Garden + Ring

In this oracle, Garden represents, parks, social gatherings, a network of people, or the quantity "many". When this card appears you will know there are some people involved in this situation or some public place. What kind of place is determined by the card next to it.

Ring is the card for contracts, binding , some legal contracts that bind you into something. In the Blue Owl Lenormand Deck, its an actual Ring, therefore, the first meaning that I consider is either a relationship or a marriage. The Garden + Ring is the combo which I assume is referring to a wedding.

In my Daily Draw for yesterday I have had Garden + Ring. I was supposed to attend a wedding reception yesterday but I could not (I woke up too late). So I thought I had missed it but the Garden+Ring combo did not miss me. Since the morning I have viewed at least 4 wedding albums uploaded on Face book. Many of my friends have got married last month or this month, I have heard about so many weddings in last two years than I ever have in 22yrs prior to this. It seems like everyone around you is getting married (and yes its a crappy feeling).

Moral of the Story: When this combination appears in daily draw, prepare yourself to congratulate a few people, or you will hear about a wedding, attend one or see albums of one!

Reading Lenormand!

All readers, all learners and everyone who works with any kind of divination system says it over and over that one should always have one's personal system. No matter how many blogs you visit, how many helpers you get, no matter how many books you read, at the end of the day it will all narrow down to one method that is your own and that works the best for you.

All those beginners, and readers who are reading my methods of "nailing it", I swear it won't help you unless there is a personal touch there. Whatever way you read the cards, yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, Please try to find your own system and your own method and trust me that will be one method that will give you astonishing readings. When you read them, do it your way, no matter what you are advised, or whatever some well-known authors say. Your cards and your intuition will work with you according to YOUR natural system, one method which is YOURS all the way and how will you know it that its yours? Because it works! That's how you know its yours!

Lenormand Grand Tableau: How to?

I have been asked by a few friends about how I do it which system I follow and what techniques I incorporate. I do not follow any particular system, what I do is a mix of techniques which I have learnt over time. I did my first Grand Tableau spread in August and it was focused on one area and also covered a period of Four months. After that I also started doing one Grand Tableau for each month for practice. Initially there was TOO much going on, too much to take in, too much to handle, so many cards, so many combinations, the stories did not make any sense, it was  a mess. However, with the passage of time and trying different techniques, I did learn a lot (and still am) about different methods and different techniques.

I use a 8x4 +4 system. I never even tried that 9x4 system, although this is the spread used by Iris Treppner in her course.

This Grand Tableau was not dated in my Journal but its from sometime around August 2011.  It was done generally so it covers a time of 3-6 months.

The Cut:

Andy has generously provided us this technique in which we cut the deck three times from left to right and peek at the bottom card. These three cards are the root of the tableau and are always important.

The Four Corners:

I start off with the corners as the main, highlight, theme, significant event etc of the month. Card 1 + 32 and 8+25. Then 1+25 and 8+32 for extra information. This is what usually occupies me during the month.

Example: Anchor + Moon = emotional stability
Coffin + Clover = some lucky transformation, some suffering which will happen for good reasons.
Anchor + Clover = Small work, some stability or stagnation for good
Coffin + Moon = emotional pain, suffering

Locating the significator:

Next I look at the Lady card, the house it is in and whats its position with respect to the spread.

Extreme Left= Looking forward to something nicer this month, future-oriented
Extreme right = Pre-occupied with thoughts, regrets, things from past. Looking back continuously

Extreme bottom = Too much on head/shoulders.
Extreme top= totally in control

I have been in all the four extremes mentioned above and I have learnt the above lessons from experience. Last month I was at extreme left, so looking forward to new things in life, in high spirits. This month I was at extreme right, too much thoughts and regrets of pasts haunted me.

The House lady is in (for me, for men it would be Man card 28) is very important. It tells me my orientation for the month and also the card which is in house 29, is my general "mood" for the month.

Example: Lady is in house 5, of Tree, I have some learning to do, some growth, spiritual and emotional well being. With Dog in house 29, I'd say I'll rather be friendly, helpful and trustful this month.With me in house 5 of long term goals, and Dog in house 29, I will learn to be trustful and friendly.

Past, Present, Future:

Look at the cards surrounding Lady.To the left is the past, and to the right is the future.

Example:  In past there have been some blockages and they were making me feel stuck, but grounded. These blockages were of complicated nature but I overcame them and reached the spot where I was feeling optimistic.
In future there are some troubles which will lead me to cut off quickly from whatever was causing the pain.

Diagonals:

Here comes an important thing about diagonals. I have learnt this from Andy's blog and this says:
Diagonals to left of Lady is Past and to right is the future;

1. Left Lower diagonal: Farthest past
2. Line behind Lady : Farther Past
3. Left Upper Diagonal: Recent Past
4. Right Upper diagonal: Immediate future
5. Line to right : Farther future
6. Right Lower diagonal : Farthest future

GT for April 2012; This spread is for explaining this timeline only, for rest of explanation please refer to first spread given at the top.

You are going in a clockwise direction and along a timeline.
The cards below Lady is what is in my control, the cards above are what is in my head, what I'm thinking or bothered about.

The Column I'm in is my present situation.

Miscellaneous matters:

Back to original spread given at top.Look at other cards to see whats going on in those areas.For these you can use standard cards for that area e.g Heart for Love, Ring for your marriage if you are married or in a long-term relationship, Book for studies, Man for your significant other.

28-Man is the most important man for that time in your life. Look at the cards surrounding him to see who it is referring to. Sometimes we cannot say for sure if that is the new boy-friend, or a brother, sometimes its a hunch or one particular card tells you its him.

Example: When I did this draw I was single. Lets look at Man card to see who he is. The House is closer, it can be a family member. Tower , someone Tall (all of us are really tall). Coffin, he is ill or going through some pain. He is in house of Bear, can be father. In house of Man is Clouds, he is in trouble, going through a rough period. I would say its my father. He was dealing with too much at that time and all the cards are pointing to that. He had a surgery for anal fissure (Scythe in house of Snake) shortly after this spread. He lost his mother shortly after the spread (Coffin in house of Coffin). 

Similarly lets look at 24- Heart for love.

Example: Heart is in house of Key. Love is coming my way or I will find a way to unlock my emotions. In house of Heart is House, so there is comfort. Next to Heart is Ring - Key - Storks, a change is definitely coming. Well it did, not shortly after the spread but within three months. If Ring and Heart are close by, there will be a happy union.

Who is who? (and what is what?)

Another successful and better alternative to the above mentioned method is shuffling the deck and asking which card is person X in this spread? This will give you a much better result. A fellow member on the forum mentioned this technique and it works excellently for me. You do not have to guess and second guess your theories about who is who. (and what is what).

Reflection and Mirroring:

Next step is reflection and mirroring. It is a classic method from Iris Treppner's course in which you make combinations as if you were folding the Grand Tableau horizontally and vertically. e.g
Card 1 + card 8
Card 2 + card 7
Card 3 + Card 6
Keep going like with each row.

For vertical: Card 1+ Card 25
Card 2 + Card 26
Card 3+ Card 27

and so on.

Similarly, more combinations can be used by:
Card 1+ Card 32
Card 2+ Card 31
Card 3+ Card 30

Card 9 + Card 24
Card 10 + Card 23

You can learn more and more about each card using reflection, mirroring and knighting. I'm not used to knighting as of yet but some people do that. I will not explain that here because I do not do it.

Houses:

Next step is houses. Each position in the spread is associated with a card. If you put cards in original numerological order starting with Rider in position 1 and Cross in position 36, this is the houses reference for that. Rider is first house, what is coming , what your current thoughts are. Clover is where you are lucky. Ship is the house of longings and so on.This way you will know what is going on in each area. Houses are further explained here.

Knighting:

This was a really extensive topic which required detailed examples, therefore, I did a separate post here.

Counting:

This is another very very useful technique I learnt. This techniques tells you to pick up a card as yoru significator (Lady/Man for individual, Heart for love, Book for project etc) and then count a specific number of cards from that cards and make up a story. Treppner says count five, so naturally I count five. I choose Lady, counting five cards from Lady (Lady card is number 1), and the fifth card is my card to be included in story

Lady >> 1-2-3-4>> 5-Rider>> 1-2-3-4->>5- Tower>> 1-2-3-4>>5 - Lilies and so on

you get it, right?

Lady - Rider - Tower - Lilies - House - Dog - Ring - Snake

Lady is receiving a news from an important man who brings her comfort  and this is a friend in a relationship which is complicated.

You can do the same for any significator card in your spread, Lady, Heart, Ring, Book, Child, Anchor etc.

The Fours:

I have used this techniques and it works very well for me. Although the surrounding cards in a spread expalin everything, sometimes we need a clearer and concise answer. For that, Treppner suggesta technique. You pick up every fourth card in the spread and shuffle it. Now think of a question. e.g Will I get any money? The Fish is my significator. Now out of those 9 cards you picked up, put one card on top of Fish and interpret accordingly. If I get clover, then yes, I am getting money. I usually pose 3 important questions and use 3 cards to answer each, utilizing all 9 cards in 3 questions.

e.g my question would be?

What should I be warned about (Fox)? and put three out of those 9 cards on fox card and interpret.

Who can help in the project (Book)? and three cards to answer this question

What kind of news will I receive (Letter)? and the remaining three cards to answer this.

To be Continued...

Lenormand Small Combinations!

I have found that using monthly Grand Tableau is a great way to make some personal combinations. This can be done using houses approach.

For those who are unaware, houses are the 36 cards, placed in their original numerological order and then each house (card) represents one area or aspect of your life. e.g Clover is luck and success, Ship is house of longing. You can check this out, it is where I learnt it from :)

Every month, we are well aware what happened around us in this one month. We know how lucky we were, what we felt, what happened in our love lives etc. Iris Trppners says that when interpreting houses, The original ruler of the house comes first and the card that is now in that house comes to the right. e.g when I have Ring in house of Rider, the combination would be Rider + Ring and not the other way round.
e.g here in my picture, Rider + Ring, Clover +Fox, Ship + Bear and so on. I have done this for my Grand Tableau and found it gives a great method to formulate our own combinations. Of course I was not able to put my finger on each of the combination, but most were eerily right.

For sake of convenience, I wrote the spread down and then under it wrote the house ruler (I'm sure that's not what they are called but someone had to come up with a name). This gave me around 26 personal combinations for this month and I wish I had done this before with other GTs I've done in past. Its easier this way since we have a focus (what happens with my health this month, what happened in love life, what gave me pain) and then the cards in those houses, it was a nice experience.

What you ask is what matters!

I have noticed something since I started working with this oracle. The importance of question!
How you ask or What you ask is the most important aspect of a reading. Many a times we formulate a question and then without paying enough focus on "what" we are asking we draw out cards. Only later on some one pin-points or we realize that there can be more than one meaning for one question.

I encountered this thing many times. Once when I asked a question about my brother and posted it on AT and someone said there can be more than one side to this answer. Next was when I was asking a question about my karmic soul mate and once I encountered it yesterday. I will explain with an example:

I wanted to ask the cards when I'm going to see (meet) this particular guy again. What would be the first thing that pops up:

When will I see him again?

Now look at the dimensions it can work it. I might see his picture in my albums, so technically I am "seeing" him.

Should I ask "When will I meet him again?"

If I'm crossing a road and find him on the other side, standing with his friend and we stop to say hello, technically I did "meet" him, didn't I?

So you see we do not consider these things when we formulate our questions. Some people say its in your head the cards know what you are thinking about etc, but I disagree, because I have had instances where my wrong question gave me the "right" answer, but that was not the question I should have been asking. I will post another example, an instance from last night, which made me stop, ponder and write this post here for others to benefit from.
For now I can just give following suggestions about formulating your questions:

1. Write your question down: It always helps you focusing. i always get distracted. Writing the question down helps me in focusing on what I'm asking. Besides re-reading the question after lying the cards down helps me in  giving a direction to my "story".

2. Be specific: Instead of asking everything in one go, break your problem into smaller questions and then find answers.

3. Look at your questions from different angles before shuffling the cards out. You might be surprised for what you get.

4. Take your time. there is no rushing here. If you are short on time, come back later. Do not rush.

This is all for right now, I have lots more to share after I analysed my GT for Feb 2012 last night, but I have to come back later!!

Blessings!

Laptop Power cable and Lenormand daily draw

Today I drew the cards:

Bear - Scythe - Sun

Treppner associates Scythe - Sun combination with electricity and voltages. Bear represents power and strength. When I drew this combination out I was expecting some unexpected money news or some success. I even considered the probability of cash outflow since the Scythe was facing away from Bear (some money is going off because of whatever lies next to Scythe). Instead of that it turned out that the power cable for my laptop had been twisted and cut at a point very close to the chubby adopter and now its giving me trouble. I need to get it fixed and changed and finally I have a combination which turned out true and which I can put here!

Waiting for a surprise (Update yay)

I have never shared this on my blog but before I started reading Tarot or Lenormand oracle deck, I made my own oracle deck. It was just out of curiosity, to see if I am capable of working with intuition. My deck contains some words, a picture (which I drew just to remind myself what meaning I have assigned to this card), a season (for timing) and some cards contain a Planet or a Zodiac sign's name on it. This is the way I associate that card with that Planet or sign (helps me memorizing). When I was done with the deck, I did some really nice readings, for myself and for many friends and even some strangers too, that were pretty spot on. Later on I bought myself a Blue Owl and a Rider-Waite deck and I forgot about this baby of mine. Yesterday when I was looking for something, I saw this deck lying there. I took it out and looked at my creativity. I just generally put a question about what is expected between now and end of February and drew three cards

Moon - Surprise - Letter

The Moon is a crescent, like you can see, so it mainly represents, new beginnings, a new seed planted which will cover the events of the next lunar month, feelings and emotions.

The Surprises card has Uranus written on it, because I associate upheaval, surprises, roller coasters with Uranus. Its something that happens out of blue. With this card, I expect the unexpected.

The last card is the message card.

So I was expecting a message, which might be received around new moon or when the moon is just a crescent. This message can be a new beginning or a romantic one.

When I woke up today, I did my daily draw for today. Its the first thing I do in morning (after my human moments of course).

The cards were:

Child - Scythe - Letter

Hmm, an unexpected message, a new beginning when I get a sudden or unexpected message. Wait, isn't this the same message from yesterday?
Look at the similarities - Moon /Child - Surprises/Scythe and Message/Letter. It is the same message in both decks.

This is the second time I have got same message from two oracles, actually this is identical message from two oracles. I'm surprised , no, I'm awed actually.I'm waiting anxiously for whatever this unexpected, surprise message is about.

Update: The cards were telling me to be ready for the surprise because I honestly did not know I will get this message. I got an email today about a surprise reading which was done. I was so not expecting it, it was totally out of blue. The message did give me a new hope and a new idea to look forward to.


Love the cards!

Angels!

Q: What does my Angel want me to know right now?
A: Lady - Garden - Ring - Mice - Mountain

Looking at the cards one by one
Lady is me, I don't have doubt

Garden can be a public place, a gathering, or simply a social networking site.

Ring is a relationship, a bind so strong that its hard to break. Ring has also represented routine tasks, a cycle you have to go through everyday.

Mice are small worries that are eating at you, that are causing stress.

Mountain is the major and huge hindrances, blockages and delays. Mountains are harder to climb than the other cards. This card has appeared in my Daily Draws a lot, in my weekly draw and now here too. I'm actually feeling very much stuck in a situation. I'm feeling like I have no way out.

Lady - Garden = A socially active woman, an outgoing, extrovert lady. I'm not very extrovert, but I do feel a lot like going to a park, closer to nature these days.In my LWB it says, a lady in public

Garden - Ring = A wedding ceremony. I have been invited to two wedding ceremonies this month. I did not attend one, I might attend the other though.In terms of routine, it can be the usual routine tasks that need to be performed should be done so.in LWB it says it can be a new relationship, a social agreement.

Ring - Mice = A relationship slowly being eaten at, a relationship with holes. A relationship that is broken, not intact anymore.

Mice -Mountain = Whatever is to the right of Mice is what is going to stay for a longer time. The Mountains are these blockages I'm feeling and these are stressing me out. Looks like I'm here for a while.

Using mirroring: Lady - Mountain = A blockage for woman, stressed woman

Garden - Mice = A cancelled event, a negative event

Interpretation: I feel like escaping, socialising, meeting people, I actually want to go to the wedding as well, but it looks like either the event will be cancelled or I'm too stressed and worried, and everything in blocked till I climb the mountain over. In the past I have had some social life, right now I'm just going in a circle (Ring) and in the future there are worries and blockages.

Angel Meditation:
I wanted to do this for many days, I was just not having a mind quiet enough to perform this meditation. Today I did it. I was lying down, listening to everything around, in my head I was lying down in a meadow, surrounded by green trees, red roses, purple lilies and green grass. I was inhaling the smell of roses and I could feel the cool breeze touching my cheeks. I saw a ray of light on the sky and then something appeared there, coming towards me. It had honey coloured hair, white wings, and perfect calm face, with a soothing smile. It was bare-feet and wearing a white long robe. It came near me and sat on a rock. I went closer and put my head in its lap. It felt very very calming and all of sudden I was not worried any more.  It started running its fingers through my hair. I lifted my head up and asked it some question which it answered with very calm voice and the smile! It put me to so much ease.

I strongly suggest everyone to try this, you can ask them questions and they will answer. I asked mine a lot of questions and it answered all of them. Sometimes the answers are all inside us, we just need to get in touch with our inner self to know them and this meditation will help you a lot with connecting to your inner self.

Blessing!

New Moon in Pisces (Update)

I always perform a New Moon reading because the new moon brings a new start, a new chapter to a situation. This new Moon is in my 6th house of work and health. I have my Chiron conjunct. this new Moon. The intuition of the Moon with the Water sign of Pisces creates lots of emotional energy, healing energy and the sympathy I need to give others.

Q: What is significant for me till the next new Moon?
A: Ring - Clover - Anchor - Mountain - Flower

The Ring is a card of on-going cycles, new partnerships, a bind that once established hard to break. Here it shows me I will get into a lucky union (Clover) and it adds some colours to life (Flower). This binding looks very nice and pleasant and promising.

The Clover brings success, hope and luck to the querent. This luck is going to stay for a while because of the Anchor next to it. The Mountain blocks the luck or hope but at the same time, it can be just an increased hope.

Anchor at the centre brings stability, determination or a feeling of being stuck. Specially with the Mountain next to it it looks like some blockages are going to stay for a while.

Mountains are the blockages, the Delays, you cannot find a way around, you have to climb all the way to the top, but the view must be great from up there.

The Flower in the end, looks a nice and promising end to the lunar cycle. This can be a pleasant meeting, a gift or an offer. With reflection to ring, I wonder if I will get a piece of Jewellery as a gift.

Since the Moon is in my 6th house of work and health, I wonder if I will get a partner for my project at University since that was depicted by another reading. The Anchor is also related to work and routine tasks (Ring). The Mountain can be the blockages before I finally get things sorted in my favour. The Flowers at the end are promising that it will all end well.

Update: Ring has been appearing a lot in my readings but I think its not referring to a relationship. Its rather talking about the cycles of life , one of them coming to an end. With Flower, I have heard about an engagement quite recently.  The Anchor did bring me some desire to find some stability but there wasn't much that I did because of the Mountains. The cycle however did end on a positive note. I'm still unable to grasp the meaning of Ring-Flower and Ring-Clover in this context. My project's due phase has been completed, submitted and accepted. I have found some new developer guys at uni who are a great help. 

General reading with 3x3

After I did those two readings with 3x3 spread, my friend wanted a general reading of his life.A snapshot of my situation is what I call it.

The most astonishing part is we first decided to take Heart out as pre-chosen significator, but then I decided otherwise and went along with a general. The Heart card has appeared in the centre, emphasizing that the cards are aware that current focus is love.


First card: Scythe
At the present moment he is thinking about getting rid of something, something that is no longer needed.He intends to make a decision and a rather quick one.

Lets look at Rows:
1: He intends to make a suddden decision of cutting back at his social life and bring about some changes that will bring improvement in his life.This is true because he thinks he spends too much time just socialising among people who serve him no good.

2: He is having some lovely chats with some one who is financially independent. The emotional side of Fish (water) also mixes well with the Heart card. His love life is sort of going nice, but a little anxiousness is there.

3: He is looking for a solution which unlocks his path and let him decide what he needs to do.

Columns: 
Past: He cut back with conversations with a really clever one. He thinks the conversations were too much fake and not what they seemed like.

Present: He is having lovely interactions with people which is making him realize some positive things about himself.

Future: A clear financial improvement. An increase of wealth through more than one alternative.

Diagonals: Scythe - Heart - Roads = A heartache made him separate paths.

Storks - Heart - Fox = Some changes in love life have made him cautious.

Scythe - Fish - Fox = Sudden sense of clarity. Cutting at the blurriness presented by water in Fish is cleared out and Fox is presenting logic and guarding up for self-interest.

Storks - Birds - Roads = Changes have made him nervous about what needs to be done, which option to choose. (notice the Twos in all three cards, two birds, two owls, two paths) faced with choices.

Scythe - Key - Storks = A sudden solution which brings changes.

Fox - Garden - Roads = Many treacheries and betrayals made him separate paths with someone.

Here in the situation we can see some positivity going on in present and improvements in future. The Queen and King of Diamond can be a couple so I do not look at Roads as a decision, instead its reaching a solution. It looks like a positive spread for future. Another thing I noticed was that he has two 8's (of spades and Diamonds) in present column: which means according to some authors, a brief affair which causes regrets and this is exactly true for him right now. Also 8 of Diamonds and several Person Cards (we have five here) means a social gathering. I think it will be in future.

 I wish him luck and happiness.