Hello Trealeafe:
The Grand Tableau can be intimidating and frustrating, but there isn’t anything quite like it.
I learnt it from my aunt, but only the basics. I've experimented on and off over the years, but the thread here has been invaluable in bringing it all together. Watching others use different styles actually cemented some of things I never understood that she did.
As far as I know there aren’t any books in English that cover the Grand Tableau in-depth. Sylvie Steinbach in her ‘Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle’ touches it briefly, Mario dos Ventos glazes over it in the ‘Game of Destiny’ (I wouldn't recommend that book). I believe Treppner teach a version in their online course. Someone mentioned Britta but said it was vague.
Outside of the German and French books there is very little. I am sure someone on here once said it wasn't always covered in many French books.
The best way of learning is trial and error, experimenting with the different techniques. For your first few you might just want to stick to the past, present, future.
There isn’t specifically one way to cover it, and very often a reader will have picked up various methodologies until he/she has something to work with that suits their clients’ needs.
On the most basic level you will begin with the Gentleman/Lady card. Eliciting where it is has fell (on the edges, at the bottom etc) as this will give you an indication of how the tableau is shaping up. You should then examine the past, the present and the future.
If you’re familiar with the 3x3 you can use that in tableau to examine specific cards which represent different areas on life. Experiment.
Not books but just as useful:
There is a large study thread here – it inspired me to start using the tableau again:
http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=158864
Treppner’ methodology:
http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php...light=treppner
Lord Elwin’s:
http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...13&postcount=4
Elsewhere Sigrid’s blog has a detailed step by step breakdown:
http://jaycetravel.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/the-grand-tableau-part-1/
I recently posted how my aunt used the tableau on the large thread. Unfortunately, it is not much to go on. There was a strange variation in a book on playing cards but I don't know its source or how you used it.
You will notice all these are slightly to completely different and that’s why you should avoid clinging to one method restrictively.