Moonbow* said:
Not a cloud in sight
but I have to say that I am still reading these cards from the interpretations in the book.
katie_here said:
When i first got the deck, I found it a bit frustrating that all the combinations were not mentioned, for example., The Tower and The Heart. There is no mention anywhere of what these cards mean to each other. Do you find yourself making up your own meanings to the combination, or do you ignore them and read them as completely seperate from each other.
I think with these decks, it’s easy to apply a literal meaning for the base interpretation of the cards. For example – what’s the first thing you think of when you see a dog? Assuming you have no phobias, most people associate dogs with trust and loyalty – household pets. But there are also working dogs, (farm) and guard dogs, and show dogs etc. Some dogs are friendly, but some would bite your hand if you stuck it out. So, this would be where your intuition comes into play.
When there is no interpretation in the book for a combination of certain cards, I usually apply the individual card’s meaning. However, some cards are overshadowed in a spread by stronger cards and on those occasions, I might disregard that individual card’s meaning all together.
Moonbow* said:
The difficulty for me is to see the spread as a whole.. at first glance.
katie_here said:
I'm fairly new to these cards but am beginning now to look on a "a draw" as a "whole" like a sentence, instead of seperate words. Sort of like a story structure, with a beginning, a middle and and end.
Moonbow, I do the same as Katie, and treat the entire spread as a sentence. One card builds on another to make a story. The major difference that I find between these decks and Tarot decks is the spread layouts. With a Tarot spread, you usually have set positions, and you interpret the card in that position accordingly. The spreads in Titania’s book, for example, would equate to a general Tarot spread, where there are no position meanings. For these types of general readings (Tarot and Titania’s/Le Normand) I look for a card that jumps up at me. And then base the story around that. I don’t necessarily read the cards left to right.
For me, the card that stood out in our reading:
House - Ship - Lady - Star - Birds - Anchor - Dog
was the birds. Given that it was in between the Star (hopes and dreams) and the Anchor (security) it immediately suggested anxiety about a wish. Whose wish….and a further look at the cards sees the Lady…..what is she anxious about……ah, there’s the house and the ship. How might the dog fit in? Well, because of its proximity to the birds, I took it that she was anxious about meeting new friends (because her wish to move countries had not yet been fulfilled). Or perhaps it’s about leaving old friends behind (because the anchor shows security). Then again, it could be that a trusted friend will help her make the move. I used my intuition and discounted the third option, based on my feelings of the other cards.
tarotlova said:
Thats why I think these cards are so great because I think you use your intuition more than you do Tarot, as with the Tarot you have universal symbols with general meanings attatched to them, sure some times you put you own meanings to the Tarot but not as much as these cards I think. I don't know but these cards just seem to scream out to me!
Moonbow* said:
Another thing which is necessary with Lenormand/Titania is the 'close and far away' aspect and the meaning of a combination of cards (as shown in Tatsi's post) I need to get to grips with being able to do that. Does that come with practice?
I feel the same way about these cards as tarotlova does. They scream out to me. They always did. So I don’t know whether it’s a learned skill or not. Practice will help you not need to reference the book so much but I think the most important part of reading with these decks – they rely on your intuition.
These were my very first deck of cards. The day I received them was coincidentally the day my ex-husband moved out (so I guess I associate a type of freedom with them). Later that day, some friends dropped in to see how I was doing and I read for them. They were amazed to learn that I’d just received these cards because the readings were extremely accurate.
I’m not one for symbolism and rituals and that’s why I prefer decks like these. I don’t find them as restrictive. I do have both the Le Normand and Titania’s decks but prefer to read with Titania’s. I really only bought the Le Normand one so that I could gain an understanding of Titania’s adaptation. I wanted to see how far she’d come from the original design. Titania has disregarded some Le Normand aspects such as which way the clouds are pointing etc. In terms of being “close and far away” I feel that Titania places more emphasis on strong and weak cards. In other words, the further the card is away, the lesser its impact.
katie_here said:
I've often wondered what would happen if you threw another card into the equation, that wasn't in the deck and had a meaning that wasn't covered by all the other cards.<snip>
<snip>that give me a thought, about an extra card to throw into the reading.... if you could ever do that..... a brick wall.
Katie, when you say add a card that wasn’t in the deck, do you mean a card from another deck? Sometimes, if I’m confused about a spread, I might add depth by pulling a rune to clarify a situation. But usually, if something is bugging me in the spread, or if I need further information, I’ll do the full 36-card spread. Then I pay particular attention to where that troublesome card is in the bigger picture.
So, where to from here? I would like to rotate the person who draws the cards. Should someone pick seven cards for next week? Should they start a new thread, or post into this one?
purple_scorp
