If you’ve been reading Tarot cards, Lenormand cards, Playing cards or Oracle cards for a while now, you’ve likely noticed the cards are perfectly happy to answer pretty much any type of question. It’s just as valid to ask “Will I have fun at the party?” as it is to question whether or not your job is secure, your significant other is cheating on you, or if you’ll pass the real estate licensing exam.
For example, my 7 year old grandson really, really, really wants a particular Skylanders game for Christmas…
This is one of the most direct, literal spreads I’ve ever thrown. Coffinends things and Birdscan show stress, anxiety or worry that is often short-lived. In the context of my question, I can see that Birds + Coffin easily translates to “Don’t worry!”
Clover is the central or hinge card, giving a very positive spin to this spread. Clover indicates good luck and positive opportunities. Followed by Rider, it’s easy to see that good things are on their way to my grandson (Child).
I had to smile at this very pleasant probable future. “Don’t worry, Sweetie,” I told him. “Just tell Santa you really, really, really want that game and I’m sure he’ll bring it to you.”
Of course, I’ll be sure to put in a good word with his mother…….
In my previous post I discussed the correlation between predictions and probable outcomes and cautioned against inadvertently creating self-fulfilling prophecies for yourself.
Despite what I said, the ability to predict with the cards is a valuable skill and one well worth learning. If you’d like to explore that path, you may find the following guidelines useful:
Draw cards every day.
A time-tested way to learn how a particular card system speaks to you is to perform and record a daily draw in the morning, interpret it, then record feedback at the end of the day. If you make this daily ritual part of your routine, your ability to read cards correctly will greatly improve.
Record your daily card draws!
What is the point of pulling some cards, making an awesome, intuitive connection that actually pans out correctly in real life, only to “forget” how the card combination spoke to you? Make it a habit to record your daily card draws!
Record your daily card draws in a dedicated journal
The easiest way to record daily draws (especially if you’re short on time in the morning) is to use one of those weekly planners that has spaces for each day of the week in a two-page spread. All you need to do is jot down your daily cards in the space for the day and add your interpretations or predictions. Because a years’ worth of dates are already printed in the book, you get the extra bonus of being able to record a years’ worth of daily draws all in one book, making it easy to go back and see how things played out. Pick a planner that “speaks” to you; one you will enjoy using.
(If time is not an issue, or if you prefer, you could purchase and use a lined journal or notebook dedicated to recording your daily draws.)
Consider using a weekly planner to record your daily tarot card or Lenormand card predictions
One card is hard to interpret and more than 3 is overkill. Record the cards and jot down a brief interpretation and 1 or 2 predictions. At day’s end, review your entry. What actually happened during your day? How did the cards play out? Was your prediction accurate or were you way off base?
Add your card combinations or interpretations to your favorite reference books.
Jot down card combinations or interpretations that prove accurate into the margins of favorite reference books and place your initials and the date in parentheses. That way, over time, you will have developed rich, personalized and customized, master reference books of your own. (I write in the margins of Sylvie Steinbach’s Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle and Trish MacGregor & Phyllis Vega’s Power Tarot.)
Practice, practice, practice!
The key to improving your ability to predict correctly is consistent, daily practice. Don’t let early failures or faulty predictions deter you. Over time you will find your “hit rate” improving. As with any other skill you may be trying to develop, daily, consistent practice is essential.
Consider recording your card combination interpretations in the margins of a favorite reference book.
Predictions and Probable Outcomes
You may also find, much to your amazement and delight, that your improved ability to predict with tarot cards, Lenormand cards, playing cards or oracle decks helps enormously in tracking your own subconscious or unconscious motives, beliefs and thoughts, making it easier to practice conscious creation as you attempt to manifest good things into your life. Because you already know that a probable outcome is just that: a probable outcome, you will develop the ability to catch yourself in a negative mindset, question your motives, thoughts and beliefs and make another (hopefully more positive) choice for yourself.
It’s natural to be attracted to, or intrigued by, the uncanny ability Tarot Cards, Lenormand Cards, Playing Cards and Oracle decks seem to possess. Logical or not, cards appear to be able to predict the future. That’s what draws many people to card divination in the first place. We want to know what’s going to happen today, whether he or she likes us, will we get the job, what if the money doesn’t come through in time, etc., etc.
If you are even semi-serious about card reading, that particular mindset can be less than helpful. This is because any card draw, using any deck, for any question, at any given moment in time, is simply reflecting the prevailing energies in motion at the time of the question.
In other words, 9 times out of 10, what you are seeing is a probable future and not one that is set in stone.
Furthermore, if you don’t monitor them, your own thoughts, beliefs and feelings about the message(s) you got from the cards will influence what actually transpires. Sometimes, without even realizing it, you wind up setting a “self-fulfilling prophecy” into motion. This can have either good or bad results depending on whether your thoughts, beliefs and feelings about the question asked and answer received are predominantly positive or negative.
If up until now you’ve been reading cards from a basically predictive mindset, you don’t need to stop. But you might want to consider exploring a different layer of information the cards may be suggesting. Are they really answering your question as you stated it or could they be answering another, underlying, question?
I’ve found that’s often the case and if I dig around a little, and/or revise my question based on fresh insights I’ve gotten from the spread, I can ferret out information and advice that’s inordinately more helpful than the “answer” to the question I originally asked.
From time to time I use clarification cards in Tarot readings, particularly when I’m having difficulty understanding the meaning of a card I draw for a certain position. I also use them on a fairly regular basis to give a summary or clarification of a reading.
There are four main ways I do this:
1. Pull the top (or bottom) card from the remaining deck (after having laid out the entire spread).
2. Pull the bottom card from the pile assigned to the position I wish to further explore. (I do this when prior to card selection, I cut the deck into as many piles as I have positions.)
3. Add the numerical values of the cards laid out in the spread, reduce to 22 or less, locate that card in the remaining deck and select the cards before and after as well (three clarification cards total).
4. Pull a card (or cards) at random from the remaining deck.
Lenormand cards are read differently than Tarot cards and some readers insist you should not “mix up the rules.”
While I understand and appreciate this viewpoint, I also believe each reader should experiment and use what works for him or her, even if “that’s not the way you’re supposed to do it.”
I often use Lines when I draw Lenormand cards. While I usually draw a Line of 5, you can also use a Line of 3, a Line of 7, or a Line of 9. Using an odd number of cards gives you a central, or “hinge” card, which can be used to determine the focus or theme of the spread. If you browse through some of the Lenormand posts on this website, you’ll notice that I’ll often place an additional card below the central card of the spread.
While you could certainly chose another selection method, I select the base card (the bottom card of the remaining deck) as the clarification card. I use clarification cards in my Lenormand spreads because I have consistently found that they will almost always provide me with additional information and/or clarification.
Sometimes the clarification card will modify one or more cards above it. Sometimes I’ll get the intuitive sense that it represents a “House” in which the central card sits.
In the above example, 6 Clouds as the clarification suggests uncertainty at best and dashed hopes that result in heartbreak at worst.
Not to leave you hanging, the spread above was cast last Spring to find out whether a student would get accepted to a particular college. The application to college (Letter + Tower) had been made with high hopes (Stars) but would end in heartbreak (Scythe + Heart). While the Line of 5 was clear enough by itself, the clarification card 6 Clouds reiterated the depressing nature of the prediction (which, unfortunately, turned out to be true).
I’m curious to learn your thoughts about the use of clarification cards in Lenormand readings. Do you use them? Why or why not? Please use the comment feature to let me know.
As I’ve mentioned, I pull cards every day. When I can’t “think” of a specific question, I usually ask the cards to tell me something that “will happen,” that I “need to know,” or simply give me a general “heads up” about a situation or circumstance that may impact me.
One morning back in September, after mulling over whether I should re-involve with this website (I’d let it slide over the summer), I decided to give the cards free reign. You pick the topic, I silently instructed, and tell me something I need to know. I pre-decided that the central card of a Line of 5 would symbolize the topic.
I’m using an actual page from my personal journal to show you what the Lenormand cards dished up:
33 Key – 12 Birds – 29 Woman – 15 Bear – 14 Fox – 4 House
Note: in addition to drawing a Line of 5, it’s my personal preference to also include the base card (bottom card of the shuffled deck) in the layout, since I find it usually provides helpful information and/or clarifies the reading.
It was obvious the reading was about me (29 Woman as the central card, symbolizing the topic). Since Woman was surrounded by Birds and Bear, money worries or financial stress was factoring in. Key mirroring Fox suggested the solution (Key) was a job (Fox).
I thought about what the cards were saying, wondering why they would suggest a job, perhaps a managerial job or something to with accounting or numbers (Bear + Fox), I could do from home (House). The suggestion left me flat. I’m retired, but I still want and need to bring a little extra cash in each month to supplement social security. But a job? A boring, clerical job?
Suddenly, the light bulb went off. 4 House could also be symbolizing my “home page,” or my website. When I initially set this site up, the plan included monetizing it to provide a little extra retirement cash. The cards were simply reminding me:
The solution (Key) to the money stress (Birds + Bear) is to work (Fox) on the website (House).
Once again, the Lenormand cards provided clear and insightful information I can use to help me accomplish a practical goal. I encourage you to develop your own card reading skills so that you, too, can learn to work more productively with your subconscious mind.
Blessings,
Mary Hawkins
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