Review of the Cute Little Lenormand
Cute Little Lenormand
Creator: Sara M. Lyons
Publisher: St. Martin’s Essentials
The Cute Little Lenormand is a mass market treasure created by Sara M. Lyons and published by St. Martin’s Essentials. As a Lenormand deck, it lives up to its name. With a pink and blue pastel colour palette, and simple but adorable imagery, this deck is a clear and easy reader. But the real hero is the book that accompanies this deck. This deck and book combination is what introduced me to the Lenormand system and together they contain everything you need to become a proficient Lenormand reader.
The System
For anyone unfamiliar with Lenormand, it is a cartomancy system that is completely separate to Tarot. The petit jeu Lenormand has 36 cards which are read systematically in combinations, like structuring a sentence. This is a very different approach than the intuitive reading style that often accompanies the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) Tarot system. So, if you are looking for a Tarot deck, this isn’t it. But if you are wanting to learn a new system that has an entirely different reading technique, then this is a perfect choice. That said, even if you aren’t in the mood to learn a whole new cartomancy system, the basic meanings of each card are very straight forward, so I often use single Lenormand cards as clarifiers for my Tarot readings.
The Cardstock
The cards are slightly larger than standard Lenormand size, with a semi-gloss finish and a cardstock that is easy to riffle shuffle. The bigger card size is better suited to smaller spreads, so you’ll need a fair bit of space if you want to do a grand tableau (36 card spread) with this deck.
The Artwork
Due to the intuitive nature of the Tarot, the artwork choices in a Tarot deck can heavily influence a reading. This is not the case with Lenormand. Lenormand is read systematically, not intuitively, so the meanings of the cards do not change. The Fish has the same meaning regardless of whether it is depicted as a goldfish or a shark. Lenormand is about interpreting the cards in combination; therefore, you want the artwork to be clear and straight forward. Busy or crowded cards are distracting, especially in larger spreads like the grand tableau. The artwork in the Cute Little Lenormand is perfect in its simplicity. The pink and blue pastel colour palette is soft and lovely, and the cute cartoons make it obvious at first glance what the card is. The deck includes the card number and title, and they also have the playing card associations, which are often left off modern decks.
The only variation to the traditional Lenormand system is that The Man and The Woman cards have been renamed to The Querant and The Partner. Whilst it is commendable that the creator has tried to remove the gender roles, these new associations won’t be suitable for all readings. But that said, most people want to know about their love life, and if they don’t already have a partner, then the card can represent a future partner. Or if it’s a career or work reading, then the partner can potentially represent a work colleague. So this change shouldn’t cause too much of an issue.
The Guidebook
The book is where this deck really shines. 200 full colour pages, this hardcover resource is all you need to start learning Lenormand. Inside the front cover is a picture of each card and their key meanings. Very convenient if you need a quick reference. The book covers the history of the Lenormand, a glossary of traditional Lenormand terms, and how reading the cards in combination gives you context for the reading. For each card you get key themes, an overview of the card, as well as what it means when it shows up in a reading. It also includes a few combination examples for each card (for example, “The Clover + The Coffin = A lucky streak coming to an end”). It then explains how to read Lenormand spreads, including the grand tableau, with examples and tips to help. It covers the houses and how to read them in a grand tableau, as well as providing a whole grand tableau example reading. This book has been written for the Lenormand beginner, making it easy to understand and to apply the techniques straight away. The quality of this book and its content is unparalleled to any other Lenormand deck and guidebook combination I have seen and I can’t give it enough praise.
The Box
The Cute Little Lenormand does not have a box. Instead, the cards are stored in an envelope that sits inside the back cover of the book. As this is one of my main Lenormand decks, I keep the cards in a tin for convenience, while the book lives with my other Lenormand study books. But should you choose to keep the cards inside the book, they would be safe and protected.
Availability
The Cute Little Lenormand is a mass market deck that is currently in print and is very affordable, especially considering the quality of the accompanying book.
This deck can be purchased through most mass market deck retailers. For anyone located in Australia, you can purchase this deck through my shop.
Summary
So, what do I reckon?
Absolute cracker. 5/5 stars.
An amazing resource that makes learning Lenormand accessible to everyone, the Cute Little Lenormand truly deserves a 5/5 star rating. The cards are cute and easy to read, riffle shuffling is a breeze, and the gender roles have been removed. But it is the book that really makes this deck a standout. With no prior knowledge or understanding of the Lenormand system, you can hit the ground running and start reading the cards straight away when you are armed with this book. Such a high quality product for a very affordable price, this deck deserves all the compliments in the world. I cannot recommend this deck enough for anyone who is interested in learning Lenormand or for anyone who is interested in learning to read cards but feels daunted by the prospect of learning the 78 Tarot card meanings. This deck introduced me to Lenormand, and I have no doubt it will do the same for countless other people.
