Your Favorite Lenormand?

[ladybird]

Hope this works for you, Kalliope!

I have a request for those of you with the Dutch Lenormand. Do any of you have any photos that you've taken of spreads you've done, even just cell phone pics you snapped for your own records?

I'd like to get a sense of how the red looks in a real space, on a real table, i.e. not scanned.

Anyone?

 

[Lee]

I'm trying to upload a picture too but it's coming out too small...

ETA: OK I think I got it now. Ladybird's photo is nicer.

 

[Melia]

Does anyone else feel the Lenormand market is over saturated?

Err no! There are some nice new decks out there at the moment (esp. the old reproduction decks that have a charm about them). However, I've seen a lot of decks too that don't appeal to me for one reason or another, so I'm making my own deck right now (the result of a momentary lapse of madness). I want a deck with a great fox card ... and a beautiful stars, moon and sun card ... and a simple, simple, really simple lily card. I esp. want an appealing woman and man card (2 pairs, not 1) ... and some extra cards on top of the standard 36.

For some decks, when you lay all the cards out in a grand tableau spread, the cards can have a tendency sometimes to look very much the same because they all have the same/similar background. That means you have to go searching for the individual card you want, as it's not immediately apparent where it is in the 36 card spread. I want a deck where this isn't the case, but I do want the woman and gentleman cards to clearly feel like a pair. I also want to humanise some of my images - I have ALWAYS thought this to be the WRONG approach with Lenormand cards, but now I see that this is not the case - IF it's done well, humanising SOME of the cards can work beautifully, provided the main focus is on the symbol itself (whatever that may be).

____

@Penthasilia, I've just ordered the Dondorf. The French Cartomancy is my favourite Lenormand so I think I will love the Dondorf too.

 

[kalliope]

Ladybird and Lee, thank you so much for the photos! They're both very helpful, so thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it. I guess I do need to keep it on my wishlist, darn! I was hoping to cross it off.

As an OT side note, Lee, I noticed the line of the Woman in your layout, and wondered if Britta would say something like this: "This woman had love in the past, but many arguments and ambiguities led to a loss of her marriage. She may now be looking for a rich lover." (I got the rich lover from the Fish-Bear, and the Fish-Man-Lily diagonal seemed to back that up.)

 

[ladybird]

Ladybird and Lee, thank you so much for the photos! They're both very helpful, so thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it. I guess I do need to keep it on my wishlist, darn! I was hoping to cross it off.

I can play devil's advocate, Kalliope! As much as I love the cards for it's interesting color & age, I have a couple gripes with the artwork. Nothing to do with Tag's work, everything she creates & restores is amazing! It's the original artwork I have a couple nitpicks about. For example, the Clover! It's not a clover it's another plant altogether and there's no explanation about it. After I received the cards, I spoke to someone from the area they came from and he said that the LWB that originally came with the cards say nothing about the plant. That's one tic. The next is the double scythes on the Scythe cards and the three birds in the Birds cards. This may not be a big deal for some as you can choose how you want to read the cards directionally, but I like my Scythe to have one direction and my birds to be pairs.

So really not big problems but I find that I don't use the cards as much as I would like. Granted, I have many other decks that I use and the Dutch just ends up in the not-as-used-much pile. However, saying all this I truly think the colors are beautiful and the cards stock is fantastic. Very simple to pick out the emblems on the cards in a GT. They just have the 3 annoying cards, not bad overall. (I apologize if any of this info has been repeated about the Dutch cards in this thread. I have not read it all.)

I bought the Dutch Lenormand right when it came out so I didn't have anyone's experience to refer to. If I had waited and someone had told me about the Clover, Scythe and Birds, I would have bought her bridge sized Purple Dondorf instead. I have the PD mini and I use it CONSTANTLY!

I do love the Dondorf pattern but also really love the Blue Owl with the insets, to bring it back to the topic. I am mostly reading Lenormand now so when I go to do a reading, I always throw the Blue Owl (with insets), the Purple Dondorf mini and the Glück in my case. Love the size of that Glück! I do like the LS Lenormand Oracle cards too and am looking forward to this Altenburger work from SevenStars. I'll be getting that one in a mini size as well. I can't believe how much my mini sized decks are getting use! I use them ALL OF THE TIME!! Last but not least, I adore using the deck I made, super easy for me to use and obviously, she's my baby! Who doesn't love their own babe?!

 

[shadowdancer]

Well, I still have as my favourites, the ones I made up for myself for study and learning. I had a deck made in bridge size initially, but then realised something - long sightedness + grey/badly lit winter days meant I had to reach for reading glasses more than I would have liked. Had them printed in large and they look great, but any thought of a GT (not that I had any) are out the window with those ones. At least the bridge ones can go in my handbag for when the summer is back with us.
I think once I am past the early days of learning I can venture out and use the decks I purchased (Magisches, Piatnik).

However...

And I hate doing this...

I wanted to be NOT the kid in a sweetshop when it came to Lenormand decks, but..

I love the look of the Day of the Dead Lenormand. That bear image did it for me (Just type Day of the Dead Lenormand in a search field - you will find plenty of images).
The artist is reworking the deck slightly so it has small card inserts, but don't worry GD - even they look as though they will be 'Deadified'
A themed / humerous Lenormand deck 'gasp' that does actually float my boat. Who would have thought it.

 

[kalliope]

Thanks for playing devil's advocate for me, Ladybird! I did notice the Clover in your photos, and it is a very strange choice. Odd that it's not explained anywhere, either. I don't mind the three birds too much, but the double Scythe could be a problem with some reading methods.

There are suddenly so many decks out that I want, so I'm trying to prioritize and go with what I'll actually use the most. I think I can safely move the Dutch down the list a ways, so thanks! Your standard bag with the Blue Owl, Purple Dondorf mini, and Gluck sounds perfect to me, too. (I'm also a fan of the Gluck's odd size.) I'm sure the mini Antiquarian will be added to my short list. The Purple Dondorf mini is my next purchase I think.

There's just something about the minis, isn't there? Especially if you like the grand tableau. A mini GT fits next to me on the sofa, even...

 

[Lee]

Ladybird and Lee, thank you so much for the photos! They're both very helpful, so thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it. I guess I do need to keep it on my wishlist, darn! I was hoping to cross it off.

As an OT side note, Lee, I noticed the line of the Woman in your layout, and wondered if Britta would say something like this: "This woman had love in the past, but many arguments and ambiguities led to a loss of her marriage. She may now be looking for a rich lover." (I got the rich lover from the Fish-Bear, and the Fish-Man-Lily diagonal seemed to back that up.)

I tried reading it without looking at your interpretation. We were pretty close. Like you, I saw big emotional trouble (the Mountain as size) leading to loss of marriage. But for the future, I took the Bear as the now-ex-husband, from whom she is getting a sizable alimony.

I actually do a lot of my GTs with the Gilded Reverie iPad app. Very convenient when I'm too lazy to lay out the cards.

 

[ladybird]

There are suddenly so many decks out that I want, so I'm trying to prioritize and go with what I'll actually use the most. I think I can safely move the Dutch down the list a ways, so thanks! Your standard bag with the Blue Owl, Purple Dondorf mini, and Gluck sounds perfect to me, too. (I'm also a fan of the Gluck's odd size.) I'm sure the mini Antiquarian will be added to my short list. The Purple Dondorf mini is my next purchase I think.

There's just something about the minis, isn't there? Especially if you like the grand tableau. A mini GT fits next to me on the sofa, even...

I'm glad I could help! You will love that Purple Dondorf mini! It's perfect and I love the back design as well. And yes, there IS something about the minis! I thought when I went to print the Antiquarian that it would lose detail but it doesn't! It still reads very well for me. No glasses necessary yet! Thankfully because they've been such a handy size to carry around.

I've been up-cycling my Chinese lozenge containers to store my favorite minis in. Check it out! I painted a mints tin to hold my Glück in. It's the magenta colored tin below the gold mini tins. I lined it with light blue velour & it fits the Glück perfectly.

 

[schmedrake]

I'm still learning, so I've really been digging my own Keywordy Lenormand lately. I have all the keywords memorized pretty much, but having them on the cards means I don't have to work so hard on recalling meanings and I can focus more on interpreting the spread.

Other than that, the Lenormand Revolution, Tattered Nomad and my glittered French Cartomancy decks are my faves.