An Alternative to the Lenormand House System

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Although I intentionally steer clear of using any kind of astrological correspondences with Lenormand cards, this struck me as an intriguing alternate house system to the one commonly employed. I chose one set of general meanings for the twelve houses of the horoscope and matched them with the cards that best express those qualities, resulting in twelve “base” cards that will be augmented by twelve more randomly-pulled “covering” cards. A “focus card” representing the querent or the theme of the reading will be selected and placed in the middle of the wheel; it could also be drawn at random.

The design comes down somewhere between the usual framework of fixed position meanings for the 36 Lenormand houses and the so-called “moveable houses” approach in which the house “landlords” are arbitrarily populated and then related to the “tenant” cards that land there during the deal. In this case they are intentionally assigned according to a premise that is markedly different from the Game of Hope. The base cards I went with may not work for every Lenormand reader with a personal understanding of astrological houses, so feel free to pick your own. In line with my current thinking on the standard Lenormand houses, the base-card meanings can suggest the atmosphere or climate within which the covering card operates, organically coloring, inflecting and modulating its performance, or conversely providing inspiration that the latter can press into service in its own cause.

In applying it as a broad “life-reading” template, I might consider the first three cards as representing the early stages of development in the matter at hand (“childhood through adolescence”) culminating in a centered sense of Self (“House”), the next three as the “socialization” process that leads to recognition of and connection with “the Other” (“Ring”), the third trinity as reflecting the trials of maturation that produce self-mastery and a “place in the world” (“Moon”), and the final triplet as the rediscovery of one’s personal path after being heavily immersed in external affairs.

Here are my house meanings and card associations:

1st House: Innate Self (aka “Inner Child”) = Child
2nd House: Personal Resources (Abundance) = Fish
3rd House: Self Expression/Local Travel = Birds
4th House: Private Self = House
5th House: Family/Sex = Lilies
6th House: Service = Dog
7th House: Partners/Connections = Ring
8th House: Shared Resources (Depletion), aka “Death & Taxes” = Mice
9th House: Self-Mastery/Distant Travel = Ship
10th House: Public Self = Moon
11th House: Social Contacts (Friends) = Park
12th House: Hidden Matters = Book

The idea is to lay out twelve large-format cards in the pattern shown and then use a smaller-sized deck to set the reading cards on top of the “house” cards. This will create a pair of cards for every position, the base card of which could be read as the internalized or intrinsic expression of the attribute and the covering card as the externalized or explicit statement of intent. It would then be possible to read the twelve pairs and the six four-card sets according to their astrological degree of angular separation. Their shared interaction with the focus card should also be considered.

The general aspect meanings are as follows:

Conjunction (any pair at zero degrees of separation) = Alignment and Cooperation
Semi-sextile (any 2 pairs, 30 degrees apart) = Minor Stress
Sextile (any 2 pairs, 60 degrees apart) = Minor Ease
Square (any 2 pairs, 90 degrees apart) = Major Stress
Trine (any 2 pairs, 120 degrees apart) = Major Ease
Inconjunct (any 2 pairs, 150 degrees apart) = Tension and Compromise
Opposition (any 2 pairs, 180 degrees apart) = Conflict and Resolution

Although it is beyond the scope of this presentation, this concept could be expanded into major aspect patterns that combine six, eight and twelve cards into a broader narrative; however, the combination of cards pulled may not mesh well with the overall unity of purpose demonstrated by these significant patterns and could therefore be more confusing than insightful.

In the example above, the Fish (2nd House) and the Ring (7th House) along with their covering cards (not shown) would suggest a state of tension and a need for compromise between personal resources and partnership matters. Similar to intersection in the Grand Tableau, the Fish complex would also have a “tension-and-release” relationship with the Ship (9th House), which is favorably disposed (sextile) toward the Ring, bringing in a helpful measure of purposeful motivation.

This was a fun exercise and I believe it produced something that will be valuable in practice.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on August 31, 2023.