I love the Green Glyphs Lenormand. It’s not my first Lenormand deck, but there’s something really special about its simplicity. The simple lines and color blocking create a vintage feel without placing any of the images in a specific time. I like the paper cut-out feel of some of the cards too. And the glyphs feel really special, and they’re super easy to notate for a quick recording of your readings for later review! My journey with the deck is also really special since it inspired me to take Tarot Tableau from a spread into a whole reading method. But beyond that, it’s just a really nice deck to hold and shuffle and read from. So why not do a deck interview for it?

Let’s discuss the obvious: it’s a weird choice to read a Lenormand deck as you might read a tarot or oracle deck. Yes, Lenormand cards can be read individually, but they’re not really “meant” to be read that way. One of the most common spreads—perhaps the only really “official" spread with the authority of something like the Celtic Cross in tarot—uses every card in the deck to look at your life generally, all aspects at once. It’s totally daunting, as I mention in my previous post. Why? Well, you see every bad card in the deck because, again, every card is used. It’s also just enormous at 36 cards, and with all the interactions of cards there seem countless permutations. So to boil the answer to a question down to one card feels sacrilegious. Oh well. As the TikTok meme goes, “I did it.”

Deck interview spread with Green Glyphs Lenormand — Interviewing the Green Glyphs Lenormand

**What major lesson are you here to help me learn?** *Coffin*
**Through which divine energy can we best communicate?** *Mice*
**In what area can you aid me to help others?** *Heart*
**In what area could your guidance be easily misunderstood?** *House*
**What can I do to keep our communication clear?** *Ring*
**How can I use your guidance for the highest good?** *Mountain*
**How will I know when we’re ready for a new lesson?** *Snake + Bouquet*

Do you see these cards? This is why people are scared of Lenormand readings. But where it is easy to see negativity, there’s always the possibility for something else. I think that this deck is really meant to help with that and with stretching my own assumptions about things like psychic ability. As you’ve probably seen from my banner, the service that allowed me to accept credit cards in my storefront has determined that they won’t support tarot readers because we are too close to psychics, whatever we say in our disclaimers. Maybe it’s time to explore what “psychic” means for me and my own relationship to cartomancy. There’s some kind of energy transfer. That much seems clear. And there seems to be some kind of intermediary conduit, the satellite off of which a querent’s energy bounces. Maybe connecting to that is psychic. I don’t know. I don’t think we will, not in demonstrable, repeatable terms, at least not in my lifetime. But I digress.

The Coffin can mean death and endings, but it also means enclosures, such as a closet or cabinet. Lenormand can be used for mundane things like finding lost objects—see the Coffin and Bear together and you may find that thing you were looking for the freezer—and there’s nothing wrong with that. I probably won’t offer a Lenormand reading service for finding lost objects, but I can use it that way in my own life. (I don’t really lose place of things, but you get the idea of mundane applications.)

This is borne out by the Mice in the second position. Mice are minor. They’re usually nuisances or signs of sabotage, but they’re not really wicked. They’re the things that eat away at bigger, more important parts of life. And because we’re usually trying to expand and improve ourselves, the Mice get in the way of that. So appealing to them for a reading feels strange, but I also think that they’re staples of the household, like small gods or kitchen altar spirits. There’s something about them that feels quite knowing, as if they’re the ears through which the walls really do hear after all. Appealing to that spirit, or working within that framework of energy, could be really useful: these cards are good for understanding mundane little secrets.

I would say that they pick up the crumbs, but the next card suggests otherwise. The Heart is a sign of how I could best help others with this deck. It’s tied to love, yes, but also passions and thinks stirring deep within us. Staying focused on that, the core fundamentals of Lenormand seems wise. Nevertheless, the House is an area of potential confusion, suggesting domestic love may lead one into confusion (where are the Clouds?). I think, though, that this has more to do with a willingness to spy on others. If the Mice are spies of the everyday world, it might be tempting to try to listen in on the goings-on of our home life: what is my partner really thinking? We don’t need to know that. Let them have some privacy. A firm commitment to integrity, to the wholeness of the Ring, to the reminder that we are bound to others, and they deserve our trust; we should not intrude on their privacy.

So then how do we keep things focused on the highest good? We tackle the Mountain together. There is little that is more mundane than everyday challenges. This is not really a deck for existential crises—that’s for tarot and oracle decks—but it is a deck that can help break down the seemingly insurmountable. To climb a mountain, you have to take a first step. Lenormand is great at small steps. Again, the Mice shine here with their cute little paws.

Now, what then? When will we be ready to move on to another lesson? Both the Snake and the Bouquet popped out. Each is represented by a queen in its playing card correspondence: Queen of Clubs and Spades, respectively. While the Snake can mean deception, I like to see the Snake as a clever if rarely likable woman. I think that with the Bouquet she’s kind of a beautiful bitch. Most likely though, she’s also a boss bitch. I’m excited and nervous to meet her because she’ll have some things to teach me, and I think it will involve having my ass handed to me. At least I should grow from the experience.

Deck Interview: Green Glyphs Lenormand