Now, as you’ll be aware, most “classic” Lenormand layouts are based on small sections of the original Grand Tableau layout.
And the great thing about the classic short Lenormand layouts like 3-Cards, Lines of 5, and 9 Card Box Spreads is that they’re super flexible: you can pretty much apply them to any question, life area or problem you want to ask about.
For instance:
- A 3-Card spread, can give you a great snap overview a quick past, present, future, or the briefest of combined card reads, including asking the cards for a short piece of advice
- A Line of 5, aka the 5-Card spread will give you a more detailed overview and answer and is also great for advice
- A 9-Card Box Spread, on the other hand, is fab if you want to dive a bit deeper into into a problem and explore it from all angles
I am aware, however, that sometimes would-be Lenormand readers, especially when used to systems like Tarot or other oracles, can find this flexibility a little bit TOO open at first, especially when trying to focus on problems and advice.
That said, do check out this post on getting advice from your Lenormand cards in classic layouts:
A Quick Way To Get Advice From Your Lenormand Cards
“So Can We Use Layouts From Other Systems With Our Lenormand Cards?”
Sure! I mean, nobody’s going to stop you!
What I would say though is that you’ll often find that because Lenormand works best when you combine cards rather than read them singly that the types of layouts you see in, say, Tarot, are often not really suitable or at least don’t yield a great deal of insight beyond the very superficial if you try them with Lenormand . Also, Lenormand focuses on the everyday, not the deep and esoteric, so you should factor that in to your expectations of the kinda results you’re going to get.
That said, in my various explorations with various other classic oracle decks, I have found some that seem to work pretty well and particularly when you’re trying to do a short reading focusing on a particular problem or life area. So this is kind of “Key Card” stuff.
I wanted, then, to give you examples of two more layouts, both taken from other card reading systems, that you can try with Lenormand cards, and do seem to work pretty well in the kind of situations where you’re trying to address a problem. Be aware that they don’t yield particularly lengthy insights, but they can be pretty pointed and accurate. The reason they seem to work well for problems, I think, is that their brevity focuses the mind more on the issue at hand.
So let’s begin.
Layout 1: The Star Spread
The Star Spread I’m going to show you is one that is taken from the very Lenormand-like Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards.
It’s a neat little layout that is surprisingly insightful, although is very Fate-oriented, and works well with different oracle decks.
To use it to gain insight into a problem situation, life area or issue, particularly regarding the life lesson it represents, you first need to pick a card from the deck that represents that to act as a Keycard.
So for instance:
The Heart or the “other person” card for a Love issue
The Fish (or Bear) for a Money of Business issue
The House for a family or domestic issue
The Snake or Mountain for someone or something causing problems, and so on.
or even just your own Significator card for a general issue.
Place the card you have chosen in what’s going to be the centre of the “star” layout.
Then shuffle the cards and lay them at the points of the star, in order, as follows:
Card 1, on the bottom left hand point, represents any stumbling blocks or issues in this area which will affect the eventual outcome.
Cards 2 and 3 read together, the ‘across points’ of the Star are Fate cards; events which represent a lesson to be learned and that needs to happen and be moved past
Card 4 the immediate future after the lesson, the aftermath of the lesson once it is learned.
Card 5 is the eventual Outcome, or best outcome at this time, for which Card 1 is the obstacle.
So let’s try this layout with some actual cards.
Imagine you’re having trouble with a particular difficult person in your life. You pick the Snake card to represent this person and what they’ve been doing: say, troublemaking, or they’ve betrayed you.
Your cards fall as follow:
How Might You Interpret These Cards?
Card 1, on the bottom left hand point, represents any stumbling blocks or issues in this area which will affect the eventual outcome.
Card: The Gentleman
We can see that resolving this issue with this person is going to be made more difficult by a man in your life, who will affect the final outcome in some way.
Cards 2 and 3 read together, the ‘across points’ of the Star are Fate cards; events which represent a lesson to be learned and that needs to happen and be moved past. Read them in the same way you’d read any Lenormand pair.
Cards: The Book and Cross
It appears there’s some sort of secret or knowledge involved which you’re going to have take on, perhaps as a burden. It may be that you have to take on the burden of knowledge of something or find out something that you really didn’t want to know and have to learn to live with it. The lesson here is perhaps that you aren’t going to be able to share everything in this situation. You’re the one who needs to take responsibility for it.
Card 4 the immediate future after the lesson, the aftermath of the lesson once it is learned.
Card: The Fish
It appears that once you’ve learned and accepted this, you may be able to make money from what you know in some way, or you’ll find yourself able to go with the flow a bit more.
Card 5 is the eventual Outcome, or best outcome at this time, for which Card 1 is the obstacle.
Card: The Bear
Through this, you should be able to achieve more strength, power and protection; it may even turn out to be an asset in some way
To get a bit more Lenormand-y with this layout, you can read some of cards that are ‘linked’ within the star together as connector messages. So, for instance, our Gentleman here appears to be linked to some sort of burden or heaviness himself (Cross), perhaps, and that is what is contributing to your initial problem. And when you have accepted the burden this knowledge brings you, the knowledge itself may well bring you money (Book, Fish). The final outcome, the Bear, is overseeing both the Gentleman and the Fish; it suggests you will be able to gain dominion over both in relation to this difficult person and the problems they are bringing you. Knowledge is power, I guess.
Reading In Summary
The key issue is a difficult person in your life who is causing problems. Resolving this issue with this person is going to be made even more difficult for you by a man in your life, who will affect the final outcome in some way. It appears there’s some sort of secret or knowledge involved which you’re going to have take on, perhaps as a burden. It may be that you have to take on the burden of knowledge of something or find out something that you really didn’t want to know and have to learn to live with it. The lesson here is perhaps that you aren’t going to be able to share everything in this situation. You’re the one who needs to take responsibility for what you know. It appears that once you’ve learned and accepted this, you may be able to make money from it, you’ll find yourself able to go with the flow a bit more. Through this, you should be able to achieve more strength, power and protection; it may even turn out to be an asset in some way. In the end, you will be able to gain dominion over both the man concerned and your business and financial life in relation to this difficult person and the problems they are bringing you. Knowledge is power, and an important asset when dealing with problems.
Layout 2: A Lessons Spread
On much the same theme comes this spread, which I’ve slightly adapted from a Tarot layout I got from The Ultimate Guide To Tarot Spreads by Liz Dean. As I say, many Tarot layouts don’t lend themselves all that well to Lenormand because Lenormand cards ideally tend to need to be paired up to be more meaningful, but this one utilises pairs AND is good for identifying lessons around problems.
The original, which the author has named“The Infinity Reading” is pretty much about karma and repeat issues and why they keep on happening, which suits the more esoteric, psychological nature of Tarot way, way better than it would Lenormand.
For Lenormand, though, which is very everyday and practical, I would say it’s more about day to day lessons to address about the central issue identified, so I have adapted the layout and see it as a Lessons Spread for that purpose.
For this, you can either choose the two cards for the central issue yourself if you have something particular you want to focus on, OR you can lay them “blind” and have the cards reveal a key issue to you. Both can be super-useful.
You can lay the cards like this:
I’ve adapted it from the original so you lay the cards for the central issue first (either blind or chosen by you to address a specific issue). Use two cards to clarify what that central issue is. It could be a repeat issue you’re having or just one particular one. But use the cards to specify, so for instance, not just “Money”, but “Why do I keep losing money?” or “What lessons do I need to learn about losing money?” and you could signify that with the Fish and the Mice together, say. Or for love, perhaps, you could frame it as either negative or positive with the cards you choose. So for instance, (Heart & Scythe) “Why do I keep having my heart broken?” or (Lady/Gentleman & Snake) “Why do I keep choosing rubbish love interests?”. Or more positively, (Heart & Anchor) “What lessons do I need to learn about lasting love?”.
- If you choose to read blind, of course, the cards will choose an issue for you to address. Shuffle the cards and lay them as above, with the two central cards and then the first three at the top and second three at the bottom.
- To bring in the “Lenormandy” aspects, I would first read the top three cards together to signify “What the issue is about,” and the bottom three cards to signify “What are the underlying or unconscious factors with this issue?
- Next, I would read cards 1+4 together to signify the First Lesson about the issue, perhaps with the suggestion of this being a lesson from the past.
- Next, read cards 2+5 together as The Second Lesson, or what you currently need to learn about this issue.
- Finally, read cards 3+6 together as the Third Lesson: what you will need to learn to help resolve it in future.
Let’s look at an example:
Imagine you feel you are always suffering heartbreak. You pull these cards in the following positions.
What lessons do they have to give you?
The Centre Cards are the Heart and Scythe
So with regard to the central issue of heartbreak:
- The top three cards suggest that at the conscious level we know that something negative seems to sap our energies with men, or that it gets spoiled in some way. (Tree, Gentleman, Snake)
- The bottom three cards suggest that at an unconscious level, there may be a need for us discover to something about our who our ideal companion would be (Dog, Stars, Book)
- The First Lesson, one from the past: we have known healthy companionship and what it is to have good energy with a companion. But might we sometimes imbue our friendships with energies that aren’t there? Have we been looking for a “soulmate” that doesn’t exist? The lesson is to know what is healthy companionship and what isn’t (Tree, Dog)
- The Second Lesson: the current lesson. Are we over-idealising somebody we know now? Can the man in our mind really fulfil all our dreams and wishes? Or are we just not aiming high enough? The lesson is to think about our ideals with regard to male romantic partners (Gentleman, Stars)
- The Third Lesson: a lesson we must take in the future. Are we sure that the information or knowledge we have about love is actually right, or have we just been learning negative patterns—or looking for negative literary type heroes who are bad news? Do we know how to recognise a bad ‘un so we can avoid them in future? That is the final lesson we must address. (Snake-Book)
Reading In Summary
With regard to your frequent heartbreak, the cards suggests that at the conscious level you know that something negative seems to sap your energies with men, or that it gets spoiled in some way, or you choose bad ‘uns who betray you, lie or don’t treat you well. At an unconscious level, then, here may be a need for you to discover something about our who your ideal life companion really would be.
Your First Lesson, perhaps from the past, suggests you have known healthy companionship and what it is to have good energy with a companion. But might you sometimes imbue our friendships with energies that aren’t there? Have you been looking for a “soulmate” that doesn’t exist? The lesson to learn from the past is to know what is healthy companionship and fidelity and what isn’t. The current lesson asks if you are over-idealising somebody you know now? Can the man in your mind really fulfil all your dreams and wishes? Or are you just not aiming high enough? The lesson is to think about your ideals, and what you truly are wishing and hoping for with regard to male romantic partners.
The lesson you must take in the future is to be sure that the information or knowledge you have about love and what love means is actually correct, and to look to see if you have just been learning negative patterns—or looking for negative literary type heroes who are bad news? Would you know how to recognise a bad ‘un so you can avoid them and the heartbreak in future? That is the final lesson you must address.
In my next post, I’ll be looking at one more longer non-traditional layout, also for delving into problems, which I’ve adapted slightly from the 19th century Austrian Traditional Zigeuner Fortune Telling deck, and is also quite fun to try with Lenormand.
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