Lenormand is a system of card reading named after the famous fortune teller Mademoiselle Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand (1772-1843). Originating as a parlour game, Lenormand evolved into a form of divination whereby its 36 cards are read in combinations to provide guidance on various matters.
What is Lenormand?
There are two distinct and unrelated types of Lenormand decks:
1. The 36-card Petit Jeu (“small game”)
2. The 54-card Grand Jeu (“big game”)
The Petit Jeu – the small game – is the most common form of Lenormand and is the focus of all the content on this website.
Each card of the Lenormand contains a symbol with inherently familiar meanings. For example, The Clover is a sign of good luck, The Dog represents loyalty and friendship, The Mountain describes obstacles and challenges, and The Snake is untrustworthy. To read Lenormand, the deck is shuffled and two or more cards are drawn and read as a combination.
Lenormand is effectively a key word system. It involves linking individual card significations together to form a sentence.
Reading Lenormand Card Combinations
There are various techniques to interpret Lenormand card combinations. However, if you are new to Lenormand, it is best to start by reading cards in pairs.
Lenormand pairs are traditionally read as “topic” followed by “descriptor”. For example, The Dog + The Snake may describe a friend (The Dog [topic]) who is untrustworthy (The Snake [descriptor]).
The cards can also be read as a sequence of events whereby The Mountain + The Clover may predict that overcoming an obstacle (The Mountain) will lead to good luck (The Clover).
These two techniques can then be applied to longer lines of cards. For instance, you can read a three-card line using pairs (Card 1 + Card 2, and Card 2 + Card 3), or you can read them as a sequence (first Card 1, then Card 2, and finally Card 3).
The method you choose will depend on the type of question being asked and whether the answer should be more sequential or descriptive, but both techniques are fundamental to reading Lenormand.
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Discover the meanings behind each of the 36 Lenormand cards:
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A PDF interpretative guide explaining the meanings of the 36 Lenormand cards.