dream inspires lenormand

The Petit Lenormand is an old system of divination that is enjoying a huge revival at present. Although the deck is attributed to Marie Anne Lenormand, a Parisian cartomancer/fortune teller of the Napoleonic era, she used different cards, and the Lenormands we know today became popular after her time.

Traditionally, there are thirty six cards in a deck, but modern decks often feature additional ones. Lenormand readings take into account various pairings and combinations of cards, from only two, to nine or even all thirty-six, being followed up and down from each other, diagonally, from side to side and so on. The symbolism is tighter than that of tarot, although intuition still plays a major part in a reading.

The DREAM INSPIRES Lenormand uses illustrations or scenes created digitally from photographs. The name came about through a lot of thought on my part. I wanted a title that would echo the imagery of the deck, which has elements of myth, symbol and dream, as well as a hint of some of the ancient sacred sites of Britain (for example, number 5, THE TREE, shows Whiteleaved Oak, an extremely old tree often called the witches' oak because people come from all over the world to hang clooties or wish/spell/prayer tokens in its branches; 31, THE SUN, features the head of a sun god from the hot springs at Aqua Sulis, Bath; 22, THE PATHS or ROADS shows a section of Uffington White Horse). I live in Oxford, which is often called the City of Dreaming Spires, so the name of my deck is a play on words that indicates where I live as well as the inspiration of dream and legend.

All photographs used are my own except the following, which are used with kind permission of their originators (all on Flickr):
card 3, the seagull, Bertknot
card 7, the snake, Frank Vassen
card 14, the fox, Jans Canon
card 15, the bear, Erica Peterson
card 23, the mice, Chrstphre A Campbell
card 35, the anchor, Andrew James; the barnacles, Greg Dunlap

I feel excited to be part of the current Lenormand revival and hope people enjoy my deck. It was certainly fun to create.
Flick Merauld