I’ve been a fan of Siolo Thompson’s work ever since I discovered the Linestrider Tarot. By then, it was already a popular mass market deck by Llewellyn, and I sometimes feel as if I missed out on what must have been a magical indie deck, so I was thrilled to discover that she sells her self-published Scrying Ink Lenormand on Etsy. I was also delighted to have been able to not find the deck at first even though it was readily available on the artist’s Etsy site because that led me to email Siolo looking for it. And that led me to collaborating with one of my favorite deck creators on a new deck in the German Kipper tradition. And getting to know her as a real person and not just a creator of a product you love has been so lovely. You’ll be hearing more about that in the coming months because we will hopefully be able to launch the project or open for pre-orders in late spring. But now on to my interview with the Scrying Ink Lenormand.

I’m using my standard deck interview spread, which can be challenging for Lenormand decks since Lenormand answers best with at least three cards. But I’m letting the cards speak to me as if they were in a Lenormand arrangement, communicating through mirroring, order, and positioning, in addition to their positions within the spread.

Seven cards from the Scrying Ink Lenormand laid out in the deck interview spread by Thomas of Hermit's Mirror — Interviewing the *Scrying Ink Lenormand*

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

The lesson I’m learning with this little deck is a lesson of the heart, and that has certainly been true since our first encounter. The new collaboration that this deck prompted is one of several exciting new projects that have me trying to find more time in my day to fit everything in. When I stay up late working on new projects like the new Kipper deck or a new book or a new edition of the Life Line Tarot or whatever else, I’m not filled with annoyance or dread but with excitement to explore all the magical potential. And that’s a new thing for me. This deck is definitely helping me open up to heart connection.

Flanking the Heart are the Mountain and Clouds, two of the more challenging cards in a Lenormand deck, and they offer initial hurdles to connecting with that heartfelt connection. Funnily, the Mountains show clouds and the storm-raising Clouds are quite mountainous. But they are not impassable. The way around, over, and through them comes through the Dog, with support on either side from the Man and the Butterfly, a new card to the deck representing transformation and the natural process of necessary disintegration before rebirth. For me, that lesson of the Heart will lead to the power and comfort of the Bear, a transformation of sorts, even if not an easy one. The way ink drinks from the base of the Bear’s heart-shaped face makes me wonder what the Bear might eat along the way.

In more immediately practical terms, the deck, like any good Lenormand deck, is great for working through the immediate obstacles we can see. But it can be harder to work through more abstract problems as represented by the Clouds. Or, perhaps more accurately, it may not help me answer the questions I don’t know to ask. There’s an active element that must be expressed, as seen through the Man. I certainly find it easier to read when I have clear action-oriented questions, but what’s so surprising about that message from this deck is that its watercolors and dripping ink are designed to stoke the intuition through scrying, one of my own favorite forms of divination to activate the unconscious and unknown.

The openness of the artist’s fluid style is exactly what drew me to the Linestrider Tarot and made it an easy favorite for deriving unexpected messages from my intuition, and I love that it’s part of the intended design of the Scrying Ink Lenormand. To me, the answer comes from the Dog and its inky shadow stretching out and above. The deck may not be able to help me answer unspoken questions, but it can help me discover the questions that I need to ask whenever I’m not sure.

Now that I think about, the deck may be especially useful for helping me guide querents to discover their questions when they don’t know. I hadn’t expected that, but it seems like the most obvious connection for this deck, not the more conventional way of reading the Dog in Lenormand, which might suggest some divine connection to animal spirits—although I do have Siolo’s new Winterseer Animal Oracle if I need that inspiration—or to some source of Loyalty or Friendship. I could see a divine huntsman with his hound, but that should have been the Rider, and I like this idea of finding connection through the subconscious, at least for question-asking.

Whenever a querent is unsure what they need or want to ask, I use my Tarot Tableau method because it indicates where focus is necessary and highlights the arc of the querent’s current journey (and it can then answer any other question without more shuffling), but that’s not always great or needed for shorter readings, especially if the querent is unfamiliar with tarot. The power of Lenormand, and of the Scrying Ink by extension, is its immediacy and precision. That quick identification of the current question can definitely help me help myself and others to transform by identifying and then overcoming their major blocks. And that’s perfect because that’s the whole point after all.

Deck Interview: Scrying Ink Lenormand