Lenormand & Logic

 

 

For many years now, I've been explaining that the bundle of sticks in the image above, and in a lot of other old Lenormand decks, is not a broom. It's a birchrod bundle and it's used for punishment, not cleaning. But at some point, someone misidentified it as a broom and the idea has infected many a book, deck, and website ever since. There are broom meanings added on to what's essentially a card of strife. I've also seen "sex" for this one, but a specific kink does not encompass sex. That's like saying the Park is a "sex card" because some people are into sex in public places. Or people read it as "repetition", which throws the deck out of balance. The Ring already covers things that happen over and over. With Whips/Birchrods, something might happen twice (there's two implements) but no more than that.

I'm not saying that the cards have to be frozen in some particular moment in time. The interpretation of the cards has certainly been expanded to accommodate changing times. With the advent of the automobile, the Rider took on vehicles in a more general sense. The Letter can be email, DMs, etc. And sometimes you have to wing it - the books just don't cover every possible thing that could come up in the cards. But be sensible about it.

From the 1840's until the 1980's, people had only the Philippe Lenormand sheet (unless by some miracle they still had Das Spiel der Hoffnung instructions lying around, something I find quite doubtful in most cases.)

I think having nothing but the PL sheet for 140 years must have been a bit like the string that keeps a balloon from floating off who-knows-where. When Mary Marco, Erna Droesbeke and Colette Silvestre started publishing their works, Whips was still a strife card. It's only in recent times that people have tried to make it a fun roll in the hay.

You can adapt the cards to literally anything, but it has to be logical. Look at the Clouds:

They're storm clouds. Think of a hurricane: damage to homes, ships lost at sea, flooding, lightning strikes. It's bad. But a common interpretation I've been seeing in recent years is "confusion." Clouds don't confuse anyone. A person could lose their way in heavy fog, but the card is not called "Fog." When you see ominous storm clouds, you know exactly what to do: roll up the car windows, take shelter, etc. There is no confusion. Andy always said the same. But look at the previews for recent books on amazon and you'll see the Clouds misinterpreted as "confusion" over and over.

I blame the internet for a lot of this. Someone could say that the Sun is "basketball" because it's round, and six months later it would be in a book. A lot of people just mindlessly parrot things. Never mind that the Moon and Ring are also round. They've forgotten that the Rider is sporty and active, and athletics are usually Rider combinations.

Don't just incorporate things that you see in books or on the internet without examining them. Is the Fox really just "cleverness" and "work" if your chickens are going missing? That's one of the red flag cards. Its telling you that something is wrong. (And I do like foxes, I just wouldn't want them around if I kept chickens.) Logic and critical thinking are key.