LEN: Charlie Brown reads for Rachelcat

[Charlie Brown]

Hello. What shall we do this time?

[Rachelcat]

Dear Mr. Charlie Brown,

Thank you for your kind offer to consult the cards for me. If it were not for friends like you, I would be in a sad place indeed.

My question is simply how my life will turn out. I am a poor, dependent relation living as a companion to, and on the generosity of, my elderly cousin, Lady Denham. Although she can be a bit abrupt and demanding at times, I believe she has developed a true affection for me, as I have for her. I have often heard her declare in the past that she refuses to be “taken in” or “imposed upon” by relations who only court her notice for the purpose of gaining an inheritance from her. I hope she does not secretly still think of me as acting only for that purpose.

My future is completely unfixed. Lady Denham could decide tomorrow to send me back to my other, much poorer relations in London. Heaven forfend. It is just as possible that a pleasing, wealthy young gentleman will arrive here in Sanditon tomorrow for the sea bathing and swiftly fall in love with me and seek to marry me.

I fear other candidates for Lady Denham’s bequests have concocted a scheme to discredit me with her and thus secure her estate to themselves. But I have no intention of being either seduced by Sir Edward Denham or slandered by Miss Denham. If I were as devious as they, or in an even more desperate state of mind than I now am, I would consider seducing Sir Edward myself, into marriage, both foiling their plot and possibly securing my future at one stroke. I say possibly because there are even more candidates for Lady Denham’s favor than the ones I’ve mentioned here.

This is my desperate state. I am not in a state of relative poverty, one uncongenial to my place in society, as are Sir Edward and Miss Denham. I am in a state of absolute poverty. If I were not currently residing with Lady Denham, I would be taking bread from the mouths of my cousins’ children, or worse.

Please ask your cards what future lies in store for me. It will be better for me to be prepared for whatever is coming. Thank you again for your kind attention.

You friend and well-wisher,

Clara Brereton

[Charlie Brown]

Oh, my! What a situation. It sounds like something straight out of a Jo Baker novel. I wish I could tell you that everything will be all right but such assurances are simply not possible. All I can offer is the cards' insight and my personal condolences.

In the left column, we see the will—a document (letter) that will pin down (cross in above position) your long term finances (bear). We also see (in the bottom row) that your long term fortunes (bear+stars) are causing you significant stress (whip) and/or will be quite stressful. This stress will be long-term, as the whip is attended on top by the tree, which itself is under the mountain.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that the terms of the will will be favorable to you. The top row suggests that the will is going to bolster the obstacles and impediments that are already present in your life, while the first diagonal likewise shows that the document is going to take you down a punishing road.

I think that, ultimately, you're going to have one chance to make a choice that will save you from penury. You can see that the crossroads lie in the center of the square and this card often represents a choice to be made. It's surrounded on all sides by dark cards: the mountain, the cross, the whip, the anchor. It will be a weighty, unpleasant choice.

When reading the Lenormand as playing cards, we see that there are two face cards: The Queen of Diamonds and the Jack of Clubs. You would appear as the woman card, so the queen is not you and must be either Lady Denham or perhaps Miss Denham if she is the will's present beneficiary. I lean towards seeing this card as Lady Denham because, at present, she has the diamonds and, also, it seems that Miss Denham would be more likely represented by the Snake card. The Jack of Clubs is a loathsome, insidious figure and surely must be Sir Edward, especially since he's a Jack and not yet a King. If we interpret the whip and representing Sir Edward, then the he is likely the beneficiary of the will at present (the will's (letter) choice (crossroads) is Sir Edward). He is also the only card in the tableau touched only by happy, red cards.

Looking back again at the bottom row, then, we see that your financial security lies with Sir Edward. You must marry him or accept material destitution.

[Rachelcat]

Hi, Rachel, here. Let’s discuss Miss Clara’s plight without her! 

Wow, I see I have a far way to go to learn to read Lenormand! The way you do it seems so intuitive yet so inevitable, and then adding the playing cards made so much sense. BTW, that’s my second-favorite Lennie deck, the Piatnik. I love the animals especially.

As you guessed, this is based on Sanditon, Jane Austen’s last, unfinished novel. It doesn’t get much farther than introducing the characters, so we don’t know what Clara’s fate was intended to be. There have been attempts to finish the story, most recently in a sexed-up tv mini-series. In it, Clara is shown as being victimized throughout by the Denhams, but, in a shocking twist, she turns out to be the scheming one who indeed seduces Edward and victimizes Esther (Miss Denham). In other continuations, she elopes to India with a long-lost cousin, marries someone pretending to be a paraplegic, and is NOT abducted by Edward, who abducts other young ladies by mistake!

Now your reading:

In the left column, we see the will—a document (letter) that will pin down (cross in above position) your long term finances (bear). We also see (in the bottom row) that your long term fortunes (bear+stars) are causing you significant stress (whip) and/or will be quite stressful. This stress will be long-term, as the whip is attended on top by the tree, which itself is under the mountain.

Makes total sense. Except I would be tempted to make the Bear represent Lady Denham, Clara’s boss or powerful person over her. Which might make the bear, stars, whip worries about whether Lady Denham will make her wishes come true. Tree and mountain = long-term. I like it!

Unfortunately, it does not appear that the terms of the will will be favorable to you. The top row suggests that the will is going to bolster the obstacles and impediments that are already present in your life, while the first diagonal likewise shows that the document is going to take you down a punishing road.

Yes, punishing road. Nice. Mountain and anchor as obstacles.

I think that, ultimately, you're going to have one chance to make a choice that will save you from penury. You can see that the crossroads lie in the center of the square and this card often represents a choice to be made. It's surrounded on all sides by dark cards: the mountain, the cross, the whip, the anchor. It will be a weighty, unpleasant choice.

Yes, I saw that right away, the crossroads in the middle. She does have a choice, just not a very pleasant one.

When reading the Lenormand as playing cards, we see that there are two face cards: The Queen of Diamonds and the Jack of Clubs. You would appear as the woman card, so the queen is not you and must be either Lady Denham or perhaps Miss Denham if she is the will's present beneficiary. I lean towards seeing this card as Lady Denham because, at present, she has the diamonds and, also, it seems that Miss Denham would be more likely represented by the Snake card. The Jack of Clubs is a loathsome, insidious figure and surely must be Sir Edward, especially since he's a Jack and not yet a King. If we interpret the whip and representing Sir Edward, then the he is likely the beneficiary of the will at present (the will's (letter) choice (crossroads) is Sir Edward). He is also the only card in the tableau touched only by happy, red cards.

Yes, the queen is also right in the middle, everything revolves around Lady Denham’s choice. (And yes, Esther is SO a snake, I don’t care what the tv says.)

Looking back again at the bottom row, then, we see that your financial security lies with Sir Edward. You must marry him or accept material destitution.

In the original fragment, the main character observes Clara passively allowing Edward to woo her in public, neither encouraging nor dicouraging, and then talking with him quite contentedly and confidentially in what is certainly meant to be a private meeting. I don’t put it past Clara to “draw him in,” but he’s such a complete ninny that I still feel sorry for her to have to stoop to that to survive.

Thanks for the reading! As I said, you have really shown how it’s done! I think I would do well to emulate your style!

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks for the kind words. Many readers do use the bear as person, but I never do: Man, Woman, Child, Snake, and Rider. Anyone else needs to be a face card.