Sometimes it can seem like a massive leap from just learning card meanings to actually using them to answer proper questions. And it can also seem like an even more enormous leap to go from a small reading with, say, just two or three cards, to something with any more cards AND in answer to a question!
So what can you do to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself?
My guide below gives you a step by step process for moving yourself naturally from single cards onto longer and bigger layouts all the way through to the mighty Grand Tableau. If you feel stuck and unable to move yourself on, why not give it a try? Just begin where you are now, the level at which you’re currently comfortable at reading. Think about what you seem to be stuck on doing and find that Step, then move yourself through the rest!
STEP 1. Single Card Readings In Answer To A Question
This is the ideal place to start off, especially if you are new to Lenormand and just getting to grips with card meanings. Simply ask your question and pull ONE card only from the deck in order to answer it. You can get a surprising amount of information from just one card! I wrote about that in this post here:
4 Practical Uses Of Single Card Readings
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- To really get the most out of reading like this, you should avoid yes/no questions.
- Instead ask What, Why, and How questions. “What should I look out for today?” “How does this person see me?” “Why didn’t that work out?” “What should I know about this person/job/deal?” “What should I learn from that situation?”
- Try to ask questions in different life areas: from love, to work, to money, to family and friends
This Will Help You Build:
- Your understanding of card meanings
- Flexibility in applying fundamental card meanings to different questions and contexts
When you think you’ve had sufficient practice in this, move onto Step 2.
STEP 2. 2-Card Combinations In Answer To A Question
Now it’s time to add a bit of colour and extra detail to your readings by drawing two cards instead of one
Remember, the second card describes or modifies the first. You can find out more about how card combinations work here:
How To Read Card Combinations: The #1 Secret
How To Make Your Own Lenormand Card Combinations
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- As above, What, How, Why questions and in different contexts and life areas.
This Will Help You Build:
- Your understanding of card meanings and combinations.
- Practice in coming up with your OWN card combination meanings
- Flexibility in applying card combinations to different questions and contexts
When you think you’ve had sufficient practice in this, move onto Step 3.
STEP 3. 3-Card Readings In Answer To A Question
Ooh! Now a bit of a jump for even more detail, this time by pulling three cards instead of two. How does that work? Remember, you’ve got three sets of combinations now; Card 1+2, Cards 2+3, Cards 1+3.
And it’s still the case that the second card in ANY pair still describes or modifies the first. But now YOU have to pull them together into a sentence that makes sense. Sounds complicated? It really isn’t at all! Check out the following couple of posts that should really help you do that if this is where you’re at:
3 Quick And Easy Ways To Read 3 Card Spreads
How To Combine More Than Two Cards
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- As above, What, How, Why questions and in different contexts and life areas.
This Will Help You Build:
- Your understanding of the cards in relation to each other
- Your ‘storytelling’ and intuitive skills with the cards
- Your ability to apply the cards to different questions and contexts in a way that makes sense
When you think you’ve had sufficient practice in this, move onto Step 4.
STEP 4. Practice 2 And 3 Card Readings In Non-Traditional Lenormand Layouts
Because these both take quite a bit of practice, ESPECIALLY the three cards, it’s worth practicing them even more as ‘sections’ in larger layouts, even if those aren’t traditional Lenormand layouts.
Usually, this will involve you applying either a pair of cards or three cards to ‘sections’ in a layout. Depending on the layout you choose, sometimes, this will be in answer to a question as before, but sometimes it can be to a life area or just a focus, usually in a more guided way. You are also more likely, in readings like this, to need to start applying the cards to action and advice.
Some example non-traditional readings you can try can be found in the following posts:
How To Read A Simple Pyramid Spread
5 Tips For Building A Personalised Lenormand Reading
A Simple Clock Reading For The New Year
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- You don’t usually have to make up your own questions here, as the reading you choose will usually guide you by itself.
This Will Help You Build:
- Your understanding of the cards in relation to each other
- Your ‘storytelling’ and intuitive skills with the cards
- Your ability to apply the cards to different contexts flexibly and in a way that makes sense – and hopefully is fun!
When you think you’ve had sufficient practice in this, move onto Step 5.
STEP 5: 5-Card Line Readings In Answer To A Question
Once you’ve got REALLY comfortable with reading combinations of cards in twos and threes in answer to questions, it’s time to move to a 5-card spread, or line of five.
This is a great go-to reading for all kinds of questions (and the one I personally use more often, to be honest with you, as I find it the most flexible of all the spreads. There aren’t too many cards to deal with, but you can get a surprising amount of information. Here, you can read combinations from left to right, as well as mirroring the pairs of Cards 1+5 and 2+4 around the centre card. PLUS I personally like to read every card in a pair with all the cards to the right of it, just to get more information.
Want a reminder on how to read 5-card spreads? Check out these posts.
Quick And Easy Ways Of Reading 5 Card Spreads
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- As above, What, How, Why questions and in different contexts and life areas.
This Will Help You Build:
- Even more understanding of the cards in relation to each other
- Your ‘storytelling’ and intuitive skills with the cards
- Your ability to apply the cards to different questions and contexts in a way that makes sense
- Your flexibility as a Lenormand reader
When you think you’ve had sufficient practice in this, move onto Step 6.
STEP 6: 9-Card (Box) Readings In Answer To A Question: With And Without Keycards
Now we’re really getting there, and getting more and more flexible with how we can read the cards, with reading combinations, with making simple stories and so on.
The 9 card or box spread really takes things up a notch. Not only will you be really putting your ability to read cards in groups of three into practice, but the 9 card spread is really a snapshot of any section of the Grand Tableau. 9 card spreads are great for highly exploratory questions, where you want to dig deep into a particular situation, or really find out as much as you can about it. As such, they are less direct than smaller spreads.
This spread can be used with or without a ‘keycard’ in the centre to represent the topic of the spread: for example, the Heart for love, or the Fish for cashflow and business. Try it to ask questions both with and without; I often find that without a keycard can yield the more insightful results.
Information on how to read the 9-card spread, as well as the question of whether or not you should use keycards, can be found here:
7 Things To Know About A 9-Card Spread
Keycard Or No Keycard? That Is The Question!
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- As above, What, How, Why questions and in different contexts and life areas.
- This spread is GREAT for exploring more about people. Experiment with readings about people you know, celebrities, historical figures and more! (This will also prep you well for later when you read Grand Tableaus ,where the querent will be at the core of the reading). I explore using the 9-card spread in particular for people readings here:
How To Read Lenormand People Cards
This Will Help You Build:
- A much deeper understanding of Lenormand cards and how they work in influencing one another
- More complex storytelling’, intuitive AND analytical skills with the cards
- Your ‘detective’ and exploratory skills in particular
- The ability to piece together different sections of a reading into a bigger story
- Your ability to apply the cards to different questions and contexts in a more complex way
- Your flexibility as a Lenormand reader
- The core skills necessary to be able to read A Grand Tableau
STEP 7: 9-Card (Box) Readings With Additional Knighting Technique
You’ll probably have spent quite a bit of time on this stage, but now there’s one more thing to try that will stand you in REALLY good stead for the Grand Tableau.
And that is the knighting technique. Knighting is where you read the cards that are ‘knighting’ (as in the chess position) any card you’re interested in. What’s good about this? It gives you extra clues—sometimes quite spookily!
EVERY card except the centre one in a 9-card spread can be read along with the cards knighting it. What are you waiting for? Try it out! Here’s the instructions for doing so:
How To Get More Info: Knighting In a 9-Card Spread
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- As above. 9 card spreads are best for exploratory questions.
This Will Help You Build:
- A much deeper understanding of Lenormand cards and how they work in influencing one another
- Even more complex storytelling’, intuitive AND analytical skills with the cards
- Even more ability to find ‘extra clues’
- The knighting technique, which is highly useful when you come to the Grand Tableau.
8. Grand Tableau “Quick” Method: Telling A Story Around The Querent
Phew! After all that, you’ve got all the skills and knowledge needed for the big one!
Now, the Grand Tableau, which is THE classic and original Lenormand spread, can seem super daunting and complicated. And it can be, but it really doesn’t need to be. It’s always worth bearing in mind that “Le Petit Jeu de Mademoiselle Lenormand” was intended as a parlour game, for entertainment and for FUN! It’s not meant to be a PhD in brain science or nuclear physics.
What this ‘quick’ method of reading encourages you to do is to sit back and see the Grand Tableau spread in a more holistic manner—literally, the Big Picture of someone’s life at a given time, with all the influences around them. Here’s how to do it:
Is There A Simple Way To Read A Grand Tableau?
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- NONE at this stage. A Grand Tableau is a general reading which will cover all life areas. Particularly when you read it quickly like this, focusing on just the querent, and the cards around them, the cards will tell you what THEY think are important, not what you do!
This Will Help You Build:
- A more holistic, natural relationship with the cards
- Your intuition with regard to what you’re seeing in front of you and deepening your understanding of each card meaning in relation to everyday life
- Your storytelling skills, and ability to weave the cards and influences together naturally
- A sense of letting go, ‘stepping back’ and observing what you DO see rather than what you perhaps might want to see
What About A “Traditional” Near and Far GT Reading?
This is a completely different method of doing a fairly ‘quick reading’ although it is not as intuitive as the one above, and relies on using Grand Tableau Near and Far Card Meanings rather than card essence meanings. It is, however, the way the cards were read using the traditional instructions that first came with the Lenormand cards. It doesn’t really involve combinations or any of those techniques, but it does focus you on the cards nearest the Querent, as well as the ones furthest away also. It’s not how I read the cards, but you can find out how to do it here:
Grand Tableau Traditional Method 1: Near & Far Meanings
Traditional Method II: A Grand Tableau Reading With Near & Far Meanings
9. Grand Tableau: Exploring Key Life Areas
Cool! Now you can start exploring the cards you have in front of you for any other areas of interest—whether that’s specific areas you want to look at (your career or love life, money, family and friends, for instance) OR just further explorations of anything interesting or curious that’s been thrown up by your reading so far. Common questions that come up naturally, like, “Who IS that person who seems to be so important?” “What’s that problem that seems to be lurking near me?” “What’s the nature of that secret I’m meant to discover?” “What’s that decision about?”
Now you’re really getting into the storytelling aspects of Lenormand. You’ll find yourself reusing the techniques you used particularly with the 9-card or box spread again and again, as you read around any areas of interest. You’ll be using combinations all the time now, as you see how the cards influence one another, and it’ll hopefully be clear by now WHY it’s useful to be able to do this by yourself, rather than trying to shoehorn in combination meanings you’ve looked up in a book. And you can also investigate more on cards you’re interested in by looking at any story told by the chains of cards that intersect at the card you want to know more about, whether that’s cards in the rows, columns or diagonals that your keycard falls into.
You can also glean additional information on anything you’re interested in by using additional techniques such as Knighting, Mirroring, Reflecting – and Lenormand Houses. Here are my guides to how to do that:
Knighting, Mirroring And Reflection in the Grand Tableau
Lenormand Card Houses & How To Read Them
Reading Lenormand Houses II: Finding Extra Clues
What Kind Of Questions Should I Ask?
- Again, the cards should be leading you now, rather than you leading the cards, hence why it’s important to see what is there, rather than what you want to see.
- Your questions are more likely to be of the “What’s that all about, then?” variety than specific. However, if there is a situation on your mind, or you want to ask if something is showing up, you can explore the layout to see if you can find the answer. An example of this might be: “Does this reading show anything about romance coming up for me?” “What does the reading suggest about my business or financial interests?” “Is there anything in there about a house move?” “What should I perhaps watch out for?”, for instance.
This Will Help You Build:
- A flexible, natural relationship with the cards and the spread
- The means to find out what you want to know AND to see what the cards are telling you
- All the techniques you need to read as ‘lightly’ or as deeply as you want
10. Grand Tableau: Squeezing EVERY Bit Of Possible Information Out Of A Reading!
And finally! If you want to (and you don’t have to at all, of course), you could choose to get every possible clue out of your Grand Tableau reading by exploring every single card in it in relation to the other cards.
Here, you have ALL options available to you, especially with regards to how you CHOOSE to put the story of all the cards together
- You can read all the rows and columns to get the ‘story’ of the whole spread
- You can start off with just the cards around the Querent and then build the whole story up from there.
- You can use all techniques, including Houses, Knighting, Mirroring and so on for all the cards
- AND read around the cards to see where they all fit together
- You can use the Chain of Houses technique to find your way through the reading
This Will Help You:
- Understand how the cards best work for YOU
- Choose your favourite ways of reading the Grand Tableau, what you bother with, what you don’t
- Decide on the methods and techniques that suit you best and for what purposes
- Work out how YOU like to tell the story of the cards
Congratulations! You now have all the tools at your disposal to be a great Lenormand reader! Happy Lenormanding!
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