If you’d rather not go by this set of pair-meanings, preferring to come to your own conclusions, that is fine. The key operating principle with the Lenormand cards is two-fold: (1) fully learn and discern the meaning of each card, then (2) ask yourself—‘combining these two (or three) cards together, what possible message are they telling me?’
Below is a layout which I found in The Runic Workbook by Tony Willis (Wellingborough, Northhamptonshire, U.K.: The Aquarian Press, 1986). It is a focused, problem-solving, direct-answer type of layout, but it is good practice in learning to read the Lenormand cards as pairs:
Below is another layout, using the Lenormand deck, which I found on the website, e-tarrochi.com. This layout will give you additional practice in learning how to read the Lenormand cards as pairs. This layout is more of an overview-of-a-situation type:
The Significator will be either the Man or the Woman cards, depending on the individual being read for. The ‘Near’ cards in the layout are cards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6. The ‘Far’ cards are 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. This spread is good for an eagle-eye-view on questions. With the Near and Far layout, I am also in the habit of reading cards 9, 3, 4, and 10 in conjunction with the Significator, as the Significator will be ‘looking’ at two of the cards, while the other two cards are at work ‘behind’ it. The two cards behind it could reflect something the subject of the reading is not paying attention to, which is nonetheless important. Cards 5 and 6 act as the ‘foundation’ of the matter, the ‘floor’ under the subject’s feet, where cards 1 and 2 ‘crown’ the matter, and reflect what may be on the subject’s mind.
I have found it helpful, when interpreting an entire lay-out of Lenormand cards, to frame the reading as a sentence, or a paragraph. Indeed, one Tarot card reader even wrote an entire book on how to see the Tarot cards as words in a sentence (I wish I could remember the title). Since each Lenormand card is a noun, all you have to do is throw in verbs, articles and conjunctions where needed. For example, I chose the following eight cards at random:
The Anchor-The Crossroads-The Tree-The Mountain-The Coffin-The Sun-The Storks-The Tower.
If I were going to put this reading in a sentence format, how would I phrase it? Something like the following:
“Your long-term stability and security requires you to make a decision. Know that whatever you choose, it will be the correct decision, for it will be a strong, vital, healthy, and growing endeavor. Yes, there will be challenges, obstacles, and the occasional stagnant periods or poor health, but you will find this decision to be an altogether successful move on your part. Affiliation or employment with a large institution, such as a governmental position or with a university or non-profit institution could be involved.”
As for choosing your Lenormand deck, if you go to Amazon.com and type either ‘Lenormand’, ‘LeNormand’ or ‘Le Normand’ in the search box (you may need to try all three ways of typing it), it will probably result in bringing up at least a dozen different Lenormand fortune decks, as well as books on the subject. Browse the list until you find a deck which ‘feels’ like The One. May you have many fruitful readings with the LeNormand Fortune Deck!
Very comprehensive post! I hadn’t seen either of those spreads before, can’t wait to try them out.