The Grand Tableau is the daddy (mummy?) of Lenormand Readings and involves all 36 cards. It’s a big and involved reading, very complex to do and can give you a huge amount of information about ANY aspect of the querent’s life you want to explore.
In terms of timeframe, we are looking pretty big-picture. Think months rather than in the next few days or week. I tend to use this reading sparingly – it’s a “What Will the Next Year Bring?” kind of reading.
You will find out exactly why this is when we go into the step-by-step instructions and when we look at a sample reading.
Layout Versions
There are two versions of the layout – the 9 x 4 and the 8 x 4 + 4
9 x 4:
8 x 4+4:
Other Features of The Grand Tableau
The Lenormand Grand Tableau also involves a number of more advanced reading techniques:
- First of all, you can incorporate some of the methods from other readings, particularly the 9 card spread.
- Mirroring, which you’ll know about from my weekly readings
- Reflection – another type of mirroring, which gives you extra information
- Knighting, where you look at cards in the knight position i.e. 2 cards along and then 1 either side from your querent or any other card you are interested in
- Houses, with the position of each card representing a “house”
Position of the Querent Card (Woman/Man)
The position of the querent in the grid is highly significant and the whole reading rests on this. Everything to the left of the querent is considered to be the influence of the past. Everything to the right, future influences. The lower the querent card falls on the grid, the less control of events they are said to have. Things above the querent are less in their control than things below.
Next, I’ll take you through the step-by-step instructions for this layout in How To Read The Grand Tableau Part I followed by Part II, which is an example Grand Tableau Reading using those instructions.
Before you tackle this layout, however, I STRONGLY suggest you familiarise yourself with the following:
- Lenormand Card Meanings
- How To Read Lenormand Card Combinations
- The reading techniques used in both the 5-Card Spread, but particularly the 9-Card Spread.
Hello how are you , i was reading this above:
” Position of the Querent Card (Woman/Man)
The position of the querent in the grid is highly significant and the whole reading rests on this. Everything to the left of the querent is considered to be the influence of the past. Everything to the right, future influences. Everything above the querent, things in their control. Everything below them, things they have less control over. ”
Correct me if am wrong , but should it be :
Everything above Querent are his thoughts, what he doesnt control ?
And Below him his feelings, what he controls most ?
Good day to you, take care !!!!!
Whoops, you’re right, Raul. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve amended to make clearer.
What if the querent card is the 1st card falling on the Rider House Lozzy? Thankyou for sharing your knowledge. I am learning the Lenormand system after years of Tarot reading.
Thanks for your question, Doreen. If the querent card is first in the spread like that, just in terms of positioning, it really gives a sense of the world at their feet. They are likely to be very in control of events and the reading generally will be a future-focused one. That they appear in the house of the Rider also suggests a kind of new self, an arrival. But obviously that’s just a general at-a-glance sense based on their position. You’d need to read the detail of surrounding cards and the row and column and so on as well to get a full meaning. Check out my posts on How To Read a Grand Tableau, plus the one on Things To Know About a Grand Tableau and the one on Houses, Knighting, Mirroring to get really in depth on all the info you can get from this layout.
i was reading how to pick a key card for the 3,5 cards. i’m wondering that when i spread a Grand Tablue and want to set a key card for (a partner/person or someone i knew in the past such as (Ex Boy, Girl or old friend). I just set the key card is Woman/ Man or i have to set another key card for this situation?
Keycards are usually only for smaller spreads like the 5 or 9 card, just to focus the reading on a specific life area (although sometimes it is better not to use them, as per the keycard post.) In a Grand Tableau, as it uses ALL the cards, the keycards are already there for life areas such as home, love etc. You just find the right one in the spread to read about it, as per the How To Read the Grand Tableau instructions.
What you’re asking about here – keycards to signify specific people – is something completely different. The Querent card is the Man or Woman depending on who the reading is for. There aren’t many other people cards left after that. A Dog will represent a friendship or a friend, the remaining Man or Woman card, just a man or woman in the querent’s life. Garden, their social circle, Child, a younger person, Lily, possibly an older person, Rider can be a new person. If you want one of them, say the Man or Woman, to mean someone specific, it’s best to ‘set’ that in your mind when you are shuffling the cards before you lay the spread. Hope that helps.
Hi there. I’ve answered this question in the other place you asked it, in the Grand Tableau section. Keycards in the way I mean here are generally only for smaller readings; 5 or 9 card. You’re asking about something a bit different i.e. how you identify specific people in the Grand Tableau reading.
Pingback: How To Choose The Best Layout For Your Reading: 7 Questions To Ask – Lozzy's Lenormand