Mademoiselle Lenormand's fortune telling cards are probably the most used forecasting cards in Europe. These charmingly drawn and imaginative cards contain a wealth of symbolism that answers traditional questions in various fields.
To make working with the Lenormand cards easier, we have created a "cheat sheet" with the key concepts for each card.
Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the numbered cards of the Minor Arcana were not illustrated in a more expressive way than our normal playing cards. Such old cards are still to be found under the name of the "Tarot of Marseille". Apart from some decorative features, they only show the number and the symbol of the suit on any given card. When the Rider-Waite Tarot cards were published at the turn of 1909 and 1910, they offered illustrations of the Minor Arcana for the first time ever. The fact that pictures help the interpretation and understanding of all of the 78 cards widely contributed to the popularity of this deck.
However, some people are disappointed by the simplicity and "naïvety" of these pictures because they are looking for something more mystical, magical, and secretive. Most of them sooner or later come across the Aleister Crowley Tarot, the pictures of which, apart from their magical fascination, in fact do have un unbelievable richness of symbolism.
If you are looking for the basics, starting with a classical tarot deck like the Rider-Waite deck featured with this set is probably your best bet.
Learning a classical deck is like learning your ABC's; it prepares you for reading more difficult material. Like any art or science, after your learn your tarot fundamentals, you can pick up more abstract decks without getting confused and frustrated.
Tarot can help you become conscious of how you view the world and yourself. After you become aware of the way that you interpret the pictures of your life, you have the opportunity to change your interpretations for the better.
Like art, the tarot is many things to many people. Don't try to force your interpretation of a certain image to match anyone else's, or even to match how previously may have interpreted it.
Life is a set of pictures. When we change our worn-out associations with these pictures, we change ourselves and, inadvertently, the world oround us!
