Dots and Dashes: A Lenormand Experiment
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In a blog post a while back, Mary Greer described the Lenormand card meanings we use today as having evolved from the reading of coffee-ground patterns that remained on the inside of a cup after the liquid had been consumed. (It apparently originated in the Middle East — mainly Turkey — where grounds in the cup were par for the course; here in the fastidious West we would immediately toss out coffee with sludge in it and try to figure out why it happened.) Descriptions for many (but not all) of the Lenormand cards can be traced to this source. In his book Lenormand Symbols, Anthony Louis includes them along with other historical references.
The thing I find particularly interesting is that additional significance was given to incidental deposits of coffee residue that appeared as “dots” (small beads) or “dashes” (streaks) that sometimes accompanied the main figures bearing the names we still employ. As near as I can tell, the presence of “dots” was fortunate and the appearance of “dashes” was unfavorable, with more of either one ramping up the influence for good or ill. (I can’t find any mention of “dots and dashes” in the available texts on tasseomancy, only in the Louis book where he provides his own translations of European texts.)
I don’t believe there is a comparable modern method that we can point to as being a direct descendant of these “dots” and “dashes.” It seems to me that they may have been subsumed in the general positive and negative qualities that have been assigned to the cards, or perhaps embodied in the playing-card insets (a parallel notion that deserves its own essay). Beyond looking at pairs and triplets, the closest we can come to a graduated system of interpretation lies in the “method of distance” or “near/far” practice of assigning meaning to the relative proximity of the other cards to the central focus card or Significator; increased distance often imparts reduced or conflicted influence. Coffee-ground readings had a similar technique of considering figures displayed near the top of the cup and “in the clear” (which I assume meant unencumbered by negative figures such as the Clouds and free of “dashes”) as being unambiguous and typically more fortunate, while father down in the cup (“in the thick” is one expression and “at the bottom” is another) their effects were less auspicious and sometimes downright sinister, particularly with “dashes” present.
I’m contemplating whether we might use dice to emulate the dots and dashes: a roll of a single die for each card in the spread would yield either dispersed dots (I’m proposing one-spot, two-spot and four-spot rolls for this) or aligned dashes, reflected in three-spot, five-spot (“crossed threes”) and six-spot rolls. If “dots” are rolled, a positive card would be enhanced while a negative one would be mitigated. “Dashes” would degrade the benefit of a positive card and exaggerate the difficulty of a negative one, or at least complicate their testimony. (Randomly-drawn “base-12” dominoes would also work.) This requires some experimentation, so don’t quote me just yet.
Here is a simple “What will tomorrow be like?” three-card daily reading. Interpreting House + Ship + Star without “dots” and “dashes,” I might be inclined to think “I will stay home, get some projects done and have a pleasant day.” However, the House and the Ship are afflicted with “dashes,” which suggest that neither one will work out as planned, but Stars sports a “dot,” so I probably won’t care; maybe I’ll just goof off and drink beer!
UPDATE: This reading was for a few days ago. I did stay home (House) when I could have run an errand (the discordant “dashes” in both House and Ship most likely dissuaded me although I considered it), finished one project and started but didn’t complete another (Ship with “dashes”), and relaxed blissfully the rest of the day (Star with “dots”). But I no longer drink beer, and it was an off-day for whisky sipping. The dashes delivered a mixed verdict rather than an entirely opposite one. I do believe this ideas bears further scrutiny.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on August 15, 2023.
