Note for Beginners!


Here are some useful theory posts I have tried to compile in simple and easy steps:

Hi my fellows who are totally new to this amazing friend we call our Lenormand Deck!

I have heard over and over this phrase "I do not understand these meanings and combinations" and the one I myself had been saying repeatedly in my earlier days "These cards do not talk to me" and "I feel like giving up on them".

First of all, you are not alone. Each one of us has been there at some point in our learning process. Look at the word I wrote; Process. Process is like a cycle, it does not stop, it rather takes an input from its own outputs and repeatedly goes on and on, that is why I'd call learning the Lenormand a Process.


One thing I have noticed is common among all of us when it comes to learning something entirely new, anxiousness to learn it all, and learn it all quickly. However, with time we find out that we can not push it any harder than its own pace. Things will come to us on their own will. Some people are smarter than others, some people are good at learning, some are quick-learner (like me *wink*) and yet, there is no short-cut when it comes to learning, atleast I have not found one so far.

The thing with Lenormand, dice divination, divination with playing cards, scrying etc anything, and I mean anything, is patience! I'm not one of the most patient person on Earth and you can take it from me that you don't have a choice but to be exactly that, Patient!

Here are some of my tried and tested tips for you:

  1. When you start with the cards very first time, its OK when the meanings do not make any sense or when the meanings given in book do not relate to the situation.
  2. The book that accompanies your deck is not the final word on the cards, specially the combinations.
  3. You will not find many resources in English , very unfortunate for us, but there are few available. Those that are available use different systems. So go through them, and do not listen to me or anyone, listen to yourself, and stick to the system that you can relate most to. The ones I have seen are The secrets of the Lenormand OracleGAME OF DESTINY-Fortune-Telling--with-Lenormand-Cards, and the one I've been using as my guide , Iris Treppner's Correspondence Course. Please, pick one system and work with that and do not switch between two systems , you will just confuse yourself.
  4. Practice, practice and practice. Do not worry or hesitate when the meanings do not make sense or your reading is not accurate. Start with a single card, look at it, what you see, what it means to you, the background, the scenery, what words pop in your head, what it makes you feel etc. write that down in your journal. Some day down the road, you will see these notes being very useful.
  5. Read the book for each card first, what each card can mean, and why. Then put each card side by side and study the combination. Repeat for each card. add your own meaning in your notes section if those are not given in the book.
  6. There are No Standard methods for shuffling and pulling out cards. At least this is what I have learnt so far. I shuffle and draw cards the way it works for me, while another person might cut a particular number of times, or mix them, use right hand, use left hand etc etc and it does not matter. I do not cut, I have used both right and left hands and both did well, I have my own way of shuffling and dealing the cards and it works for me. So you find your own way and again, do not hesitate to try different methods. 
  7. Start pulling out one card for your day and see how it relates to your day. Do not add your own meanings as of yet, rather let it work.
  8. Move on to doing a reading with three cards for a particular matter (not a daily draw). Look at various ways to interpret the cards e.g Draw was Card 1- Card 2- Card3
    now you can look at it as:
    Card 2 is the theme and Card 1 and Card3 are describing it further. OR
    Card 1+Card 2
    Card 1+Card3
    Card 2 + Card 3
    these three combinations give you answer OR
    Card 1 is the answer and Card 2+Card3 add to the information.
    Practice with all the possibilities and with time you will see you have a personal way of interpreting them and it works for you. The Best Method? Which works for you is the best method. It may not work for others, but as long as it works for you, why not stick to it no matter how weird or "off the track" it might sound.
  9. The more you practice, the more you will know the cards and what they mean to you. You can always get second opinions from others when you are just starting off (I used to do that too) but not any more because I know my cards will show me what I need to know.
  10. I have noticed that writing my interpretation down helps me find the meanings easily than doing it in my head. When I have put the drawn out cards, face down, in front of me, I will grab a pen and my journal and then will turn the cards face up and write down each word that hits my head when I first look at the card. Every way I look at the cards (combinations, story narration etc) I will write it down and I have seen that sometimes I write those things that are not even there in the book or been read anywhere, but they happen later. This is related to the concept of automatic writing. I am not sure it will work for you too, but writing helps me focus my thoughts on the reading and things quickly appear in my head which I might forget later if I'm not writing them down.
  11. About Grand Tableau, or the Full spread, that uses 36 cards there is a confusion in beginners whether they should or should not do it. and if no then when should they do it. There is a simple answer, whenever you are ready. My first Grand Tableau covered a span of 4 months and was done focused on a particular matter and it proved most accurate so far. Four months gave me ample amount of time to learn the cards and their positioning. To learn the very basics of the cards, this is where I started it from here. There are 12 parts, go through each of them and then lay your cards out and do it step by step. Write it down and then follow it through your time period you had pre-set for your Grand Tableau. Another way that helped me a lot learning the Grand Tableau was the monthly GT. you can see I have been doing one for each month since September and it did help me a lot. Do not get overwhelmed though, we all tend to! Take it slow, you do not have to learn it all right now. A month is a long time and you can do a little at a time. Down the road you will see many other techniques popping up and you will wish to use them, so do it. Do not be afraid to try new techniques. You will always know what works for you and what does not.
  12. Do not get overwhelmed, we all tend to! I say this over and over because I myself have been in your place too and I did what you do. I went up to pulling 5 cards for a daily (I now do two) and got myself frustrated over "its not coming true" syndrome. Slow down! take a breath. You have all the time in the world to learn it. There cannot be a short cut to learning or mastering any art whatsoever. Do not lose hope if the cards are not accurate yet, they will. Take your time.

This is all I wanted to say to my beginner friends. I felt a need for this, sharing my personal experience, when I see many of you taking their baby steps with Lenormand. I will be coming back and updating this frequently. Stay with me!


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