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FORT UNE T EL L ING GUIDEBOOK

By Ryan Edward

PUBLISHED BY U.S. GAMES SYSTEMS, INC. ◆ STAMFORD, CT USA

 Copyright © 2016 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

All rights reserved. All illustrations, design, and content are pro-
tected by copyright. No part of this booklet may be reproduced
in any form without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in con-
nection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, news-
paper or website.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Made in China

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– For Camelia –

U.S. GAMES SYSTEMS, INC.

179 Ludlow Street • Stamford, CT 06902 USA
www.usgamesinc.com
 INTRODUCTION
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Thecle Petit Lenormand is a 19th century 36-card ora-
deck borrowing from German cartomancy as
well as tea leaf and coffee ground symbol reading.
Many prefer it over Tarot and other oracle card sys-

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tems for its practical and literal sense of the world
around any person. The Grand Tableau can give an
overview of your well-being, or a detailed answer to
a specific situation. Its readings are that of relation-
ships; left right above or below, where cards inter-
sect or disperse, where they meet near or far, if they
are surrounded by negative or positive cards. The
Lenormand is a pack of cards relying on elegance and
particularity. The cards have a narrower focus, and
are read in an almost grammatical structure. While
you could say reading Tarot cards is like reading pan-
els of a comic book to tell a story, the Lenormand is
like a string of Emoji to spell out a specific message.

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Maybe Lenormand works to honor that Lenormand
tradition. Its illustrations are designed to convey the
meaning, folklore, and heart of each card’s person-
ality. While in most every way it follows the pattern
of Lenormand from over a hundred years ago, it does
have one major difference. This deck has 52 cards,
rather than 36. Cards 37-52 borrow from a tangent
lineage of fortune telling decks to complete the com-
mon 52-card playing card pack, merging several div-
ination traditions.

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You can use the first 36 cards of this pack as any
other traditional Lenormand. However, using the
added cards, you are playing with something else,
the Maybe Lenormand.
If you are new to Lenormand, work with the original
36 cards to get a sense of how they read. Once you
are comfortable, add the rest of the pack. Enjoy!

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 READING THE CARDS
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A s always when reading, the question and context
are vitally important to how you interpret the
cards. Once you have decided on a precise question,
focus with intent, and shuffle until you are ready to
lay out the cards in a pre-designated arrangement.

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The Lenormand cards are read in a specific order;
reading the card to the right to modify or clarify the
card to its left. For example, we have the Letter for
the first card. This could be a message or note. If the
card to its right is the Heart, we have a love letter. If
it’s near the Birds card, the communication may be
via Twitter or instant chatting. With the Thunder-
cloud, the meaning is very bad news. With the Clover,
it could be a short joke. Cards are rarely read alone;
they are more useful in groupings of two or more.
Look to the card above to see its intentions. See what
cards are near or far. Determine where cards’ lines
cross and meet.

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 THE GRAND TABLEAU
While the Lenormand can often be read in smaller
lines, the original and fundamental layout uses all
36 cards. Many readers like to work up to learning
the Grand Tableau (GT), but if you are reading the
relationships at play, the GT can be easier to dissect
than a five-card string. When you lay all 36 cards,
you’ll always have your subject in sight, so you can see
where it crosses with concerns of love, money, work,
or anything else defined by another card. Simply

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because it uses many cards does not mean the answer
is verbose; often it is still very sharp and to the point.

- SAMPLE GRAND TABLEAU READING -

04 • 01 • 27 • 36 • 22 • 13 • 34 • 17
16 • 06 • 05 • 02 • 24 • 03 • 29 • 25
21 • 19 • 15 • 23 • 33 • 26 • 10 • 12
18 • 14 • 32 • 09 • 30 • 07 • 11 • 35
08 • 31 • 28 • 20
A female querent is interested to see if she will have a
love interest soon. From this spread, we can tell this
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Lady (29) has a positive relationship in her near
future, as the Ring (25) falls directly to her right.
We draw lines from the Lady and the Gentleman
(28) to see where they meet at the Heart (24).
Card 24 is flanked by the Clover (2) and the Ship
(3), a good time and fun adventure awaits with
this love interest. We look to the cards around 28
to see more about him. He is flanked by the Sun
(31) and Park (20), indicating that he is rather pop-
ular and seen by many. The Lily (30) rests above
him, a sign of virtue. Things bode very well for our

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Lady’s interests.
When you avoid reading the Grand Tableau as a set
spread and open yourself to how the cards relate
to each other and interact, the elegance of the
Lenormand is heard loud and clear.

THREE- CARD STRINGS

Lenormand cards are very rarely read with fewer
than three cards. A three-card reading should give
you a short, simple answer with a subject, modi-
fier, and some action or outcome. A few examples
are given on the following pages.

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 — EXAMPLE 1 ­—
A Gentleman wonders if he’ll win a court case.

Bring documentation (Ring + Letter) and you’ll

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get your wish (Star).

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— EXAMPLE 2 —
­
A querent lost her wallet, where is it?

In her backpack (Book + Rider) in the back yard (Park).

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 — EXAMPLE 3 ­—
Will there be a second date?

Not anytime soon. A clouded heart leads to

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boredom (Trees).
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— EXAMPLE 4 ­—
How should I plan my project?

Go through multiple rounds of edits (Scythe +

Birch Rod) before showing for a group review
(Birch Rod + Park).
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