of using cards to foretell the future changed the popular idea of the card-reader from its association with Gypsies and the \u201cRoma people\u201d. (Dunn, 2) Instead, reading cards for divinatory results became \u201cthoroughly genteel\u201d. (Dunn, 3) Instead, he focuses on the readers of the cards and their somewhat unsavory reputations. He fully credits the various schools of Lenormand reading that sprung up after Mademoiselle Lenormand\u2019s death with this evolution of attitude. (Dunn, 3) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He writes that there are various methods of reading the cards \u2013 a French method, a German method and South American method. (Dunn, 4) He says that an \u201cAmerican\u201d method \u2013 meaning the United States \u2013 has \u201cyet to arise\u201d but there are \u201chints\u201d of a \u201cdeveloping system\u201d. (Dunn, 4-5) He laments the lack of resources for American readers of the Lenormand but admits that this is actually \u201cgood news\u201d. Instead of reading dozens of books on the subject \u2013 like you can with the Tarot \u2013 a practitioner is forced to \u201cbegin with the cards themselves.\u201d (Dunn, 5) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

His descriptions of the meanings of the cards are simple and to the point. I made scans of these pages to add to my own Lenormand notebook. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I put these pages and the others I scanned into my notebook. I like how there\u2019s a blank area below the description of each card so you can write in your own notes. If this book was my very own \u2013 instead of a library book \u2013 I would have already had this book all marked up! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The very next chapter is about the Major Arcana of the Tarot. He doesn\u2019t cover the Minor Arcana at all. He writes that his focus on the Major Arcana is due to the \u201cfruitful\u201d relationship between the images of the Major Arcana and the Lenormand, focusing only on the \u201cesoteric or inner meanings of these symbols\u201d (Dunn, 29) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some of the scanned pages from his chapter on the Major Arcana:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

So then Dunn veers away from both the Lenormard and the Tarot to devote a chapter on Occult Symbolism. He writes, \u201cAll human are geniuses at one thing: interpreting symbols.\u201d (Dunn, 40) Perhaps this is true \u2013 at any rate, humans do <\/i>try to make sense of the material world and how it mirrors the esoteric. I personally feel that this chapter is a bit long-winded \u2013 the reader can be forgiven for skipping over it for more interesting parts of the book. However, this chapter does \u2013 however circular his reasoning might be \u2013 lay out important concepts for reading both the Tarot and the Lenormand. Using the Anima Mundi as a guide, he discusses the elements, patterns of numbers and cards, and how astrology fits into all of this. Yes \u2013 you might be forgiven for skipping over this chapter, but I will guarantee that you will return to it before you are done with this book. There is a lot <\/i>to digest here. But it is a necessary step in understanding. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Near the end of the chapter, he asserts, \u201cOnce you start looking, you begin to see these symbolic patterns everywhere\u201d (Dunn, 55) \u2013 which is certainly true. He writes that the Tarot was no more than a \u201cpopular card game with evocatively decorated cards\u201d (Dunn, 55) until the \u201cmagicians of the eighteenth-century occult revival\u201d happened to notice the patterns of symbols embedded within the cards and rightly suspected that these cards were \u201csomething more\u201d than a card game. (Dunn, 55)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dunn writes that he doesn\u2019t quite believe that the Tarot was designed to be anything more than a popular card game \u2013 but the Anima Mundi is \u201calways whispering\u201d to us. But he admits that it \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter\u201d (Dunn, 55) \u2013 what matters is how we view the symbols on the cards and how we use them for divination. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, the next chapter is all about the symbolic structure of the Major Arcana. He writes about how most of us \u201cuse the book\u201d when we are doing any kind of divination \u2013 especially the \u201cLittle White Book\u201d that comes with every set of Tarot, Oracle and Lenormand cards \u2013 but he says to look at the symbolism of the card and read it accordingly. (Dunn, 59) This, of course, is what many other Tarot scholars say \u2013 most notably Mary K. Greer, Angeles Arrien and Rachel Pollack. He points to the relationships between the cards and prompts us to read them in terms of their energy \u2013 Cardinal, Mutable or Fixed \u2013 and their Element \u2013 Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These designations also belong to the world of Astrology, so he connects the Tarot to that divinatory system. Again \u2013 none of this is new when it comes to reading the Tarot. But I really like the way he arranges his thoughts \u2013 putting together the cardinal cards, for instance \u2013 The Emperor, The Chariot, Justice and The Devil \u2013 and looking at the relationships between these cards. (Dunn, 63) He repeats this with the mutable cards and the fixed cards. I had never thought of this before and I am still meditating on this concept. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

The next two chapters are about getting ready to read the cards and preparing \u201cto tell a story\u201d. I personally think that these two chapters could be one. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After that, he presents a chapter entitled \u201cSome Tarot Spreads\u201d. I have to say that this must be the first time I have ever read anything about the Tarot that does not <\/i>mention The Celtic Cross. Perhaps he thought that the reader of this book would already be acquainted with The Celtic Cross, so there was no need to talk about it. Or perhaps the way a person reads The Celtic Cross \u2013 a card on each position and read as such \u2013 didn\u2019t fit into Dunn\u2019s theory of card \u201crelationships\u201d. Of course you can read the Celtic Cross in both <\/i>ways and as far as I\u2019m concerned, that\u2019s the way to do it \u2013 that\u2019s how you get the most of the reading. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He writes about a method of reading that he terms a \u201creading procedure\u201d. (Dunn, 100) He says that the difference between a procedure and a spread is that with procedures, there is no \u201clayout or set meaning to card positions\u201d. (Dunn, 100) He says that after focusing on your question and shuffling well, you pull the top card from the deck and set it to one side. This card is the \u201canswer to your question, or the overall theme card\u201d. (Dunn, 101) After you pull the \u201canswer card\u201d, you lay out the rest of the cards in three rows of seven cards each. The top row can be the past, the middle the present and the bottom row the future \u2013 or you could have the first row be the plot, the second row the characters and the third row the setting. Or you could read the rows in terms of mind, heart and body. It\u2019s up to you. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first card in every row is that row\u2019s theme card. He writes, \u201cCombine the theme card\u2019s meaning with the overall theme card to get an overview.\u201d (Dunn, 101) And then he writes, \u201cNow it gets tricky\u201d \u2013 because apparently you don\u2019t read every card that has been laid out \u2013 just the ones pointed to by the theme cards and by using the chart he provides \u2013 you count from card to card \u2013 depending on what theme cards you have. This is the chart:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Ok, I thought. Sounds interesting. So I laid out my Major Arcana cards as he instructs, after shuffling and cutting and thinking about what was most pressing in my life right now \u2013 which is, as always, recovery. This is what I laid out:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

As you can see, XIV Temperance is the overall theme card. I didn\u2019t really have a question but that seemed to be a decent enough answer. I need a better sense of sobriety and balance in my life. However, combined with XII The Hanged Man, XI The Hermit and IV The Emperor, I would say that my sense of sobriety and balance is marked by a sense of waiting \u2013 for what? \u2013 and loneliness and rigidity. I definitely need to work on all these issues. And figure out what the hell I am waiting for. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, so now I started counting from card to card using the chart in the book. I turned over the cards I wasn\u2019t going to be reading. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Reading this as \u201cPast, Present, Future\u201d, I can see my early recovery in my past in both XII The Hanged Man and III The Empress \u2013 giving birth to my son and that long stretch of sobriety when he was a little guy. The present is how I am still reeling from the aftereffects of XVI The Tower \u2013 the divorces, the abusive relationships, the DWI\u2019s, the descent back into active addiction and the struggle to get sober again. The future is XVII The Star \u2013 how lovely is that? For someone who is chronically depressed, that certainly gives me something to look forward to. All I have to do is keep working my program of recovery. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He writes about reading the cards that you \u201cdon\u2019t read\u201d \u2013 he says that they are not \u201cirrelevant\u201d \u2013 they offer information about the cards next to them. (Dunn, 102) So there is a lot more to this reading but I am not going to get into it now \u2013 there\u2019s so much more to this book!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After discussing Tarot spreads, he moves onto spreads using Lenormand cards. The first thing he talks about are Signifiers. Usually the only Signifiers the beginner hears about is 28 Gentleman and 29 Lady for a man and a woman respectively. However, he lists quite a few signifiers, based on concepts. Given that every card has a keyword, each card could be a signifier for a question or an issue. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

The first spread he discusses is the Grand Tableau, which he calls The Book of Life, a term never used in the Matthews book. I have to say that his explanation of reading the Grand Tableau is very straight-forward and easy to follow. But it\u2019s much too involved of a spread to get into in an article like this one. Believe me when I say that it\u2019s well worth the read. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He talks about other spreads \u2013 the Petit Tableau and one called the No Layout spread, which I found very interesting. You choose one or more signifiers and then you draw cards until the signifier appears. I tried this and found that it works better if you have more than one signifier. I thought about it as I was shuffling the cards and decided upon 29 Lady \u2013 for myself \u2013 and 5 Tree for my overall health \u2013 but specifically my mental health and recovery \u2013 and 22 Paths (Crossroads) for advice on where to go and what to do next. I ended up laying out the entire deck, since the 5 Tree card was the very last card to show! Since I was laying the cards out on my bed, I almost ran out of space! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

I lined the cards up so that they \u201cread\u201d a little more easily. Although the diagonal pattern is real interesting, isn\u2019t it? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Here is the 22 Paths card, which I had as a signifier for \u201cadvice\u201d to help me achieve my dreams. I think its advice is clear \u2013 looking above the 22 Paths card, there is the 14 Fox card, which calls for hard work. Next to the 22 Paths card is the 18 Dog card, which tells me that nothing is achieved without the help of at least one good friend. On the other side is the 2 Clover card indicating that a good dose of luck is also necessary. And to the bottom are 12 Birds \u2013 as a writer, I can write all day long but if I don\u2019t publish, all that writing is for naught. The birds are telling me to sing my song and feather my nest. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I read the 29 Lady card and the 5 Tree Card similarly \u2013 looking at the cards all around them to get an idea of what they were telling me. I also considered the diagonal cards. There\u2019s a lot going on with this spread. Too much to write about here \u2013 but I am glad that I was introduced to it! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The following chapters are about the language and grammar of symbols, intuitive reading, the symbolic interaction between the Lenormand and the Tarot and something he calls \u201cSynergy\u201d, in which you use both decks of cards in one reading. The chapter entitled \u201cSymbolic Interaction Between the Lenormand and the Tarot\u201d is most informative. He points out where the images of the Lenormand show up on Tarot cards \u2013 for instance, O The Fool contains 18 The Dog, 21 Mountain and 31 Sun. III The Empress contains 29 The Lady, 24 The Heart, 5 The Tree and 9 The Flowers. He gives many more examples. He calls this concept of finding Lenormand images in the Tarot \u201cSynergy\u201d. (Dunn, 170-71)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> The rest of the book deals with discussions about fortune-telling versus divination and DIY magic \u2013 how to scry a card and revising a reading \u2013 and two superlative appendixes. The appendixes alone <\/i>are worth picking up and opening this book. In all \u2013 I would recommend this book to anyone <\/i>interested in either the Lenormand or the Tarot or in divination in general. I plan on purchasing it myself \u2013 it\u2019s probably going to be under my Yule tree this very year! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As for now \u2013 I have to get to the library \u2013 Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot<\/u> is two weeks overdue!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*All photographs \u00a9 polly macdavid<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Dunn, Patrick. Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot: Create Meaning & Gain Insight from the Cards<\/a><\/u>. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2013.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot: Create Meaning & Gain Insight from the Cards<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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

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

\"\"<\/a><\/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

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review of Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot by Patrick Dunn I found Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot: Create Meaning & Gain Insight from the Cards, by Patrick Dunn, at my local public library. As usual, I discovered it while looking for something else which naturally wasn\u2019t on the shelf. (This happens so often that I expect it). I got it out and read it quickly and returned it within the borrowing period. A few weeks ago, I borrowed it again. This is the kind of library book that you don\u2019t want to return. I plan on purchasing it for my own sometime in the future. It\u2019s a mass-market paperback, put out by Llewellyn Publications. As regular readers of my column, \u201cLearning the Lenormand\u201d already know, I have been using The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards by Caitl\u00edn Matthews as my \u201cbasic text\u201d for learning the Lenormand. This is a wonderful book and I can\u2019t recommend it enough. But as fabulous as this book is, I want to read other books about the Lenormand. Let\u2019s face it \u2013 the more you study, the better you\u2019re going to be able to read the cards. Books have always been an important part of my spiritual quest. Reading, taking notes and working with the concepts that I learn through the printed medium \u2013 or online, nowadays \u2013 is how someone like me learns. My original intent was to review this book for \u201cLearning the Lenormand\u201d but the scope of this book is way beyond simply either the Lenormand or the Tarot. After reading this book several times and taking notes, my take is that Dunn\u2019s main reason for writing this book is to show the relationship between the Lenormand and the Tarot. He has a bunch of very interesting ideas. This is much more than a \u201chow-to\u201d book on reading the cards. In the introduction, Dunn writes that he wanted to write about \u201cdivination through the use of cards\u201d (Dunn, xv) and that he is focusing on the Lenormand and Tarot cards \u2013 the Lenormand because it is relatively \u201clittle-known\u201d in the United States while the Tarot is familiar to most people, even with folks who have never sought its wisdom and knowledge. He also writes that he wanted \u201cto provide some ways to use the two systems together\u201d (Dunn, xv). But he goes on to say that \u201cthis is a book about types of knowledge and ways of listening\u201d and that \u201cthis book serves as a meditation\u201d on that particular worldview (Dunn, xv-xvi). He also says that while you can use the book as a how-to book, it is really about \u201chow to develop a relationship\u201d with the cards (Dunn, xvi). I think anyone who has spent time with any divination method will agree with this \u2013 you need to have a good working relationship with your cards \u2013 whether they are Tarot, Lenormand or some other oracle deck. He starts off talking about the Lenormand. He covers its history and association with playing cards and fortune-telling. I find it interesting that he does not mention \u201cThe Game of Hope\u201d or \u201cCoffee Cards\u201d, both mentioned in The Complete Lenormand Oracle. (Matthews, 4-6) He asserts that Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Lenormand\u2019s method of using cards to foretell the future changed the popular idea of the card-reader from its association with Gypsies and the \u201cRoma people\u201d. (Dunn, 2) Instead, reading cards for divinatory results became \u201cthoroughly genteel\u201d. (Dunn, 3) Instead, he focuses on the readers of the cards and their somewhat unsavory reputations. He fully credits the various schools of Lenormand reading that sprung up after Mademoiselle Lenormand\u2019s death with this evolution of attitude. (Dunn, 3) He writes that there are various methods of reading the cards \u2013 a French method, a German method and South American method. (Dunn, 4) He says that an \u201cAmerican\u201d method \u2013 meaning the United States \u2013 has \u201cyet to arise\u201d but there are \u201chints\u201d of a \u201cdeveloping system\u201d. (Dunn, 4-5) He laments the lack of resources for American readers of the Lenormand but admits that this is actually \u201cgood news\u201d. Instead of reading dozens of books on the subject \u2013 like you can with the Tarot \u2013 a practitioner is forced to \u201cbegin with the cards themselves.\u201d (Dunn, 5) His descriptions of the meanings of the cards are simple and to the point. I made scans of these pages to add to my own Lenormand notebook. \u00a0 I put these pages and the others I scanned into my notebook. I like how there\u2019s a blank area below the description of each card so you can write in your own notes. If this book was my very own \u2013 instead of a library book \u2013 I would have already had this book all marked up! The very next chapter is about the Major Arcana of the Tarot. He doesn\u2019t cover the Minor Arcana at all. He writes that his focus on the Major Arcana is due to the \u201cfruitful\u201d relationship between the images of the Major Arcana and the Lenormand, focusing only on the \u201cesoteric or inner meanings of these symbols\u201d (Dunn, 29) Here are some of the scanned pages from his chapter on the Major Arcana: So then Dunn veers away from both the Lenormard and the Tarot to devote a chapter on Occult Symbolism. He writes, \u201cAll human are geniuses at one thing: interpreting symbols.\u201d (Dunn, 40) Perhaps this is true \u2013 at any rate, humans do try to make sense of the material world and how it mirrors the esoteric. I personally feel that this chapter is a bit long-winded \u2013 the reader can be forgiven for skipping over it for more interesting parts of the book. However, this chapter does \u2013 however circular his reasoning might be \u2013 lay out important concepts for reading both the Tarot and the Lenormand. Using the Anima Mundi as a guide, he discusses the elements, patterns of numbers and cards, and how astrology fits into all of this. Yes \u2013 you might be forgiven for skipping over this chapter, but I will guarantee that you will return to it before you are done with this book. There is a lot to digest here. But it is a necessary step in understanding. Near the end of the chapter, he asserts, \u201cOnce you start looking, you begin to see these symbolic patterns everywhere\u201d (Dunn, 55) \u2013 which is certainly true. He writes that the Tarot was no more than a \u201cpopular card game with evocatively decorated cards\u201d (Dunn, 55) until the \u201cmagicians of the eighteenth-century occult revival\u201d happened to notice the patterns of symbols embedded within the cards and rightly suspected that these cards were \u201csomething more\u201d than a card game. (Dunn, 55) Dunn writes that he doesn\u2019t quite believe that the Tarot was designed to be anything more than a popular card game \u2013 but the Anima Mundi is \u201calways whispering\u201d to us. But he admits that it \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter\u201d (Dunn, 55) \u2013 what matters is how we view the symbols on the cards and how we use them for divination. Therefore, the next chapter is all about the symbolic structure of the Major Arcana. He writes about how most of us \u201cuse the book\u201d when we are doing any kind of divination \u2013 especially the \u201cLittle White Book\u201d that comes with every set of Tarot, Oracle and Lenormand cards \u2013 but he says to look at the symbolism of the card and read it accordingly. (Dunn, 59) This, of course, is what many other Tarot scholars say \u2013 most notably Mary K. Greer, Angeles Arrien and Rachel Pollack. He points to the relationships between the cards and prompts us to read them in terms of their energy \u2013 Cardinal, Mutable or Fixed \u2013 and their Element \u2013 Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These designations also belong to the world of Astrology, so he connects the Tarot to that divinatory system. Again \u2013 none of this is new when it comes to reading the Tarot. But I really like the way he arranges his thoughts \u2013 putting together the cardinal cards, for instance \u2013 The Emperor, The Chariot, Justice and The Devil \u2013 and looking at the relationships between these cards. (Dunn, 63) He repeats this with the mutable cards and the fixed cards. I had never thought of this before and I am still meditating on this concept. The next two chapters are about getting ready to read the cards and preparing \u201cto tell a story\u201d. I personally think that these two chapters could be one. After that, he presents a chapter entitled \u201cSome Tarot Spreads\u201d. I have to say that this must be the first time I have ever read anything about the Tarot that does not mention The Celtic Cross. Perhaps he thought that the reader of this book would already be acquainted with The Celtic Cross, so there was no need to talk about it. Or perhaps the way a person reads The Celtic Cross \u2013 a card on each position and read as such \u2013 didn\u2019t fit into Dunn\u2019s theory of card \u201crelationships\u201d. Of course you can read the Celtic Cross in both ways and as far as I\u2019m concerned, that\u2019s the way to do it \u2013 that\u2019s how you get the most of the reading. He writes about a method of reading that he terms a \u201creading procedure\u201d. (Dunn, 100) He says that the difference between a procedure and a spread is that with procedures, there is no \u201clayout or set meaning to card positions\u201d. (Dunn, 100) He says that after focusing on your question and shuffling well, you pull the top card from the deck and set it to one side. This card is the \u201canswer to your question, or the overall theme card\u201d. (Dunn, 101) After you pull the \u201canswer card\u201d, you lay out the rest of the cards in three rows of seven cards each. The top row can be the past, the middle the present and the bottom row the future \u2013 or you could have the first row be the plot, the second row the characters and the third row the setting. Or you could read the rows in terms of mind, heart and body. It\u2019s up to you. The first card in every row is that row\u2019s theme card. He writes, \u201cCombine the theme card\u2019s meaning with the overall theme card to get an overview.\u201d (Dunn, 101) And then he writes, \u201cNow it gets tricky\u201d \u2013 because apparently you don\u2019t read every card that has been laid out \u2013 just the ones pointed to by the theme cards and by using the chart he provides \u2013 you count from card to card \u2013 depending on what theme cards you have. This is the chart: Ok, I thought. Sounds interesting. So I laid out my Major Arcana cards as he instructs, after shuffling and cutting and thinking about what was most pressing in my life right now \u2013 which is, as always, recovery. This is what I laid out: As you can see, XIV Temperance is the overall theme card. I didn\u2019t really have a question but that seemed to be a decent enough answer. I need a better sense of sobriety and balance in my life. However, combined with XII The Hanged Man, XI The Hermit and IV The Emperor, I would say that my sense of sobriety and balance is marked by a sense of waiting \u2013 for what? \u2013 and loneliness and rigidity. I definitely need to work on all these issues. And figure out what the hell I am waiting for. Ok, so now I started counting from card to card using the chart in the book. I turned over the cards I wasn\u2019t going to be reading. Reading this as \u201cPast, Present, Future\u201d, I can see my early recovery in my past in both XII The Hanged Man and III The Empress \u2013 giving birth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633","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=18633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}