Lenormand cards

Lenormand cards are a 36-card fortune-telling deck named after Marie Anne Lenormand (1772 to 1843), the most famous Parisian fortune teller of her day, and published after her death. The cards derive from a German game, Das Spiel der Hoffnung (the Game of Hope), by Johann Kaspar Hechtel, published around 1800. Each card shows one plain image, and the cards are read in combinations, like words in a sentence.

TarotSeeker reads tarot, not Lenormand, but the two are close neighbours. This guide describes Lenormand as a tradition, without endorsing fortune telling.

Where do Lenormand cards come from?

Lenormand cards come from a German parlour game of around 1800, and take their name from a French fortune teller who, as far as anyone can show, never used them. Das Spiel der Hoffnung, by Johann Kaspar Hechtel of Nuremberg, was a game of chance: players laid its 36 picture cards in a square and moved pieces across them by the throw of dice. By most accounts its rules already allowed that the cards could be laid out for fortune telling.

Marie Anne Lenormand built her reputation in Paris from the revolutionary years onwards and claimed the Empress Joséphine among her clients. Within a few years of her death in 1843, publishers had attached her name to a 36-card deck based on Hechtel’s images. The deck now called the Petit Lenormand, the “little Lenormand”, descends from those editions. It is distinct from the Grand Jeu Lenormand, a larger 54-card deck with mythological and astrological scenes.

What are the 36 Lenormand cards?

The 36 Lenormand cards each show a single object, creature or figure, with a traditional meaning that is concrete and brief. Meanings vary a little between German, French and English-language schools, but the core of each card is stable. In order:

• 1 Rider. News, a visitor, something arriving quickly.
• 2 Clover. A small piece of luck, a light moment, a brief chance.
• 3 Ship. Travel, distance, trade, and the longing for somewhere else.
• 4 House. Home, family, safety and what holds steady.
• 5 Tree. Wellbeing, roots, and slow growth over a long time.
• 6 Clouds. Confusion, doubt, a passing trouble that hides the view.
• 7 Snake. Complication, a winding route, desire, or a rival.
• 8 Coffin. An ending, a closure, a time of rest or exhaustion.
• 9 Bouquet. A gift, an invitation, appreciation and pleasure.
• 10 Scythe. A sudden cut, a swift decision, something abrupt.
• 11 Whip. Repetition, argument, hard effort or discipline.
• 12 Birds. Conversation, chatter and nerves; often a pair of people.
• 13 Child. Something new and small, innocence, a child.
• 14 Fox. Cunning, self-interest, a reason to check motives; in some schools, work.
• 15 Bear. Strength, power, resources, a protective or forceful person.
• 16 Stars. Clarity, hope, guidance, a plan seen whole.
• 17 Stork. Change, a move, an improvement.
• 18 Dog. Friendship, loyalty, a trusted companion.
• 19 Tower. Institutions, authority, solitude, the long view.
• 20 Garden. Public life, gatherings, society and networks.
• 21 Mountain. An obstacle, a delay, a challenge to be climbed.
• 22 Crossroads. Choice, alternatives, more than one path.
• 23 Mice. Erosion, worry, something worn away little by little.
• 24 Heart. Love, affection and warmth.
• 25 Ring. Commitment, an agreement or contract, a cycle.
• 26 Book. Knowledge, study, secrets, what is not yet known.
• 27 Letter. A message, a document, the written word.
• 28 Man. The person asking, if a man, or a significant man in the question.
• 29 Woman. The person asking, if a woman, or a significant woman in the question.
• 30 Lily. Peace, maturity, virtue, sensuality, later life.
• 31 Sun. Success, warmth, energy and vitality.
• 32 Moon. Recognition, emotion, reputation, romance.
• 33 Key. Certainty, a solution, what matters most.
• 34 Fish. Money, business, abundance and flow.
• 35 Anchor. Stability, endurance, long-term work.
• 36 Cross. Burden, duty, faith, a weight to carry.

Many modern readers treat the Man and the Woman simply as two figures in the question, whatever the genders involved.

What are the playing cards on Lenormand cards?

Most Lenormand decks print a small playing card on each card, an inset from a 36-card pack that runs Six to Ace in each suit. The Rider usually carries the Nine of Hearts, for example, the Man the Ace of Hearts and the Woman the Ace of Spades. Some readers ignore the insets; others read the suit as a tone, so that a Heart softens a card and a Spade adds weight. A beginner can learn the images first.

How do you read Lenormand cards?

Lenormand cards are read in combinations: two or more cards together make a statement, the way words make a sentence. A single card says little on its own. The usual convention is that the first card is the subject and the second describes it.

• Ship and Clouds. A journey or a distant plan that is unclear.
• House and Stork. A change at home, often read as a move.
• Heart and Ring. Affection joined to commitment.

Reversing the order shifts the emphasis: Clouds and Ship puts the doubt first.

A three-card line

A three-card line is the usual first spread in Lenormand: three cards laid left to right and read as a short sentence, with the middle card as its focus. Suppose the line is Clouds, Letter, Sun. The Letter at the centre names the subject: something written, a message or a document. The Clouds before it describe the doubt around it; the Sun after it, warmth, clarity and success. A traditional reader would take the line as a document that causes worry and then turns out well. A reflective reader might ask what piece of writing has felt clouded, and what would bring it into the light.

The Grand Tableau

The Grand Tableau is the Lenormand reading of the whole deck: all 36 cards laid out at once, usually in four rows of nine, or in four rows of eight with a final row of four beneath. The reader finds the Man or the Woman, whichever stands for the person asking, and reads outward from that card: cards close to it are matters near at hand, cards far from it more distant ones. Many readers also work with houses, in which each position corresponds to a card in deck order, so whatever falls in the first position is read in the house of the Rider. Most readers come to it after months of pairs and lines.

How is Lenormand different from tarot?

Lenormand differs from tarot in its deck, its register and its method:

• Concrete, not symbolic. A Lenormand card names a thing or an event: a letter, a house, a journey. A tarot card describes a state, a force or a stage of experience, often read in a psychological light.
• Combinations, not positions. Lenormand meaning comes chiefly from which cards sit together. Tarot readings draw on the positions of a spread, each with its own question, as well as on the links between cards.
• No reversals. Most Lenormand traditions read every card upright. Many tarot readers treat a reversed card as a change in its condition.
• One layer, not several. Lenormand has no Major and Minor Arcana and no system of elements. Tarot’s 78 cards carry suits, numbers, elements and archetypes that relate the cards to one another.

Shared names are a trap for anyone who knows both decks. The Lenormand Tower stands for institutions and authority, while the Tower in tarot describes sudden change that shakes a structure built on weak foundations. The Lenormand Moon is recognition and emotion; the Moon in tarot is uncertainty and intuition. The Stars and the Star share hope and guidance, though the tarot card adds healing after a hard season.

The TowerSudden collapse of what was built on ego, and the hard truth revealed in the aftermath.

The Sun comes closest: in both decks it speaks of success, warmth and vitality. Even so, a Lenormand reader takes the Sun as a bright adjective for its neighbour, while a tarot reader weighs it as a Major Arcana card that can set the tone of a spread.

The SunSuccess in full daylight: achievement, recognition and joy after the toil.

Can you use Lenormand and tarot together?

Lenormand and tarot can be used together, though most readers keep the decks apart. One approach lays a tarot spread for the inner weather of a question and a short Lenormand line for its concrete details. Lay and read each deck in its own way, since mixing their methods tends to weaken both.

Time with Lenormand often sharpens a tarot reader, because its cards barely speak until they have a neighbour. In tarot too, the card beside a card changes what it says.

Reading cards together in TarotSeeker

TarotSeeker reads tarot only; it does not read Lenormand cards. What the two traditions share is the skill at the heart of the companion’s readings: reading cards together. When you lay a tarot spread, with your own deck or by a virtual shuffle, the companion reads the connections between the cards (their elements, numbers and positions, the weight of the Major Arcana) and shows the grounds for each one, so you can test it. Reading cards in pairs, a deeper guide for Adept members in the app’s Library, takes that skill further, and Cartomancy: reading with other cards sets Lenormand beside the other card traditions.

Questions readers ask

What is the difference between Lenormand and tarot?

Lenormand is a 36-card deck of simple, concrete images, such as a ship, a house or a key, read in combinations like words in a sentence and usually without reversals. Tarot has 78 cards, divided into 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana with suits, numbers and elements, and is read through the positions of a spread as well as the links between cards, often in a more psychological register.

How many cards are in a Lenormand deck?

A Lenormand deck, often called the Petit Lenormand, has 36 cards, numbered from 1, the Rider, to 36, the Cross. Each card shows one image and usually carries a small playing-card inset from a 36-card pack. A separate deck, the Grand Jeu Lenormand, has 54 cards and an entirely different design, so it is worth checking which one a book or course means.

Who was Mademoiselle Lenormand?

Marie Anne Lenormand (1772 to 1843) was a French fortune teller who became famous in Paris during the revolutionary and Napoleonic years, and who claimed the Empress Joséphine among her clients. The 36-card deck that bears her name was published after her death and based on a German game of around 1800, Das Spiel der Hoffnung. There is no evidence that she used that deck herself.

Are Lenormand cards easier to learn than tarot?

Lenormand cards are often quicker to learn than tarot, because there are fewer of them and each has a short, concrete meaning. The difficulty lies elsewhere: reading combinations fluently, and working with all 36 cards in a Grand Tableau, takes long practice. Tarot asks more at the start, with 78 cards and a system of suits and numbers, but that structure gives each reading more layers.

Do Lenormand cards use reversals?

Most Lenormand traditions do not use reversals. Every card is read upright, and its meaning is shaded by the cards beside it: the Clouds next to a card make it less certain, and the Sun makes it brighter. A few modern readers experiment with reversals. In tarot, by contrast, many readers treat a reversed card as a change in its condition.