The Story Behind The Story
So about the middle of June I was over at Ashtaroot’s house with Nicky when we came across her copy of The Melissa Lenormand. Both Nicky an I were well aware that she read with these decks but neither of us were really into the artwork on them. Then with this deck we took a second look at the system. The next day I was back and Ashta was teaching me the deck. One afternoon after another we sat learning the cards one by one and then laying out spreads.
A week later Nicky was in the mix and we sat on the floor of Asta’s house with deck upon deck out learning them. While she started Nicky on the cards I had my MacBook with me and a CD of the high res scans 1910 Pam A deck I have and started my project. My goal with this was to make a Lenormand that I would want to read with-one that would help me learn the cards’ meanings and subtleties as well as have a bit of that tarot mystery about them. What better way of doing this than with the tarot deck that is the base language for most of the decks of the last 100 years. I started with The Rider and over the course of about three hours put together the first draft of the card in Photoshop. Both Asta and Nicky loved the idea and at the end of that long night I had three cards mapped out. Even then I knew what I wanted The Man and The Woman to be. A.E. Waite and Pixie, the beloved creators of the RWS tarot.
Nicky, Asta and I would sit for whole afternoons and evenings hanging out, reading cards and going though the RWS deck for the elements that I needed. It was like a scavenger hunt for things. I would be in a chair editing things down forever and I would shout out ‘I need …..” and off they would go helping me find things. There were nights I was up late so excited because I figured out how to make something, or I would be frustrated because I still had the fox or bear left. Photoshop was my friend. EVERY line in the deck came from Pixie. The day the Fox the Bear and The Snake were done was the best day ever.
I had not really ever intended to share the deck, but both Asta and Nicky thought that it would be a great idea to post it up. Rather than have another ‘here is my deck’ thread I chose to do the little story to put in some commentary about the systems that have come up between the three of us as well as a way to kind of stay out of the way of the deck. I gave both of them nicknames because I didn’t know how they would feel about being in the story. After a while a few other people we know made their way in as things evolved. Many things in the story really happened to us.
My goal was to get the deck completely done first time through, before going back and making all sorts of changes. The only one that knew she could make initial changes was Asta. If A.E Wait and Pixie were my inspiration, then Asta was my muse keeping me going. I would send copies to Asta or if they were posted first I would get little things here and there that needed to be changed. She really was the editor of the deck. Early viewers of the deck might remember things in cards that are no longer there, and you would be right. If I went too far off track from the Lenormand and into tarot she would say “that’s nice, but it’s not Lenormand”, like in the case of the lobster on the Moon. In this case a card would be tweaked or with The Stork, almost redone.
So now that the deck is done. I’m totally open to ideas, criticisms, comments and all. I love a good dialog about cards and I think things end up being a better in the end.
And before you ask… yes there are a new set of The Man and The Woman in the works, and I’m looking at doing a limited run of the deck if enough people are interested
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