Lenormand: Charlie Brown and Joan Marie

[Joan Marie]

Hey Charlie Brown. Shall we?

Send me your question any time you are ready.

Here's my question:
I have a dear friend who is going through a health crisis (not hers, it's her husband's) She is a very strong person but she is very understandably shaken. It looks as though things are going to be okay, but right now she is under a lot of stress, and a lot of it is things I can't really help with directly. Can you give me some advice about how to best be her friend right now?

Thanks!

[Charlie Brown]

No problem!

Here's my question:

What is the best thing I can do this month to increase my emotional well being?

[Charlie Brown]

I was originally going to ask "What is the best way that Joan Marie can be a friend to this woman," but once I decided to charge your friend as the Lady and you as the Dog, I changed it to What does this woman need from a friend right now?

I'm having trouble parsing this into a nifty sentence, but I think I get what's going on. The fox is a little confusing, but the clover at the end seems very clear. I welcome any other perspectives on interpreting this line.

Tower - Tree - Fox - Lady - Clover

So these cards seem to paint a picture of her recent situation. We see the isolation of the tower. The tree probably refers either to the long duration this situation has been going on and the fox that it's been wrong for her. I suppose that the Tower is also a card of slow pace. Together, the first three cards could say that it's been a slow and lugubrious slog that's wrong for her.

In any event, the clover at the end suggests a simple answer. She needs simple things that will bring her a little bit of happiness or a little bit of luck. Nothing major, small things.

I decided to follow up with a shuffle and cut, looking at the bottom card of each pile for a 2-card reading. I forget the exact wording of the question but I basically asked more specifically what kinds of things might be signified by the clover. I got Child - Cross which I take to mean "simplifying her burdens." If there's any simple, practical way to make her life manifestly easier, that's what I'd recommend doing.

[Charlie Brown]

As I hit publish, an alternative interpretation struck me. It doesn't feel quite right to me, but it does have the advantages of 1) acknowledging the fox as the hinge card and 2) makes a sentence. The disadvantage, as I see it, is that while it addresses the substance of what you asked, it's a bit far afield from the precise way I worded my question, which is generally very important to my cartomancy practice.

The sentence would be: Isolating health is wrong for the lady's joy. I have one or two notions about what this sentence means, but I don't feel good offering them as potential advice at this moment. Rather, I'd prefer to see if it means anything to you and, if asked, I can elaborate my thoughts later.

[Joan Marie]

I can see how those two interpretations fit together.

The first one, advising simple things to bring her happiness fits to the second one about her being too focused on health issues in the sense that any little distractions from the situation would be very helpful.

I've offered to meet her anytime even just for a short visit for a coffee or just to take a walk, but today I got the idea to make her a little present and hang it on her doorknob to find when she got home today. And by the most random luck we walked right into each other on the street as I was approaching her apartment building. When she saw me she hugged me and started to cry, (she's really stressed) we visited a few minutes, i gave her the present (to open later) and by the time we parted she was smiling and laughing and making plans to meet me.

Just so you know, because I think it's important, I read your response to my question early today and it inspired me to make the little present for her and deliver it right away.

So thanks for that. I think it worked out pretty perfectly.

I will get to your reading soon and hope I can do at least half as well for you as you did for me.

[Charlie Brown]

I'm so glad to hear that you were able to help your friend and also glad to hear that I played a small part in it. When I started reading about the little present and bumping into her on the street I thought "that sounds like a clover moment."

[Joan Marie]

I have to confess I really need to practice more with the Lenormand. All my practicing seems to be on you.

Here's my question:

What is the best thing I can do this month to increase my emotional well being?

Your question seems clear enough. So this is what I drew:

House-Scythe-Key-Clover-Bear

The Scythe threw me at first because it seems to be in the company of some pretty happy cards that I feel sort of negate its evil connotations and in this context seems to me to give it a more literal meaning: Yard word.

Has your wife (the bear - usually stands for an important female in your life) been wanting/needing some work done in the yard (house)? Maybe some heavy work? It might be good for your soul right now to get out there in the fresh air and do some physical work, she may even join you (clover). So say "yes" (the key). The combination of working on a productive task in the outdoors together could be just what the doctor ordered.

So I'm not sure about the a coherent sentence, if I can rearrange the order of the cards and put them in the order I actually laid them down (I laid the middle card first), I would get:

Key-Clover-Scythe-Bear-House

Which yields the lovely sentence: Say yes to a happy partnering to work with your wife on your house.

For good measure, I did the same thing you did and shuffled and cut the remaining cards and on the bottom of each half got the Book and the Stars, The Stars reinforce the idea of luck and the outdoors, and the book, maybe some unknown, unexpected development as a result.

The thing is too that this time of year you may have to do this kind of work anyway, but maybe if you do it in the spirit of increasing your emotional well-being as opposed to just a chore, it might actually bring you something very powerful and positive.

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks for the reading. It's hard to give feedback for these types of questions, of course, because there's no event that could provide confirmation. If the "true" answer was that the best thing I could do for myself was to grind down my house keys, we'd never know unless I was somehow moved to do so. Since you did bring up the technical issues of line order, I do have some comments on that too.

The general idea of getting out sounds pretty on the money to me. I've been cooped up for a number of reasons, including a hopefully-soon-to-be-healed foot injury. Seeing more and doing more can only be helpful. There's definitely no yard work in my future though, as I live in a high-rise building.

I've never seen the line dealt 5-3-1-2-4 as you did, but I HAVE seen 4-2-1-3-5 used in situations that are asking for actionable advice rather than a description. The idea behind that is that 1-2-3-4-5 tends to give expository answers and descriptions rather than instructions. In the versions of 4-2-1-3-5 I've seen cards 2 & 3 and cards 4 & 5 are supposed to be read as combined meanings rather than as individual cards. If we order the line that way it would say The answer (key) is to take a chance (clover + scythe) on investing in the house (bear + house). Since I live in an apartment and it is not possible at this time to invest in buying a house, I would presume that this refers to decorations or maybe something like appliances. Thinking about it, that's not too dissimilar from your interpretation of the 1-2-3-4-5 line.

[Joan Marie]

Can't you find some leaves to rake somewhere?
I'm kidding.

Telling a guy who lives in a high rise to do some yard work is a little embarassing. It's possible I was more influenced by the view out my own window than the cards on the table before me.

If you will indulge me, I would like to have another go at this. And this time I will prepare a little better.

It's still early in the month, right?

And thank you for the reading tips. I do have a tendency to lay the cards "right then left" for some reason, so 5 3 1 2 4 feels natural to me. It's the way I am "pulled" though not always.

There is another recent question on the forum about the Celtic Cross and the "proper" order to lay the cards. I wonder if you have any thoughts on that.

[Charlie Brown]

There is another recent question on the forum about the Celtic Cross and the "proper" order to lay the cards. I wonder if you have any thoughts on that.

Getting into the "right" way to do a CC is usually ends up about as well as a getting into a land war in Asia.

You're welcome to do another reading, but it isn't necessary. I imagine I would enjoy some nice yard work if such a thing were possible.