Sign up: Fanciful Lenormand

[Joan Marie]

Well I think a lot of us have been watching a lot of TV series and maybe some movie lately, some have even been able to read while self isolating.

So lets pick a character from one of these adventures and do a Fanciful Lenormand reading for it!

And right now might be a good time to use the cards to explore an alternate universe where the problems are very intense, not yours, and not real.

Here's how it works: The sitter poses as a character from fiction. It can be from a book, TV show, Movie, legend, whatever you like. The sitter then poses a question to the reader that the fictional character would ask based on their situation. (Don't name your source, really pose the question as if you are the character looking for answers.)

The reader then tries to answer the question using any Lenormand spread they choose. I found starting with 5 or 7 cards to work best.

Using a fictional character, you can really work with some interesting questions that, fortunately or unfortunately, would not likely come up in our real lives. You can use any character but sometimes it's fun to choose a minor character. But it's up to you.

Also, since there are no real stakes, readers can really "say what they see" without worrying about any real-life repercussions. This can be really freeing.

Afterward, you can discuss the reading very objectively and compare styles and techniques openly, helping each other to learn and understand.

If you want to see an example, check out the readings from January. You'll get a feeling for how it works and also how much fun we had. You'll also see some of the really astonishing results we got.

I hope you'll join us! This is a great exercise for beginners and experienced Lenormand readers alike.

Dates:
Respond here to sign up by April 12.
Partners assigned April 13.
Readings posted by April 25.
Feedback posted by April 30.

The more the merrier!
Thanks everyone!

BTW- if you want to play but don't have a Lenny deck (yet) there is a 5-card computer draw on my website you can use. (scroll down a little bit, you'll see it.)
You can take a screenshot of it for your post OR just name the cards and I'll post them for you.

To join in, just reply to this post. On the 13th I'll assign you a partner and away we go. Easy-peasy!

[Rachelcat]

I'll join in! Although I have to warn you, I've been watching a lot of Star Trek (Enterprise) lately! Oh, and reading Jane Austen-inspired mysteries. We'll see what I come up with for a question . . . ! Thanks for organizing us!

[Merrick]

I’ll also sign up! I’m a real Lenormand newbie so reading for a fictional character seems about as low pressure as it gets.

[dodalisque]

Yes, please. Recently I have been reading ghost stories for the first time, but by the time partners are assigned my enthusiasm for them may have melted into thin air.

[Charlie Brown]

ok

[qndynes]

Oh my I missed this! It looks like so much fun and I've been wanting to practice my Lennie skills, will see if I can catch next month's reading circle.

[Joan Marie]

Oh my I missed this! It looks like so much fun and I've been wanting to practice my Lennie skills, will see if I can catch next month's reading circle.

I'm sorry too! But, while you are waiting for next month, feel free to follow along with the readings in progress here and don't be afraid to chime in.

Once the readings are complete we all start the process of "reverse-engineering" the readings to see where we went wrong and how we could have been more accurate.

This exercise is all about learning and having fun so the more the merrier.

[qndynes]

Oh my I missed this! It looks like so much fun and I've been wanting to practice my Lennie skills, will see if I can catch next month's reading circle.

I'm sorry too! But, while you are waiting for next month, feel free to follow along with the readings in progress here and don't be afraid to chime in.

Once the readings are complete we all start the process of "reverse-engineering" the readings to see where we went wrong and how we could have been more accurate.

This exercise is all about learning and having fun so the more the merrier.

I have been reading a bit in the exchanges, it looks like so fun, will keep up with it and follow along.

[Charlie Brown]

Once the readings are complete we all start the process of "reverse-engineering" the readings to see where we went wrong and how we could have been more accurate.

Well, wait then, I had a fundamentally different notion of what this exercise was about. I didn't think that goal was to "predict" what would happen in the book, but to read the cards in reference to a presented situation. There's a difference between asking "what should X do in this circumstance" vs "what happens to X after page 57?" If we're reverse engineering the readings to see where they went "wrong" then how is that any different from any other reading?

[Joan Marie]

Once the readings are complete we all start the process of "reverse-engineering" the readings to see where we went wrong and how we could have been more accurate.

Well, wait then, I had a fundamentally different notion of what this exercise was about. I didn't think that goal was to "predict" what would happen in the book, but to read the cards in reference to a presented situation. There's a difference between asking "what should X do in this circumstance" vs "what happens to X after page 57?" If we're reverse engineering the readings to see where they went "wrong" then how is that any different from any other reading?

You're right. What happens in the actual story is just a point of interest. The "reverse-engineering" is just another way to look at the result that the reader got.

[dodalisque]

Once the readings are complete we all start the process of "reverse-engineering" the readings to see where we went wrong and how we could have been more accurate.

Well, wait then, I had a fundamentally different notion of what this exercise was about. I didn't think that goal was to "predict" what would happen in the book, but to read the cards in reference to a presented situation. There's a difference between asking "what should X do in this circumstance" vs "what happens to X after page 57?" If we're reverse engineering the readings to see where they went "wrong" then how is that any different from any other reading?

You're right. What happens in the actual story is just a point of interest. The "reverse-engineering" is just another way to look at the result that the reader got.

I suppose there are two types of Fanciful reading. The first is where both people know how a familiar story turns out; and then the reader uses the cards to explore the psychology of the character asking the question at a crucial moment in the story. The second is where the reader attempts to predict how an unfamiliar story turns out.

We have recently been leaning towards the second option, which is supposedly better suited to the old-fashioned, material world, predictive power of Lenormand. Though often humiliating and doomed to failure, since good novels tend to have highly imaginative, surprise endings that are difficult to anticipate, I find this a lot of fun. There is nothing to lose in getting it wrong and making hilarious (though justifiable and logical) mistakes. But in a way this is very similar to a real life reading. We don't know how someone's life story is going to turn out. (Though sometimes we scare ourselves when our intuition happens to get it right. It is generally fairly easy to make a pretty good guess. People are more predictable than they think.)

With the second type of reading we are essentially pretending that my cards are magic and I am clairvoyant and I can see into the future. The first option is more chicken-livered, more associated with modern psychological tarot than with circus tent predictions. We are saying: if I get a read on who you are with my cards, you person asking the question, I can offer you advice about your own motivations and the forces pressing on you, and from that I can possibly recommend the best way for you to proceed. The distinction between the two types of reading is: the reader either believes he can see into the future or he doesn't. In this exercise the second type of reader at least pretends to be a clairvoyant gypsy fortune-teller. So a fictitious fortune-teller is reading for a fictitious character.

CB, the predictive second type of reading is no different from when you memorably predicted the ending of "Game of Thrones" with Len cards.