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...