The most asked questions in Facebook groups are how we determine the positive versus negative answers of the Lenormand deck. To understand these qualities, you have to first respect the early instructions of your Lenormand deck.
Lenormand Origins
Do you know where your Lenormand deck originated? I would put my life on a few readers stating France as a source! Maybe the name Lenormand is giving the deck a French feel and of course we do have a nod in that direction for the marketing of the deck in the name of Mlle Lenormand. However, we can trace the deck back to origins in Germany and a stone's throw from where I sit writing this blog. Why is it important to know the country of publication? We need to see the earliest instructions! The earliest "retrievable" instructions for the 36 Card deck. It is true that many decks were released in the late 18th to mid 19th century, many oracles in the name of Mlle. Lenormand. I have a ton of eBay finds in my drawers from this period varying from 32 cards to 52 card decks - all with the title "Lenormand Fortune Telling Cards" or the "Fortune Telling Cards of Mlle Lenormand" - they all have one thing in common - German instruction manual with the same core meanings for the cards we now know as 1 Rider to 36 Cross.
If you speak languages you will know that translations can be the killer of meanings and interpretation can really send the audience down the wrong rabbit hole! There are nuances in the German early instructions that have not passed well into what we know of the English and French instructions - nuances that have been misunderstood at an essence level - I only realised this when moving to Germany in 2006.
In order to know your positive versus negative cards you should read through these instructions and use them as your baseline for future reads! Try it - even if you have been reading Lenormand for years, take time out to walk in the shoes of the early German instructions. I promise you, they will make your readings clear and easy to see!
The German Instructions
"Lenormand Erklärung ca. 1850".
1 Knight / Cavalier, indicates good news, but a little removed, it can have to do with the residence of the person, or arrival from a foreign country. This card is a messenger of good fortune, when it is not surrounded by sinister cards.
2 Clover, is also a harbinger of good news, surrounded by clouds it is the omen of great pain, if this card is located close to a querent, these sorrows will not be long-term, and will have a happy ending.
3 Ship, the symbol of commerce, signifies great wealth, acquired by trade or inheritance, if near to the querent it signifies a journey.
4 House, means success and prosperity in all undertakings. Even when the present situation of the person is unfortunate, they can expect a better future. If this card is located in the middle of the spread, under the person, this is a hint to be on their guard regarding those who surround them.
5 Tree, far from the person, is a sign of health, several together do not leave any doubt on the accomplishment of their wishes or on a brilliant fortune in the future.
6 Clouds, when their clear side is turned towards the person, is a happy sign, but if this is the obscure side, some trouble will not delay arising.
7 Serpent, is a sign of misfortune, that is ruled by whether the card is close to or far from the person, invariably followed by deceit, infidelity and sorrow.
8 Coffin, very close to the person, invariably means serious illness, death and the total loss of fortune. Further from the person this card is the less dangerous.
9 Bouquet, of flowers means much happiness in all respects.
10 Scythe, omen of a great danger only avoided when it is surrounded by good cards.
11 Rod, means discord in the family, domestic sorrows, dissension between spouses, fever or extended illness.
12 Birds, means difficulties that one will have to withstand, but of short duration. Far from the person, this card is the sign of a happy trip.
13 Child, is a sign that one has only good associations, and that one is full of goodness with regard to everyone.
14 Fox, if this card is close, it is necessary to beware of those one is in contact with, because someone seeks to fool us, in the opposite case there is no danger.
15 Bear, is either a messenger of good fortune, or indicates it is necessary to distance ourselves from company, especially envious people.
16 Star signifies fortune in all enterprises, but if close to clouds, it indicates lots of unhappy occurrences.
17 Stork, close to the person, indicates a change of current residence, the closer to the querent the sooner.
18 Dog, very near, assures faithful and sincere friendships,distant and surrounded by clouds it warns one not to trust those that call themselves our friends.
19 Tower, signifies a long and happy old age, but surrounded by clouds, it forewarns of illness, disease, even depending on the circumstances also death.
20 Garden or Forest, signifies getting together with respected company, very near it shows an intimate friendship, removed, this is a sign of false friends.
21 Mountain, close to the person, warns about a powerful enemy, but when distant one can count on powerful friends.
22 Roads, surrounded by clouds are signs of misfortune, far from clouds and the person, there are ways or means that we will find to escape a danger.
23 Mouse, is a sign of theft, if it is near, one will recover what is taken, if it is far away, the loss is irretrievable.
24 Heart, sign of joy, union and bliss.
25 Ring, to the right of the person announces a rich and happy marriage, but removed and to the left it announces a broken engagement or separation of two lovers.
26 Book, a secret will come to light, its position allows us to judge what it concerns, it is necessary to act with caution when trying to discover it.
27 Letter, without clouds marks a happiness derived from pleasant news coming from afar, but if clouds are located with their dark side near the person, they must expect a lot of sorrows.
28 Gentleman
29 Lady
30 Lily, announces a happy life, surrounded by clouds, it indicates family grief. If this card is located above the person, it designates virtue, below, it casts doubts on their good morals.
31 Sun, close, its rays shine, and allow happiness to bloom, but from afar it cools, brings sorrow and misfortune. Without the presence of Sun, nothing can grow.
32 Moon, is a sign of great honour, fortune and fame if close to the person, on the contrary, if it is distant it announces misfortune.
33 Key, very near announces the certain success of a matter but distant it is the opposite.
34 Fish, close to the querent signifies making a fortune in a maritime enterprise, and a series of successful undertakings, but if it is distant, failure of projects no matter how well planned.
35 Anchor, is the sign for luck at sea, in trade and in love, but in the distance it indicates an error of judgement and the love of a butterfly.
36 Cross, is always unlucky, nevertheless if it is very close to the person, one has hope it won’t last long.
Positive versus Negative
Now we have our ducks in a row, we can use these instructions to determine positive versus negative status. All we need is to recognise the main point in each instruction:
1 Knight / Cavalier, indicates good news. This card is a messenger of good fortune, when it is not surrounded by sinister cards.
Positive - only lessened with negative cards around!
2 Clover, is also a harbinger of good news.
Positive - only lessened with 6 Cloud around!
3 Ship, the symbol of commerce, signifies great wealth.
Positive (great wealth really cannot be neutral!)
4 House, means success and prosperity in all undertakings.
Positive
5 Tree, far from the person, is a sign of health.
We need to mentally process this one ... when Tree is FAR it shows good health - this means the closer it gets the more negative it becomes and bad health ensues. Therefore Tree is a negative card when close.
= Negative
6 Clouds, when their clear side is turned towards the person, is a happy sign, but if this is the obscure side, some trouble will not delay arising.
Clouds needs all the other instructions mixed in to understand when Clouds comes it is negative (for example with Clover or with Tower etc).
= Negative
7 Serpent, is a sign of misfortune.
Negative
8 Coffin, very close to the person, invariably means serious illness, death and the total loss of fortune.
Negative
9 Bouquet, of flowers means much happiness in all respects.
Positive
10 Scythe, omen of a great danger.
Negative
11 Rod, means discord in the family.
Negative
12 Birds, means difficulties that one will have to withstand.
Negative - only not negative when super far away!
13 Child, is a sign that one has only good associations.
Positive
14 Fox, if this card is close, it is necessary to beware of those one is in contact with, because someone seeks to fool us.
Negative
15 Bear, is either a messenger of good fortune, or indicates it is necessary to distance ourselves from company, especially envious people.
Positive - in fact so positive that everyone is envious!
16 Star signifies fortune in all enterprises.
Positive
17 Stork, close to the person, indicates a change of current residence, the closer to the querent the sooner.
Neutral - it does not state whether the change of residence is positive or negative.
18 Dog, very near, assures faithful and sincere friendships.
Positive - loyalty is a good thing!
19 Tower, signifies a long and happy old age.
Positive - a long life is wonderful!
20 Garden or Forest, signifies getting together with respected company.
Neutral - it does not state a good or bad outcome.
21 Mountain, close to the person, warns about a powerful enemy, but when distant one can count on powerful friends.
Negative - enemies nearby.
22 Roads, surrounded by clouds are signs of misfortune, far from clouds and the person, there are ways or means that we will find to escape a danger.
Think about this for a moment, the German text suggests that there are ONLY ways to escape danger if this card is far from both Clouds and the person card. This suggests that Crossroads always brings in an element of danger when nearby ....
= Negative
23 Mouse, is a sign of theft.
Negative
24 Heart, sign of joy, union and bliss.
Positive
25 Ring, to the right of the person announces a rich and happy marriage, but removed and to the left it announces a broken engagement or separation of two lovers.
Neutral - depends on the direction!
26 Book, a secret will come to light, its position allows us to judge what it concerns, it is necessary to act with caution when trying to discover it.
Neutral - depends on what it concerns!
27 Letter, without clouds marks a happiness derived from pleasant news coming from afar, but if clouds are located with their dark side near the person, they must expect a lot of sorrows.
Positive and good news without Clouds nearby.
28 Gentleman Neutral
29 Lady Neutral
30 Lily, announces a happy life, surrounded by clouds, it indicates family grief. If this card is located above the person, it designates virtue, below, it casts doubts on their good morals.
Positive but position does alter.
31 Sun, close, its rays shine, and allow happiness to bloom.
Positive
32 Moon, is a sign of great honour, fortune and fame.
Positive
33 Key, very near announces the certain success of a matter but distant it is the opposite.
Positive
34 Fish, close to the querent signifies making a fortune in a maritime enterprise, and a series of successful undertakings.
Positive
35 Anchor, is the sign for luck at sea, in trade and in love.
Positive
36 Cross, is always unlucky.
Negative
The Total Sum
Let's have a look at the total sum of the positive versus negative interactions:
Positive Lenormand Cards 18
Negative Lenormand Cards 12
Neutral Lenormand Cards 6
Who says Lenormand is a negative deck!!?
How to read Yes / No Questions
Now we have the baseline information we can pull 3 cards for a yes / no question! I personally use 1 card an awful lot for yes or no questions - its so much clearer - but, I know a lot of you do not trust your 1 card answers so let's forge ahead with 3.
If you haven't yet seen my video on "probability" in a question / answer / outcome, then do so now! If you have then read on:
In a Yes / No straight 3 card question, chose your focus card (for this exercise we will use Card 1), the focus card will give you the most probable outcome (Yes or No) then the following cards will weigh it out in probability. Also, if a theme card jumps out it is a second confirmation of your answer (for example in a love question Heart is a double yes - In a business read Ship is a double yes).
For example:
Question: Does he love her?
Heart + Bear + Mouse
For Sure + Yes + No
In this line up the "yes" answers win with a little side order of it diminishing ... so yes, but maybe not as much as she would hope.
Question: Does he love her?
Clouds + Heart + Mouse
No Way + For Sure + No
In this line up the "No's" are balanced out by a double"Yes" - the answer is "somewhat" -but not an unconditional love by any stretch of the imagination!
Question: Will I get the Job
Moon + Ship + Child
Yes + Yes + Yes
For certain!
Question: Will I get the Job
Ring + Man facing right + Moon
No + Neutral + Yes
In this case the Ring is in the negative position and becomes a "No", Man has no affect on the yes/no outcome and Moon is a Yes. However, Ring is the main position (Card 1) so trumps Moon and is in the negative position for ring ... You will not get the job but you will get a pat on the back for applying "thank you for your application, whilst we recognise that you have many attributes that are required in this position, we have employed a more suitable candidate for the role".
So that being said - go forth and practice - if you decide to use your own system then Kudos to you - if you find this works for you, then my job is done, thank you for trying it out!
Join me at the World Divination Association for more reading insights :)
HI Raul Ts,
Very interesting perspective learnt today of using playing cards insets to predict Yes/No. Will try this approach as well and observe. Thank you so much.
Hi Toni,
Appreciate your quick response. I treat negatives as negative and positive as positives. I set the intention as follows when I did the read for Yes/No on Team A Vs Team B match. Will team A win against team B? and then asked the same question reversed with another deck Will team B win against team A? Should I be doing it differently to interpret the response from the cards correctly? Thank you so much.
Hello good day , reading at your post about team A and team B , the way i do positive and negative cards in Lenormand , is taking the RED playing cards symbols as POSITIVE and the BLACK playing cards symbols as NEGATIVE . In the case of your reading , this way would give TEAM B as positive and TEAM A as negative for the win. And the TEAM B won !!!!
TEAM A : LETTER - 7 SPADES - NEGATIVE
FOX - 9 CLUBS - NEGATIVE
KEY - 8 DIAMONDS - POSITIVE
TEAM B : CLOVER - 6 DIAMONDS - POSITIVE
BEAR - 10 CLUBS - NEGATIVE
COFFIN - 9 DIAMONDS - POSITIVE
So we have : TEA…
I would really recommend honing in on your intention - did you say for example, “negative cards mean no” Before you laid or similar - if we work on our intention a trillion times a day then there is no mix ups when it comes to the actual winners versus losers - I would suggest intention wasn’t watertight before laying. ❤️
I did a Yes/No for a match outcome between teams A and B. I predicted team A will win, however it was team B that won the match. The first card was the focus card. In this case, both teams had positive cards in the first position. The Coffin for Team B and Key in team A made me decide that it would be Team A that will win some trickery up their sleeve.
Team A : Letter Fox Key
Team B: Clover Bear Coffin.
Could you give me some guidance or advice here? I still didn't get Team B cards won despite having coffin.
Thank you Toni!