Being I woke up in an absolutely horrid mood, I figured what could be better than to throw some cards? Generally I am not an optimistic person, but I figured things couldn’t get much worse. But they always can…
What’s this all about? Well, the anchor is work (to me that is – many people use the fox for employment instead). The cross often pertains to grief and the child new beginnings.
And here begins our lesson. I thought this might be a good opportunity to illustraite how three different schools of thought would interpret these cards, and how important it is when reading to maintain an open mind.
When I went on my hiatus from reading for others, I invested in a membership over at waldfee.net which is a very extensive website as far as Lenormand and several other card systems are concerned. I had become familiar with it back in 2005 if I recall correctly. It’s exclusively in German so I have to use several online translators, but I feel it’s quite worth it. It was very important to me to be able to find additional resources to draw from. Part of what I’ve always had trouble with as far as English resources are concerned are the combinations. Waldfee has many that aren’t typical in any of these books.
Why is this important? Well….
When you read, you hope it’s going to be coherent. When I read the Lenormand, I think of my layout as a sentence where each card represents a word or phrase. This is why I like to read using linear type spreads. Now, I will demonstrate why this becomes challenging when using the different resources that are out there.
Reference #1: The Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle
“Anchor+Cross: Lasting sorrows, painful life experience, religious lifestyle”
“Cross + Child: Communion, baptism, birthing pains”
Now, it’s VERY important to note here that Sylvie Steinback (the author of this book) uses the Fox to represent work. I started reading using Sylvie’s method. It’s a very good one as far as I am concerned (I still use a variant of her “no layout method”) but because I had some background in what I would guess are traditional German meanings (and anyone more knowledgeable out there – please do correct me if I am mistaken) a lot of her meaning didn’t work well for me. This is one of those instances. If you’re a beginner to the Lenormand (or just looking for what I would consider to be a more “hip and updated” version of reading with these cards), this is a very good jumping off point to learn from. I know of many people who swear by Sylvie’s method and this is where they stop because it works beautifully for them.
Part of reading cards is really about connecting with your medium of choice. This way, when you lay out cards the meanings will be evident to you. Through interacting with many wonderful people over at The Art of Cartomancy forum I have seen this fact to be illustraited over and over. There are people from all over that come there and share knowledge and it’s so interesting to see how people view the same cards I use. There is no “wrong” way to read them – everyone is different. The important thing to do is find YOUR way of reading….
Had I stuck with Sylvie’s methods exclusively, the cards I threw probably would have been different. Once you and your cards agree on a language together, they will speak the one you’re familiar with. In my case, everything is “a work in progress” so the cards and I are still perfecting our conversational methods, lol…
Example #2: The Treppner Course
“Anchor+Cross: This work is destiny”
“Cross + Child: A child/young lady has a cross to bear”
Could this work for me? Well, I suppose it could but it’s not entirely clear what work it is that is destiny. I have several different “jobs” if you will. Having a cross to bear also wouldn’t fit – I am not what I would classify as a “young” lady, lol. This surprised me because usually Treppner’s method works well for me and it is what I use for meanings most of the time. But I started to run into things like this where I wasn’t too clear on the meaning. Rather than throw more cards (and further confuse myself) I decided to try looking for alternate meanings again. If you are interested in learning about the Lenormand and using the Grand Tableau in particular I would VERY highly recommend this course. It is worth the money spent in my opinion, and this course really helped me to move forward with my reading as a practice.
Example #3 Waldfee
Anchor+Cross: (this is roughly translated in both cases): An end to one’s occupation, layoffs due to work reduction.
Cross+Child (this is what struck me): A fresh start in 3 weeks. An important new beginning.
Both of these examples really hit home for me, which is somewhat unfortunate. Both my husband and I have seen enormous slow downs at our respective jobs due to the gargantuan mess that the US ecomony has become. It’s probably not helpful that we work in different divisions of the same very hard hit sector. My husband’s job has already seen multiple layoffs. Mine has not yet and my employers are working dilligently to avoid them.
The Child/Cross combination is reassuring – at least there will be a fresh start in three weeks though I am not entirely certian how this will impact us. Because (of course) this was very unsettling I looked at the bottom of the deck. What did I find?
Everything for a reason, I suppose
4 comments
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December 4, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Chanah
Hi Contessa -
I found I couldn’t much relate to Sylvie’s meanings, either – possibly because I’d already been reading for so long – though there are a couple of interesting things in her book.
I do understand what you mean. I largely use the same reading techniques as Kathe Treppner does (and a few I made up on my own), but my meanings are far more in line with Uta’s over at Waldfee – the German and Spanish Lenormand traditions seem very close in that regard. I also learnt that the card that comes before the Cross loses importance, while the one that comes after the Cross gains importance. If the Cross is your last card, that can be modified a little bit, but as a rule it’s served me pretty well.
I also hope your reading comes true – it’s overdue at this point!
December 20, 2008 at 3:08 pm
lenormand36
Hi Lacontessa,
I think the problem a lot of people have with Sylvie’s method is that her meanings for the combinations are not applicable to most everyday situations. Sylvie herself has stated that they weren’t meant to be. Her goal was to present a list of examples on how the cards can be used in a new, more modern way. Unfortunately that makes it hard for the beginner who is looking for a list of meanings that can be applied to everyday matters.
Once I realized that the combinations listed in the book weren’t going to be much help in most of my readings, I learned to allow the combinations to come together naturally.
For example, if we ignore Sylvie’s combination meanings, and focus instead on her individual meanings, we find that the interpretation of your spread for today isn’t so different from what you find from other systems:
Anchor + Cross = indicates concerns regarding your sense of security and stability. You may feel that your current lifestyle is threatened.
Cross + Child = indicates feeling small and vulnerable, and maybe helpless in this situation.
According to Sylvie’s meanings, the Anchor doesn’t specifically refer to work, but in a general sense the meaning is pretty much the same.
I do disagree with Sylvie on one point though – I don’t think any one tradition is better or more accurate than another. I believe that if a person sticks to one system and really learns it, they’ll get consistently accurate readings. So my point here is not to defend Sylvie’s philosophy, or push her method. I just wanted to share some insights on how her system can work when you go beyond the listed combinations.
Of course the Sun is a fantastic card in anybody’s system, so in the long run the news is good, and you have nothing to worry about.
I too hope this ready comes true for you!
Aristede
December 20, 2008 at 8:42 pm
lacontessa
Hi Aristede!
Welcome to my blog and thank you for sharing your insights
I hope my post didn’t come across as a slam – I do think that Sylvie’s book is valuable in that she offers a system that is quite functional. For some reason, though I had a lot of difficulty with it. I know that I am in the minority there, lol
As far as combinations go – I think the one thing I hear more often than not is that people don’t agree on them (Chanah – you’ve mentioned this before and I fully agree with you). As you pointed out, it is really important to consider the base card meanings, because that can be your answer and nothing more. I have found some offered combinations to be very helpful and sometimes very accurate. Other times I scratch my head. The thing of it is that you have to internalize the cards, and make them your own. Once you know what they mean for you, it’s a lot easier to consider what they’re trying to tell you.
I had actually been a big fan of waldfee back before it was a subscription only site, and it was my main source of information. I was trying to learn the Zigeuner, but there was nothing available in English so I shifted focus to the Lenormand. I used Titiana’s system as well. Then I was in the midst of planning my wedding, got married and had my son and gave up my cards. When I came back, there was so much more information available in English that I picked it up again and finally started to feel a little more comfortable. Chanah’s site is a good example – there was nothing like it when I first discovered these cards.
Sylvie’s book was the second one I picked up. I started with Mario dos Ventos, but had a lot of difficulty relating to his way of using the cards. It’s another style – nothing wrong with it by any means, it just didn’t work well for me. And it’s not much surprise that I would wind up following a German system – my father’s mother was German and emigrated here with her family at the turn of the century. She was very dear to me, and I miss her every day. So it was a more personal thing.
I really hope that anyone who is interested in learning the cards does take the time to examine different styles, because I do firmly believe that each system has something to offer you. But in my opinion, it is most important to trust in yourself and make what you do yours. Following anything blindly and detached from one’s own intuition is a dangerous game indeed.
Hope you drop by soon, and thank you (both of course!) again. I am always grateful for another point of view
Contessa
May 2, 2009 at 10:22 pm
spiritsong
Hi Contessa
I stumbled on to your blog tonight, and this wonderful post and had to say hello. I’m wondering how it turned out? Hopefully the Sun did shine on you?
I can remember when I was first learning Lenormand, and had chosen Sylvie’s method, I was very hesitant to explore Treppner and others’ methods, in fear that I would become so totally confused that it would all just be a muddle.
I’m glad I didn’t explore too much back then, because I grounded base meanings of each card into my subconscious. Moving on now, much later! my intuition has really gone into overdrive to interpret combinations; and what I’m finding really interesting is that it’s bleeding over into any type of card reading that I do- my tarot readings have really changed since studying Lenormand and the Playing cards!
Now that I feel I have the foundation there, I’ve been enjoying exploring everything and anything, picking and choosing what feels like it might fit to my list of meanings.
Many times, combinations from Sylvie’s book will give me a different piece, but other times it’s off for me. It’s a wonderful jumping off place though, and I’m glad I learnt the fundamentals with her
I have Treppner’s course, but haven’t gone through it systematically yet, I’m intrigued with the Grand Tableau- so will get there eventually.
Waldfee.net is my next gift to myself!! I’ve been dying to join for the whole kaboodle! lol
I’m curious, was the timing of a fresh start in 3 weeks an accurate one? Timing is such a movable feast…
I’ve only just obtained a shustah deck (which I LOVE!) – and see that you’ve posted about them here too…….I’ll have to come back when I’m not so bleary eyed, lol
Best wishes,
Spirity (aka Spiritsong )