The “Trickle-Down” Theory of Tableau Reading
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Any tableau-style layout in the Lenormand system of divination (that is, one with a vertical as well as a horizontal axis) entails consideration of the direction of flow. Because of the way the original Game of Hope play proceeded (from the Rider at the top left to the Cross at the bottom right), common practice is to read a spread from left-to-right and from top-to-bottom. The Grand Tableau is the prime example of this technique. (Although some people read it in the direction the figure on the Significator or primary focus card faces, this is usually done only with the similar Kipper cards.)
This has led to a number of conventions regarding the position a card holds in one of the ideally (but rarely) equal quadrants surrounding the Significator and what that means for its function. One method of interpretation (the one I and many others employ) stipulates that the cards sitting above the Significator’s row “weigh down upon” the querent or the subject of the reading and are basically immune to direct control. Those below the Significator are more amenable to conscious direction. In short, the emphasis flows from above to below, and it increases in tractability the lower it goes.
Similarly, the cards to the left of the Significator (when they aren’t viewed solely as aspects of the past) show influences that have relinquished their hold on the subject of the reading and are passing away; they exhibit less importance as they recede toward the left border, giving way to the growing pertinence of the cards on their right. Those “dexter” cards on the far side of the Significator reflect circumstances that have become more consequential to the matter; they may still be evolving as their thrust works its way from the Significator’s column toward the right margin. We might think of the querent as “riding the wave” of the developmental energy they impart.
In this scheme, the cards in the column that contains the Significator describe activities that are in-process or going on right now (I’m acknowledging Lisa Young-Sutton’s insight here; the rest of this is my own opinion). The “trickle-down” of the title refers to the inducement that is making its way to the querent from above in the form of inspiration for ideas, plans and contemplated initiatives that will unfold during the next phase. When the column descends below the horizontal axis at the Significator, those strategic inputs become tactical, spawning an actionable agenda and achievable objectives that can be implemented as the situation progresses into the cards at the right. Consider the upper segment of this column to hold the “play-book” for the upcoming campaign and the lower segment as showing where “the rubber meets the road,” affording the querent traction coming out of the gate. As mentioned below, the bottom row of the GT to the Significator’s right (excluding the four-card “destiny” row) would potentially offer the most promise for realization of pragmatic goals, provided the cards aren’t so far away that they elude the querent’s attention and encouragement.
For completeness, I should add that author and Lenormand master Andy Boroveshengra considers the card at the top-right corner of the GT to be the most influential from a developmental perspective (it is emanating “from on high” and projecting that inspiration into a hopeful future), while the card at the lower left corner (exclusive of the four cards in the “destiny” row) is the least influential since it shows “old news” that has already been put to bed by the querent. The cards in the four nominal quadrants partake of varying degrees of “trickle-and-flow,” and it seems to me that the card at the lower-right corner would bring the querent the greatest satisfaction since it is a “known quantity” that is under complete control (as long as it doesn’t atrophy due to lack of “care-and-feeding”).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on October 1, 2023.
