The Fortune Tellers Society

Yes it is time to take on a card that many people have troubles with,

Yes my friends its time to deal with the Snake!

this card is from Maybe Lenormand, by Ryan Edward, from US Games, Inc.

I have seen many ways of looking at this card and I have to say most of them are very valid, such as;

• Malicious actions
• Complications
• Sedition (this one I love and I learned it from Andy B.)
• Cables, Chains, Pipes (think of the form a snake can take)

Now those are just some of many that apply, one I do not agree with is the word Toxic – as snakes are not always Toxic/Venomous but that doesn’t mean they can’t be trouble none the less.  Now with these all listed where does the trouble come in?  Good question and I repeatedly see it when it is called into light when the Fox is also being looked at or compared to.

The Snake is a personal card, the Fox more impersonal.  The Snake goes for the heart, the emotions, and those things attached to such.  The Fox, well he is the survivor who is always looking to get ahead so then we should think of him as “he takes what he needs/wants” and doesn’t give a darn if you like it or not but….. it is not motivated by emotions – that is a hallmark of the Snake.  The Snake is the one who takes the boyfriend just because she can – The Fox would, but only if there was a reward of money or such tied to him.

So as noted above the Snake is complicated and normally so are “her” actions.  Yes ladies I hate to say it but this is a card normally seen as Female while the Fox is more Male.  No sexual prejudices here – remember when the card system came about in the very early 19th century.  Also see who is sitting as the playing card of this card, The Queen of Clubs.

So when faced with this card the first thing I do, and it sounds odd I admit, is I tell myself its not the Fox – if you do that and get rid of those associations straight away the card becomes much easier to read.

And, I hate to say it but, this card is the card of complications, don’t expect it to be easy to read because then, the Snake is not being The Snake!  As a Snake sheds it skins sometimes so do the layers we read of this card change as well.

Until the next card crosses my desk, happy shuffling!

So the reaction to posting “those cards” in the Lenormand system was well received on the first card so lets try another shall we?  Lets work on the Cross this time around.  This card is from one of my go to decks, Maybe Lenormand, is created by Ryan Edward and is offered through most metaphysical stores or directly from US Games, Inc.

So we see this card and most people immediately think of burden – which in my opinion is the essence or core of this card.  Some will tell you about the spiritual aspects of this card and try to don rose tinted lens when viewing this card, but after too many years of seeing this card arrive in a casting I have yet to see it this way.  A spiritual burden perhaps, but not the sunny side of spiritual life that is for sure.

Now as I type this it dawns on me what the real issue might be with this card.  It is one I deal with, with my personal/in-person students from day one and I do so in a few different ways;

1. Some cards are negative and you can try to put a spin on it but – that won’t work.
2. Negative cards are good cards, remember we learn our best lessons from having issues and working through them, the cards are just showing us this.
3. The cards are always right, its how we interpret them, or fail to, that is where the mistakes come in – oh people just love it when I say this but…… it is so true!

So lets now take those three points into consideration for a moment.  We want to keep a cards meaning true to itself (point one), we want to hear the lesson it is telling us and this we do by looking at the cards around it as well (point two) and we have to trust our cards  (point three) – or why are we doing this folks?

Now none of this is said to belittle anyone trying to give a positive reading to a client or themselves, heck no, quite the opposite.  The first part of giving a reading that is positive, at least the way I was taught, is to be honest with who we are reading for.  We are doing no favor for our client by not saying what we read in the cards.  Part of performing a reading is being practiced in how to convey the message of the cards in an appropriate manner.  If we then convey the message that the card(s), in this case the Cross, is telling us, then good, bad or ugly – its what the client needs to hear at the current time.

So next time you practice reading your Lenormand cards, try working with the  Cross card in combination with every other card in the deck.  When doing this see how you can best convey the essence of burden with the other cards you work with, don’t be a Spin Doctor, rather be a truth teller who speaks in a compassionate voice.

Until next I blog, Shuffle Well, Hugh