SIMPLE VS FANCIER Lenormands

greatdane

Do you prefer a Lenormand with a lot going on, or as simple as possible?
I admit there are some fancier decks with more going on I enjoy and my favorites vary.
I LOVE the FLONZ for it's elegant simplicity, yet also really love the Lilac Twilights (both the original and the one that's part of the combo). I LOVE the Lenormand Oracle and the Vintage German which has the same images, but the Vintage, looks, well, Vintage. But those images are my among my favorites.

But in the end, it's that I can SEE what the image is and that it falls in line with what I think of when I think of the image. I especially love the MICE in the Lilac Twlights as they portray my vision of how I think of the MICE card. Loss, trouble.

So, simple, fancy, does it matter? How much does how the image is portrayed matter? Would you just as soon just have a CLOVER with nothing else? Do you like it part of a setting?
 

kell

I have only been practicing Lenormand for a year now and love the variety of Lennies available! I treated myself to the Lilac Lenormand, and yes, it is beautiful!
For me, fancy or simple depends upon the spread used. In reading a GT, (which I don't do too often :) ), or 9 card spread, I prefer my trusty Piatnik - plain and simple. With that many cards, I just want to focus in on the symbol. For 2-5 card lines, I'll use whatever I'm in the mood for.
 

greatdane

You make a very good point, Kell

Even doing Three Cards, I like to at least RECOGNIZE the card easily. The Mystical took me about two minutes to get used to as it's a little quirky, same with the Bieri. But that's for just three cards. I can't imagine someone doing a GT with cards that aren't instantly clear.
 

Grizabella

I have the more old style decks, but also the Gilded Reverie and Under the Roses. If I could choose to get more, I'm not really sure. But as others have said, being able to immediately recognize the usual image where you don't have to search for it or read the titles would be my preferencem I think. Ciro's Gilded Reverie is the ultimate---you can recognize the symbolism right off but yet the whole card is beautifully illustrated, too. I do prefer the cards to be very small, though, in most instances.
 

Richard

For me, the fact that the images have no direct bearing on the interpretation takes all the pleasure out of reading Lenormand. Might as well use the LEN Mimimalist *yawn* (although I think the LEN constitutes a much needed critique of Lenormand orthodoxy). That said, the Gilded Reverie and Mystical (both unorthodox) make for delightful eye candy.
 

Le Fanu

oh god, not fancy please.

I don't mind a Clover in a field but a Clover in a field next to a cow (symbol of *********) chewing on a buttercup (symbol of *******) with a comet falling in the background (symbol of *****) and with the night-sky featuring Cassiopeia (reference to *****)...

If a Lenormand is too fancy with added symbols it screams to me that the creator doesn't actually understand Lenormand. It's appealing to readers who like decoration or want something appealing to the unconscious and that's not where Lenormand is at. I hestitate to say "for me", but I think that's not where Lenormand is at. Period.

To be honest, I don't consider the Lilac Twilight fancy. The tree is a tree. They just happen to be paintings so there's inevitably some background, but I don't think they are overly decorative or distracting.

It's when you have a key swimming in a goldfish bowl in the Fish card that it bothers me.

Sadly though, I think the above (semi-joking) paragraph is where Lenormand is heading. What's that Will Worthington one coming out? I don't even think it's extreme anymore to think that a Lenormand such as that is actually unnecessary. :p So there... :D
 

reall

Gilded Reverie is ultimate eye candy!^^
and for GT I prefer clasic PIATNIK n blue owl!^^

must say under the roses is romantic to!^^ ;))))
 

Le Fanu

Melia said:
Here's Will Worthington's Celtic Lenormand for those who want to make up their own minds about the simplicity or complexity of the images:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kzfC9bJrc...M6A5ihrg/s1600/BeFunky_CLPrototypeLaidOut.jpg
Click to expand...
That's it. That could only possibly be interpreted "intuitively" - I'm not sure how I'd interpret the traditional "Egg" card in a grand tableau but that's for another thread. And why does the birch need to be next to a Wheel? Presumably it's to nudge beginners nearer to interpreting it as the Wheel of Fortune, make things easier. And why does the crossroad/path card need to be decorated with a (decorated) standing stone? The only reason is to make it fit into a theme. And if you're a beginner, you could interpret it as "blockage" or something oppressive in the way. A bit like The Mountain. Or Ten of Wands, or anything really.
 

Melia

When a woman wants to have a baby you often hear the expression, she's clucky ... perhaps this is why he included it within the child card. It is also often the task of a child on a farm to collect the eggs, so it's understandable why he (and it is HIS art) depicted the child this way in this 'themed' deck. It's easy enough to see, imo, that the child is the key symbol in this card. Unless one is daft or has exceptionally bad eyesight, I'm not sure that anyone - neither one who is familiar with Lenormand nor one who is just beginning to learn Lenormand - would zoom in on the hen imagery and see that as the key, traditional symbol, while completely ignoring the child. There are only 36 symbols in Lenormand - is it that difficult to learn what these are? It probably took me about 5 - 10 minutes to learn what they were and put them to memory.

Presumably the decorated standing stone in the crossroads card is the equivalent of a road sign at an intersection in our modern day life. If I wanted to use a busy intersection image as my crossroads card, I wouldn't remove the road signage because it is natural part of the scene. Again, whether one is familiar with Lenormand or just starting to learn it, it's not rocket science recognising that this card, with the standing stone, is the crossroads.

The birch is lying against the side of the house or outhouse ... a natural place for a birch to be placed when not in use (I would have thought) ... and a natural place for an old wheel is up against an old shed or house wall too. Even if the wheel is not a traditional Lenormand symbol, it's easy enough to see that this is the card in the deck that represents the birch rod. Also, the birch rod is in full view, whereas the wheel is is only partially viewable so it's clearly not the focus of this card.

OBVIOUSLY all decks are not for everyone; but, anyone implying that the imagery like this makes reading Lenormand in the traditional way difficult or even impossible, is speaking silly nonsense.
 
...It's a Game.... My new Lennie love?? Chaining!