The spread "Le Grand Tableau" is THE spread to practice the Petit Lenormand, it is its letters of nobility, and makes the Petit Lenormand interesting and positions it as a Tarot challenger. If you don't know what "Le Grand Tableau" is, in one sentence, it is a spread using all 36 cards of the deck, in 4 lines of 8 cards + 4 mood cards at the bottom (in cartouche) of the tableau.
However mastering "Le Grand Tableau" spread can be difficult, much more so than learning the meaning of the Lenormand cards, which by the way have simple symbolism. And when coming from the world of Tarot, "Le Grand Tableau" can be a big step to take. Also it can be very useful and relevant to start practicing the Petit Lenormand with 3, 4, 5 slot draws to get familiar with the deck, or to use the Petit Lenormand in a quick and easy way during a flash spread.
Yes of course, and if you come from the Tarot universe, you can pick up your favourite draws. It's probably a good optic to start the Lenormand. For example, I've seen cartomancers use the Cross spread with the Petit Lenormand. However, with practice, you will find that the Petit Lenormand is much more polarised, much less neutral, and also less generalist than the Tarot. In fact, the Lenormand draws are more direct, more instantaneous, more "cash", more "raw" than the Tarot. There is an immediacy to a Lenormand print that is not necessarily found in a Tarot print which is usually more constructed.
Yes, because as I said above, the Petit Lenormand is drawn differently from the Tarot, the "Grand Tableau" spread being the perfect example. You must take into account the following elements :
With these few elements that I have just mentioned, one can easily understand that drawing the Lenormand as one draws the Tarot can be contradictory. Also the draws below, even if I consider that they are the best draws to approach the Lenormand from a Tarot vision, do not represent "the original way" to spread the Lenormand. Historically, we use draws without slots ! And I remain convinced that this is the best approach to using the Lenormand.
As I have already mentioned, the Petit Lenormand is very polarised. Normally the polarity of the cards is a function of the distance between them, but this method cannot be used with slots. If you only keep one card per slot, you may get very "raw" results, either all good or all bad. I know it's good for show and the "guru" effect, but I'm not Miss Lenormand and neither are you, and in modern fortune-telling it's good to be neither triumphant nor alarming, and to make nuanced and open readings. Also having two cards per slot will allow for " duos " in which the cards can counterbalance each other, allowing for a balanced interpretation without being neutral or bland.
Thus, if you wish to adapt your Tarot draws to the Lenormand, I systematically advise you to use "duos" of cards for each slot, for the reasons I just mentioned. Since the Petit Lenormand system contains only 36 cards, this has an impact on the number of slots you can use in your deck. So a 5 slot spread you draw 10 cards, a 6 slot spread you draw 12 cards and a 7 slot spread you draw 14 cards. Note that a 12-card spread is already a third of the Lenormand deck. I therefore advise you to limit yourself to draws of 6 slots maximum, because beyond that I feel that too many cards are drawn on the table, which distorts the probabilities, the interpretations become repetitive or similar because the same cards are drawn from one consultant to another. I find that the same phenomenon occurs when the Tarot is drawn with only the series of 22 trumps (the Major Arcana), which is often the case in France with users of the Tarot de Marseille (personally I always draw with the 78 cards of the Tarot de Marseille).
The spread takes place as follows :
In this second love spread, I talk about the love dilemma, i.e. the choice between two people. The love triangle is actually quite common. Indeed, without necessarily speaking about a single person who has the choice between two suitors, even when we are in a couple, married or not, we sometimes meet a person who opens our mind to a possible love relationship. And then what should you do ? Leave your current partner ? Stay with him or her ? The answer often seems quite complex, as no one is perfect, and the ideal relationship does not exist. The spread takes place as follows:
This reading is not intended to tell the consultant if he/she will find a job. For this, I refer to my article on the YES/NO spread with the Petit Lenormand. Of course, the challenge of finding a job is major for the person, so I advise against making a binary reading in this kind of situation which can either discourage the consultant or make him/her too sure of him/herself and consequently negligent.
The aim of this spread is to draw up an exhaustive inventory that can be useful to the consultant and enable him/her to take relevant and positive action. The spread takes place as follows :
If finding a job can be difficult, changing jobs can be equally difficult. The consultant may not know what to do between staying in his or her current job despite the disadvantages or taking the risk of looking for or taking a new job, which may not be better or more interesting. This spread therefore proposes to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of staying or leaving one's current job. The spread proceeds as follows :
The consultant's financial situation may be delicate. He/she may be looking for ways to regain a serene and balanced situation. This spread proposes to review several aspects of the consultant's finances without focusing solely on the search for new sources of income. The spread proceeds as follows :
The Cross spread is a safe bet in France. Even if there are several variants, the base remains the same with 4 cards: situation, oppositions, advice, result. Some cartomancers add, for example, a synthesis card in the centre. Here, I stay with the simple version with 4 slots. As for the previous draws, you will not be surprised to see that I double each slot. The spread proceeds as follows :
I hope that these draws above will allow you to easily begin the Petit Lenormand by relying on a slot method and your eventual Tarot experience. I also invite you to move away from these same draws to learn the Lenormand with non-slot draws of which the most complete method is the "Grand Tableau". The practice of the "Grand Tableau" should be your goal in the long run, without saying that this method should be exclusive. Of course, slot draws with Le Lenormand can be very satisfying.
The YES/NO spread is the subject of a separate article, which you can read here: The YES/NO Spread with the Petit Lenormand
I'll be detailing the "Grand Tableau" print in my upcoming ebook, but I'll start talking about it in my next article on the love spread. You can be notified by email when my ebook is released by leaving me your email address below :
Copyright © TarotQuest.fr