Lenormand, the diff between cross and coffin?

[Gavriela]

There's a pretty good thread here for the meanings for both Titania and Lenormand cards - three or four posters were good enough to go through the entire deck.

[Sheri]

Thanks for sharing the link, Gavriela

[Bat Chicken]

Yes! Thank you! What a wonderful resource!

[MatPoint]

Valeria, with all my respect I also love free will, but of course there are rules. I don't like to see it as rules, but a guide to make the journey easier. Anyway I'm used to protocols and methods maybe that's the reason why I see it this way.

And I agree, if the way you do it works for you, that's great.

[Sheri]

I found a thread by FireMaiden that talks about the differences between Tarot and the Mystical Lenormand that I thought I would share. Click here.

Firemaiden is much more eloquent than I am Ok, probably everyone is more eloquent than I am

MatPoint - diversity in technique, thought and belief is what makes the AT forum such a rich and vibrant community

Originally posted by MatPoint:
I don't like to see it as rules, but a guide to make the journey easier.

I love this statement by the way.

[MatPoint]

That's an interesting post but FireMaiden is saying what I have tried to explain in this thread. FireMaiden says she's tried to read tarot buy combining keywords but I think she doesn't say she's tried to do it the other way around.

I wonder how do you read the Grand Tableu with your approach, it seems impossible to me to make sense of anything if you use that free association. It would be interesting to understand other ways to do it besides the classical one.

FireMaiden says she reads The Book as contracts, that's interesting I use the ring to signify contracts. And that's ok to me, it doesn't matter if you use one card or the other as long as you use it the same way every time you read that card. I have a few different versions of Lenormand and the meanings are different in each LWB. And then an experienced Lenormand reader taught me other meanings and eventually I made what made sense to me from each one of these sources.

[Gavriela]

I use keywords, too, but I don't work with the Mystical Lenormand. That one is a bit closer to tarot than a Blue Owl, French Cartomancy, Piatnik - it has more in the pictures, where the cards I use are basically a symbol (ring, book, lady, whatever) with a playing-card inset.

The Mystical has more artwork. I checked in a German database (about all you can find on the Net), that has meanings for combos for several different Lenormand decks; sometimes the Mystical is a bit off to what you'll see in a typical Lenormand. But even with the normal Lenormands, there are sometimes differences because of is half the coffin covered, which way is the book facing, etc.

However you want to use it is fine, but there is quite a lot of tradition behind Lenormand reading. Not all the traditions agree, but they do all use card combinations.

With the Mystical, though, I think you're half in tarot-land and half in Lenormand-land.

[MatPoint]

I don't use the Mystical Lenormand either. I have 4 or 5 versions, but the one I love is the Piatnik version.

I think that Enrique explains very well how Lenormand works.

[Bat Chicken]

I really like the Piatnik - I must get one. I'd trade a really nice handmade bag for one....

I currently have the French Cartomancy and it is amazing...

[Sheri]

Originally posted by Gavriela:
However you want to use it is fine, but there is quite a lot of tradition behind Lenormand reading. Not all the traditions agree, but they do all use card combinations.

When I do a multi-card reading, I definitely use card combinations, I just do it visually versus using keywords. The cards play off each other, each one contributing its bit to the whole. Sometimes the cards mean what they depict, other times, they represent an abstraction of what they depict. I get impressions, feelings, images from the cards, each adding their voice to supplement each other and the whole, like different parts of a choir, joining in to create something special.

I agree that the Mystical isn't a true Lenormand, based on the few other Lenormand decks I have seen.