Hey there! I find I get brand new visitors coming to this site all the time now, so if this is you: Welcome! Maybe you’ve arrived here out of curiosity, or because you’re bored of other card systems or want something else, maybe someone did you a reading and you thought, “Whoa. That was cool. What’s this Lenormand stuff all about?” Maybe you want to know about all the cartomancy systems you possibly can so you have a whole bunch in your arsenal.
So what are the MAIN things I’d advise anyone new to the Lenormand system about the most common mistakes made by beginners? Read on…
1. Expecting Lenormand To Be Like Tarot
Most of my readers come to the Lenormand having done Tarot, often for some years, and many beginners view the Lenormand as a sort of alternate Tarot. But this is not so: they are entirely different systems, with different histories, work in different ways, and have different layouts and functions.
Lenormand is far more practical, earth-bound and less esoteric system than the Tarot. I happen to think the Lenormand symbols are just as universal, but they are more grounded in our day-to-day, and far more direct and advisory, more informational-driven, less spiritual. It’s also worth noting, too, as in the case of the Tower, (disaster & mayhem in the Tarot, officialdom, establishment and status in the Lenormand) that a card that has one meaning in one system may not share it in another. This doesn’t mean that either is ‘wrong’: it demonstrates the total difference between the two systems and how they use symbols.
While Tarot is a complex system, with both major and minor arcana and a journey-based spiritual framework, all 36 cards in the Petit Lenormand carry equal weight and do not indicate “progress” along a path. Instead, Lenormand relies more on language, story and underlying meanings of universal symbols, which are deepened and clarified through combinations in much the same way as a sentence is formed from individual words, a paragraph is formed from sentences, and so on. It is probably why language-lovers and writers such as myself love the Lenormand!
Tarot, on the other hand, is much more visually symbolic, and the images you might see in a given deck of Tarot cards can and do add nuance to your readings. Not so with Lenormand, where the meanings are the same across decks, regardless of style. Also , we don’t use card reversals in Lenormand. Sure, there are some cards which almost always have a positive or negative meaning (the Sun and the Snake, for instance), but often it is the wider context of the reading that tells us as readers which way the cards’ interpretation on that front should go.
What To Do Instead:
There are experienced readers of both systems who have found ways to combine the two decks in certain readings in order to get the benefits of both, (Tarot, the spiritual or psychological, Lenormand the practical). For beginners, though, I would always treat each system as completely different, and learn and practice them separately, including layouts, ways of interpreting and symbol meanings.
2. Worrying About What Seems Like Multiple Meanings Of The Card Symbols When You’re Getting To Know The Cards
Following on from that, it’s common for beginners to find it confusing when it seems like each of the cards can have multiple different meanings, on the surface at least. This reader says this; that reader says that; and that readers’ lists contain so many possible meanings, how on earth are you meant to know which is right? Is there a definitive answer? Does the Bear mean money, or does it mean diet, or does it mean protection, or power, and how would I know? Should I try and memorise them all?
What To Do Instead:
While it is essential, I think, to make sure you know the basic meanings of each and every card, there is a much simpler key to this than attempting to learn all the surface ones by heart and getting muddled, and it involves thinking more about the underlying meaning of that given symbol and what it represents in life. Then apply that to the circumstances and context of your reading. The post How Do I Know Which Lenormand Meaning Is Right? goes into more detail about this.
3. Trying To Memorise Card Combination Lists
While they are incredibly useful to refer to (and yes, I still do from time to time) when you’re putting together a reading’s meaning, bear in mind that you will NEVER find a card combination list that contains every possible meaning of every combination in every possible context. You won’t. And in any case, even with the ones we do provide, there are far too many —over 1200— to memorise.
What To Do Instead:
Use the method in How To Read Card Combinations – the Number 1 Secret which should help you, even if you do refer to the lists, to understand why and how the combined meanings are what they are. It will help you start being able to read the cards more independently and confidently, too. For further practice, take a look also at How To Make Your Own Lenormand Card Combinations.
Tip: In a reading, why not try coming up with your own meanings first using the above method, and then using the lists to check back with, instead of immediately going to them as your first point of call?
4. Being Afraid To Make The Leap To Telling Your Own Stories With Lenormand
This is really more a matter of confidence, familiarity and practice, I think, but there does come a point, once you are reasonably familiar with card combinations and how they work, with contexts and how they affect meaning, where you have to start to make the leap to stringing together longer meanings yourself rather than being spoon-fed meanings through lists, books or whatever.
It’s also one of the reasons why I talk so much about coming up with your own combinations. Already being comfortable in doing so and beginning to think this way and more independently makes things WAY easier once you are trying to string multiple combinations together, whether it’s for 3-card combos or doing big readings like the GT, into some kind of a sentence or a story meaning that makes sense to you. And to be perfectly honest, you’ll find it pretty hard to develop the necessary depth and flexibility as a Lenormand reader and move beyond the beginner stage without being able to do this. Sorry to be blunt, but there you have it.
What To Do Instead:
- Practice, practice, practice! Check out in particular, the posts How To Tell A Story With Lenormand and How To Combine More Than Two Cards for examples, and try it out in your own readings. It can take a while for it to ‘click’, but when it does, I promise, it’s a really liberating feeling.
- Test yourself out with other people’s example readings (plenty of people do sample readings online) and then see what results they came up with and compare your own interpretation of the cards to theirs. Where did you agree and disagree? Did you miss anything out? Did they?
- If you want more guided practice, check out my books, all of which include multiple practice readings along with answers. You can find my Careers and Love readings workbooks here in the Shop. There are also multiple practice readings included in my Complete Guide To Lenormand
5. Forcing A “Listed” Meaning That Doesn’t Seem To Fit At All
While I do think that often we can try to force the meanings we personally want rather than what the cards are actually showing us, the opposite can sometimes be true. You will usually find that one or other of the given meanings seems to fit better than others, but there will be times that a meaning in a given combination of cards really jumps out at you personally and you think, instantly, “Oh, I know exactly what this is about” and it doesn’t exactly match what you find in a card combo list or whatever.
So what do you do if the most common listed meanings don’t seem to be relevant?
What To Do Instead:
When this starts happening, it’s often a sign that your own intuitive abilities are starting to kick in, and that your brain is “getting” the storytelling aspect of Lenormand and applying them in your own personal context. I wouldn’t ignore the ‘official’ interpretations completely BUT I would tend to go with my intuition first and foremost.
You will often find that it’s the underlying meanings that are coming into play: which is exactly as it should be. Once this starts happening—good! Take it as a sign that you’re really on your way in terms of your development as a Lenormand reader. Check out my post Where Are You At In Your Lenormand Learning? for more tips as to what you should be looking out for at each stage of your development.
6. Mixing and Matching Layouts from Different Systems
This relates back to the first point about different cartomancy systems being different, as is the case with Lenormand and Tarot.
Generally, the most common and popular readings from each system are the most common and popular for a reason: they are the ones people find most useful, and they each get the most out of what each system has to offer, its framework, purpose and how it works. While there’s nothing stopping you doing, say, a Celtic Cross using Lenormand Cards, given that the main beauty of Lenormand is the combining of cards into unique meanings and stories within certain contexts, you’ll be missing out on most of what Lenormand has to offer if you don’t use its main layouts and just try to apply Tarot ones instead.
What To Do Instead:
Again, I’d keep the systems completely separate, respect them both, and learn and familiarise yourself the specific layouts for each. You will find that Lenormand readings can be packed full of information (and even secrets!) once you master all the layouts. Take a look at my post How To Choose Which Lenormand Layout To Use for an overview of which of the Lenormand layouts are most useful for which circumstances.
7. ONLY ever using Lenormand for fortune-telling
Yes, many people are attracted to Lenormand because its directness means it is ideal as a fortune-telling system. But fortune-telling itself is just a bit of a parlour game (though of course it can be fun), and it’s not the only, or indeed always the most useful, use of the cards. At the end of the day, Lenormand is both a story-telling and informational system, which can be used in different contexts. This means that in terms of what you can use it for, it’s pretty flexible. You can do what you want with it; whatever feels most helpful. It doesn’t HAVE to be used just in a fortune-telling context.
What To Do Instead:
The more familiar you are with the cards, the more you’ll start to see how you can use it in different ways. Take a look at the post To Predict or Not To Predict: How to Use Lenormand As A Personal Tool for more ideas on this, as well as 5 Personal Development Exercises For Your Lenormand Journal
8. Not Practising Regularly & Assessing Results Against Reality
You’ll only really develop as a reader if you learn from your mistakes. And that takes practice! The ultimate aim, really, is to get independent with your Lenormand readings so that you can use them in whatever way is most helpful for you.
I’m not really a fan of encouraging people to follow my “special” patented interpretations of the cards or methods as if I’m some sort of guru without whom you’d all be lost and at sea. (It makes me feel too much like poor Brian in Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian if you’re familiar with that! “I’m not the Messiah…” lol)
I’m here because I WANT you to develop confidence in the cards and your interpretations. I WANT you to ultimately feel independent with your readings, and be able to use them in whichever way you find most personally helpful to you. Hell, I WANT you to eventually get to the point that you think, “Hah, that Lozzy stuff was pretty useful, but I’ve moved beyond that now. I’m doing my own readings, and even coming up with some of my own methods, or I can see the gaps in the system which I’ve found a way to try and fill.” It’s meant to be expansive, or at least I hope it is.
What To Do Instead:
I’d strongly encourage you to start your own Lenormand Journal that you update regularly, do some exercises (like the ones mentioned above, but also why not try Your Lenormand Journal: 5 Exercises To Try). Always look back at the readings you do and check out how accurate they were (or not) and learn from it. Do some layouts work better for you than others? Do they work better in some situations than others? Do certain meanings come up for you again and again? How have the cards worked best for you in practice? In what way can you best use them in your life in a way that empowers rather than limits or restricts you? If you aim to take this approach from the beginning, then you can develop a relationship with your cards that is fruitful and positive, and that should always be the aim.
Want More Guidance?
Go to my Lenormand Tips page for tips about common issues and problems.
For a FREE card combinations PDF E-Book, sign up to my mailing list for weekly newsletters and other freebies. If you don’t want to sign up, it’s also available in paperback and ebook format from Amazon.
Also, my Complete Guide to Lenormand e-book, available from Amazon, Nook, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books & other ebook platforms. Soon to be available in printed paperback format and here as a PDF.
Check out my Career Readings and Love Readings workbooks to practice readings in context.
Or head to the Shop for other goodies. More stuff coming soon!
Absolutely brilliant post, really helpful, thanks!