Grand Tableau: Using the Fairy Tale Lenormand

Grand Tableaus are the mother of disciplines in reading Lenormand cards.

Personally, I often struggle reading Grand Tableaus, because there are simply too many cards and it's hard to decide which ones are important, and which cards you can leave out. I don't look at everything while I read. Also, I'm a picky Lenormand deck collector. I love collecting these decks, even though unlike Tarot, if the symbology deviates, the cards become basically unreadable, which means every Lenormand deck SHOULD read the same.

 Fairy Tale Lenormand by Lisa Hunt. Comes in a tin box with a LWB and additional Man/Woman cards

I have a love/hate relationship with Lisa Hunt's decks. On the one hand, I love fairy tales and I love her art. On the other hand, I do own her Fairy Tale Tarot deck and never use it, because it's just too detailed and there is no focus on the symbolism, making it a chore to read. 

When I ordered the Lenormand deck, it didn't even occur to me that this might be the same with this type of deck. Unfortunately, I was right. The images in the pictures are clogged and detailed. A few are easy to get on the first glance - The Tree, Tower, Whip and Stork. However, others are just confusing to look at. The Bear features two girls that are more prominent than the image of the bear. The Sun is outshone by the kissy-faced people in front of it. The Scythe has little contrast and you can't recognize it from far away.

 

My Grand Tableau of the week using the Fairy Tale Lenormand

As you can see, these cards don't lend themselves too well to the Lenormand structure and demands. The images are just too busy to draw conclusions at a glance.

 

 The female significator, preceeded by the Sun, followed by the Cross. Topped by the Mice, the Lilies (not the Frog in spite of the prominent Frog on it!) and the Birds.

Because the deck is so hard to take in at a glance, I struggled even more to read this usually simple "One Week Forecast" Grand Tableau which I did as an excercise. I identified the Woman card (Cinderella) in the lower left of the Grand Tableau. Because she sits in the lowest row, little can be done by me to influence the situation, a lot is weighing down on me. The Woman is preceeded by the Sun, but as you will see below, the Sun is weighed down by the Mice and preceeded by the Fox. Whatever success I achieved in the last week, I couldn't really enjoy it because of petty stresses and work.

 The present row: Tower, Garden and Lilies topping the woman.

Then, I took a closer look at the present situation: The Woman card is below the Tower, the Garden and the Lilies. I take the Tower and Garden to mean rigid society and the Lilies a mature view and action toward that society. A real adulting situation.

 All the bad cards: Clouds, Whip, Snake and Mice around the Tree

I don't look at everything, but I do look for the Clouds. The clouds aren't anywhere near my significator, but together with the Whip, The Snake and the Mice they are surrounding my pretty health tree. So bad health awaits, mostly because of stresses.

 The Man: Surrounded by the Rider, Stork, Dog (not Ring, in spite of the Ring!), Letter and Crossroads

I have a more positive outlook for the Man (my boyfriend. Next to him is the Stork. combined with the Rider that precedes him and the Child that comes after the Stork he will have a pretty decent week, maybe he'll even find a new passion or rekindle his connection to some friends far away (Dog+Letter+Crossroads).

 Path to the future week: Cross, Anchor, Heart, Clover, Bear, Scythe

Looking at the week ahead, I have here exactly 7 cards. One for each of the day (Yey!). The Cross comes first with theAanchor, so troubles and heavy burdens will remain throughout the week (I do have some important stuff to do). However, I will be happy with my boyfriend (we are visiting the cricus!) but I might get into a fight with my mother (Bear+Scythe).

 Between Womand and Man: Direct diagonal with Birds and Dog

Finally, the Womand and Man are connected by the Dog and the Birds, so socializing will bring a deeper connection between us. Maybe there is a party we could go to!

 

Final thoughts: It is possible to read with the Fairy Tale Lenormand, but honestly, it's twice as exhausting as a simple deck would have been. The stress of relooking at the cards to make sure you have the Dog instead of the Fox and the Ring instead of the Dog (the dog looks like a Fox and features a big ring that looks the same as the ring in the Ring card -.-) isn't really worth it. Maybe for 2 or 3-card readings, this deck is suitable. Right now, I only do Grand Tableaus and it's pretty annoying. I suppose that like the Fairy Tale Tarot from the same artist, I won't be using this deck much.

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess

Owning your deck part 5: Custom Titles

Have you ever felt like a certain rendition of a card didn't match the interpretation you learned?

I studied the RWS system. That is, I read a ton of books on the RWS Tarot, regurgigated again and again the individual meanings of the cards until I finally reached a point where I feel comfortable reading cards pretty intuitively. Since many decks are based on A. Waite and Pamela-Coleman-Smith's famous rendition of the Tarot, reading intuitively usually just means connecting the keywords in my mind to the image I see on the card.

6 times Death:

RWS (top) (left to right) Morgan Greer, Triomphes de la Lune, Fairy Tale Tarot, Prisma Visions Tarot, Sakki Sakki Tarot

As you can see here, I laid out 6 renditions of the Key XIII, or Death, card. The uppermost one is obviously both the most famous and also lends itself to inspiration for other artists. While many decks are direct RWS clones borrowing from Coleman-Smith's art without questioning the symbols and composition of the image, many new interpretations are seen, especially in the Major Arcana. The Majors, unlike the Courts or Pips, are often reinterpreted, leading to entirely different meanings.

In this set of 6, you can see Death as a skeleton that ends the life of rich and poor, young and olf alike (RWS). Then, there is Death as the classic grim reaper, shown to be more of a boogey man than a fact of life (Morgan Greer). Next, Death is both the end with a sdword through her head and rebirth, with the newborn already crawling out of her belly (Triomphes de la Lune by Patrick Valenza). Lisa Hunt's Fairy Tale Tarot goes as far as to give the card a new title. Instead of choosing an actual occurence of death in a fairy tale, the artist chose Beauty and the Beast to depict Key XIII. Beauty and beast look at each other and realise that this relationship between woman and animal must end to make way for man and woman (as seen in shadows above their two heads). This death is not simply an end, but a Transformation.
The Prisma Visions Tarot, while not a direct RWS clone, borrows a lot from Coleman-Smith's symbology. In this card, a skeletal hand holds the white rose that is also depicted in the RWS and Morgan Greer decks. A very clear, but slightly more abstract and less morbid way to present Death.
Finally, the Sakki-Sakki Tarot is a complete clone of the RWS deck, but has its own sense of humor. Death, while the symbols and depiction remains nearly the same as the original Key XIII, doesn't seem frightening but rather comical. The horse looks more like a dog and the skeleton has funny features.

Depending on which deck I use, I see the Death card in a different light. I don't like to read the Fairy Tale Tarot with the RWS meanings without questioning what I see. The same goes for every other deck. The picture decides what the cards want to say to you.

This is the reason why I decided to add new titles to some of the cards in the Romantic Tarot. As I said before, the Romantic Tarot is my most customized deck. It barely ressembles its original form, having been stripped of its box and its borders and having gained red edges and some glitter.

 "ACE" written in gold pen

I was afraid edging would ruin the cards and smudge them. Then I was afraid the glitter wouldn't look good. Finally, I didn't want to take a gold metallic pen and draw on my beloved deck. I overcame this fear by doing this to a deck that doesn't have a great material worth. Also, I bought a second, replacement deck of the Romantic Tarot (it being one of my favorites), in case I ruined my copy.

 

 Key XIII Death retitled "Black Widow"

Many Majors in the Romantic Tarot have some symbology from the RWS deck, but they use it differently and the cards simply don't feel the same. As you can see above, Key XIII: Death in the Romantic Tarot shows a young widow wistfully glancing at a grave. It is unclear whether she loved the person or not, or whether she has gotten rid of an unwanted husband and now basks in her success. The soft coloring and the wistful style of the illlustration make it hard to view this as a classic Death card. The end has already happened (the person in the grave has been dead long enough to set up a stone) and the new beginning has already started. Thus I retitled this card "black widow", as the woman has now reached a new identity and phase of her life. 

 

Key 0: The Fool and Key XXI: The World retitled as 

"sans-soucis" (French for "without worries")

Another thing I did is to use my own interpretations of certain core ideas and form them into words. The Fool and The World - being the beginning and the finale of a full circle, always formed a couple to me. Those two cards really needed a deeper connection, because the RWS Fool and World are disjointed and don't allow for the reader to grasp the journey or at least the circular nature of the Tarot.

I had a striking inspiration for this dilemma while visiting Castle Sanssouci near Berlin.

Castle Sanssouci in Berlin. Picture credit: wikipedia

 

The castle and adjoining gardens are beautiful, and Frederick the Great aptly named his new abode "Sanssouci", which is French, for "without worries". It suddenly occured to me that the Fool and the World did have one single, connecting idea: that of being free of worries.

Obviously the Fool is worriless for different reasons than the character of the World, which is complete instead of foolhardy. However, the word does connect both concepts seamlessly.

In the Romantic Tarot, we see both the Fool and the World with a blue sky in the background. While the confident Dandy steps onto a flying dove, the parents in hold up the globe on which sits the child. This connection is really renedered more obvious to me now that I added the titles.

Have you ever changed the titles on your decks? And if so, did you write the changes down or did you simply start viewing cards differently?

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess

Solid Perfume DIY

Making a solid perfume is relatively simple, as I found out online. Unfortunately, easy directions don't always yield the planned results. It was like this for me with solid perfume.

 All you need: Beeswax, Carrier Oil (Using Sweet Alomd), a container and the essential oil of choice!

 I'm using the yellow kind of beeswax. The flakes are pillowy and very small, probably to make them easier to melt.

Beeswax and carrier oil are poured in equal measure (1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon)

 Using Lavender Essential Oil by Mystic Moments

 This is Lilac Perfume Oil (not essential oil!). And I'm not sure this even smells like lilac at all ...

 The container I chose - I bought it like this

 There's even a plastic flap in the middle.

 The container looks small, but it fills about 15ml

 Experimenting with two pots ... 

 This little container is where the essential oils are mixed (before the wax and oil come in)

 The stuff dries REALLY quickly ...

The way I did it (probably not the right way, because it doesn't smell the way I wanted it to)

1. Get Beeswax, Carrier Oil and Essential Oil of choice and a tiny container

2. Melt Beeswax and carrier oil in a pot that is put into another pot which is filled with boiling water

3. do not boil the oil and beeswax directly!

4. in a separate bowl or cup, mix your favorite scents. Do NOT pour them into the heated mixture

5. pour hot beeswax and oil into the scented oil cup and mix quickly

6. pour everything into the chosen tiny container and let it set

The whole procedure takes only about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately I'm a terrible perfumist, so I'll have to try harder next time!

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess

The Deviant Moon Family: two decks, one soul

Here it is!! Patrick Valenza's Triomphes de la Lune French Text Edition wrapped in beautiful gold paper (sadly the glittery paper is hard to distinguish on my shitty phone camera) and signed on the back by the artist (see below).

The first deck I owned: The Deviant Moon Premier Edition 

with hideous white borders. Picture credit: amazon

The Deviant Moon Tarot was the first deck I ever owned. I remember ordering the fancy "Premier Edition" set off amazon, which at the time included a big box that wasn't very sturdy, another smaller box with the (original, bordered) deck and LWB. Also included was a pretty flimsy sheet that has a 12 card layout drafted on it. The meanings and keywords in the LWB were sketchy at best, so as a complete novice I struggled to do this 12 card layout and quickly gave up.

Sorry for the bad quality :( 4 of Wands, 9 of Cups, 6 of Cups, Borderless Edition)

As you can see, the cards ARE aligned with RWS tradition and a lot of themes are directly cloned from the original deck. However, this deck is also somewhat busy and very unique, making it hard to tell the emotion on the card if you take them in all at once. Now that I've learned all the card meanings, the Deviant Moon is an excellent deck for me to work with. However, as a novice it was very intimidating and hard to connect to (with or without borders!).

Triomphes de la Lune, signed by Patrick Valenza. The flap held the two bonus cards.

 Exclusive bonus cards for the French Text Edition were Key 20 Judgment and Key 17 Star (not shown) as well as this random playing card of which I'm not sure it was supposed to be included.

I remember that this was the beginning of my fascination with fortune telling decks. I'm not sure what exactly triggered my initial interest, but I always was fascinated by the occult and supernatural, and also by Buddhism etc. I got my first Lenormand deck around the same time, the Under the Roses Lenormand. It is a great beginners deck, although I didn't grasp the meanings quickly because I only studied with the LWB instead of getting a full size book on the subject.

My Tarot Practice really started when I got my first books on the topic. And it really grew when I got Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot, which is the best and most relevant book on the topic.

I stand by the opinion that the Deviant Moon is a poor beginners deck. I also strongly suggest you get the borderless edition.

Bordered and borderless Edition of Deviant Moon deck. Picture credit: Patrick Valenza

As you can see, even if borders don't normally bother you, the borderless edition on the right gives off a much deeper vibe of the card image, while the frame and pale coloring in the left really detract from the experience.

Recently, Patrick Valenza of the Deviant Moon Tarot released the Trionfi della Luna Major Arcana. it was a Majors only deck with Italian text titles and with some extra bonus cards, and Patrick released it in some so-called paradoxical versions as well (with strange, inverted coloring of the antique deck, which might appeal to some but not to all. Also, they glow in black light!!).

The Majors only deck was then followed by the full-sized 90 cards deck that includes 12 extra cards (1 extra major, 10 oracle cards and 1 Title card). You can get this deck here.

The deck has Italian text, but an English booklet with meanings is scheduled to be released online at some point. Even without knowledge of Italian, the practiced Tarotist should be able to identify all the cards with ease.

Signed extra card of the original Deviant Moon deck (with borders) that came with the new Triomphes de la Lune deck (see back of the box on the right) as a free gift

On top of the box, there is this nice illustration, which reminds me of Key 8: Strength (the image happens to be one of the extra Oracle cards in the deck!!)

On the side of the box, there is a brief explanation of the deck (in English even though this is the French text Edition ... so weird but ok)

Two examples for the Oracle cards in the deck (there are ten of them and they are numbered but without titles). As you can see, I made them borderless. The lower card is left with a border for this image for reference)

The deck is limited to 500 copies and while there might be an English edition at some point, nothing is clear yet so you might want to check out this deck for yourself before it sells out.

The Pips are all like this! No RWS symbols on the Pips! Borders are already removed ~

As you can see, the deck is Marseille both in (art) style and in meaning. That is, the meanings of the cards, while they can be read in the RWS tradition, are very obviously Marseille. There are unfortunately not many books in English concerned with the Marseille meanings and use, rather than RWS or Thoth.

Some Court cards

While Pip Cards in Marseille decks aren't anything to be excited about, Patrick Valenza's rendition of them is very nice. The Courts, on the other hand, are full of personality and humor. They are a delight to look at and play with. I adore these cards.

My favorite Majors: The World, Judgment and the High Priestess (called Popess in this deck)

The Majors themselves, which had been released before in the Majors Only edition, are absolutely groundbreaking (in my opinion anyway). The World, who is a blue, fat lady with so much energy you can hear her breathe down your neck while looking at her, is my absolute favorite. I love that she is blue to represent our blue planet <3

The Judgment card that you see in my picture is a special extra card ONLY included in the French text Edition. I absolutely recommend getting the French version instead of the Italian one because you get 2 extra majors instead of just one.

I haven't worked with this deck more than once or twice yet, because I try to focus on RWS right now. But I'll keep you posted once I've done a particularly memorable spread!

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess

Owning your deck part 4: Glitter

Glitter is the little extra thing that makes life amazing

 Don't you love glitter? I know I do!

Glitter is amazing, which is why I had a new, fancy, glittery idea for customizing my decks.

Glitter! On the Romantic Tarot

The Romantic Tarot is not only one of my absolute favorites. It is also the most customized deck I own!

Custom Romantic Tarot a la Peachess

Lo Scarabeo's Romantic Tarot (Art by Giulia Massaglia - gorgeous!) is my second Tarot deck ever (after the Deviant Moon deck which I had a hard time working with) and I LOVE it.

That is, I love a lot about it, and I absolutely hated the borders. They really kept me from appreciating the BEAUTIFUL ART. They had to go, of course. After that, I changed a number of other things, as well.

1. Borders off - no more titles or borders! Pure art!

The beautiful twin eagles and the gorgeous roses used to be framed by a hideous border, 

but I freed them!

2. Edges - they are red.

3. Custom bag

and finally ...

 Key 3: Empress

 Key 21: Judgment

Key 0: The Fool

4. You guessed it, glitter!

As you can see, I only added tiny details, such as the wings of doves, or a dress.

I used a very thin brush to add these little details, and a tiny bit of acryllic metallic gold color:

Key 1: Magician

In the magician card, this really gives the card a more magical feel to it. Also, painting on my cards feels like seeing them again for the very first time. 

For now, I only put glitter on the Majors. But maybe the Minors will also get the glitter treatment when I have time. I will probably also use this newly found technique on other decks.

Some tips:

1. Use a tiny, thin, brush. Size 0 is best.

2. Use a microscopic amount of paint.

3. If something looks bad, let the paint dry, then slowly and carefully scratch it off (with a toothpick or your nails)

4. Do not put glitter everywhere. Unless you want to. In which case, go ahead and try it!

Have you tried something similar before?

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess

 

Owning your deck part 3: Custom bags

Love the deck, hate the box

I've been at war with cheap standard boxes of Tarot decks ever since I got my very first deck. Lo Scarabeo and U.S. Games standard boxes are too tight, not at all sturdy and often already ripped or bruised upon arrival.

Not seldom do boxes arrive with blunted corners because of shipping. This would not be happening if the boxes were sturdier.

Also, getting the cards out and be a total nightmare. When the boxes are still new and unopened, getting the lid out of the tight box can be a hard. Often, the lid is clutched tightly by the folds underneath. If you try to open the lid by force, you could rip either the lid of the folds. Both are extremely annoying and again don't happen with sturdy two piece boxes.

Of course I understand that financial reasons lead to these nasty boxes. Thankfully, one does not have to keep them!

All of my favorite decks have their own speshul bag. The only exceptions to this rule are the Morgan Greer deck  (which came in a tin and is protected already) and the Deviant Moon Borderless, for which I haven't found a fitting bag or pattern yet.

Some decks, particularly indie decks, come with a matching back.

Alice Tarot (the bag cost extra):

 A very nice bag lined with vintage silk

Pouch used as tarot bag for the Twin Peaks Tarot:

I believe this was intended as a make up pouch. I used it first as a bag for coins and now with the Twin Peaks tarot. A number of charms are attached to the bag, which has no relation whatsoever to the deck inside but remain there because I used the bag in Japan.

I also have a number of bags I bought separately on etsy.com.

My custom bag for my Arthur Rackham Oracle deck

I got all of my bags from WyldeChilde creations, because I like the fact that you can get the bags padded (meaning, they have an extra layer inside that makes them a little sturdier and protects the decks). I really want to get more bags for my other decks that are still hidden away in their boxes.

My bag for the Romantic Tarot:

I absolutely love the Romantic Tarot. And I love the back design. And I just couldn't find a bag that matched that design. So I did the only thing I thought of, which was to get a file of the back design online and got the fabric custom made on fabricsondemand.com. The result is this beautiful bag that matches one of my favorite decks of all time to a T (also made by WyldeChilde creations)!

I also have a matching reading cloth with the same design which I should use more often and currently don't know where it is.

Personally, I prefer having my decks wrapped in cloth. I love Tarot bags and if I were rich, all my decks would have one. The decks (particularly those that had flimsy boxes) are really freed from the pain of obstruction. Plus, it's the best kind of add-on for your one favorite deck. Some people even create their own bags! I really want to try that at some point, too.

Blessings and balance ~

Peachess