french cartomancy deck

Pepi Valderrama’s next question prompt:

Which is your favorite deck? Why?

Kind of a lead-in from the last question, really. I do like my Gilded Reverie from Ciro Marchetti.

But for more info, especially if you are new and choosing a Lenormand deck. Unlike the Tarot, reading the Lenormand cards is all about the main meaning of the single symbol that each card represents, so making sure that that symbol is clearly pictured without a bunch of distraction in the background, is really important. Like, for the Birds card, you wouldn’t want just a bunch of different kinds of birds flying off in the distance in a pretty landscape. You want the Birds to be ideally two (because two of something is one of the card’s meanings), and be the biggest/closest objects on the card, with as simple a background as possible, or if decorative, not intrusively so.

I have found that older traditional European decks like the Blue Owl or French Cartomancy do put the main images to the front and generally make them clear, but even these decks are not perfect in that regard. It may be because of the White Owl’s updated coloring, but I have trouble distinguishing Stars from Moon. With the French Cartomancy, I’m just not quite sure that is a Fox in the picture, but it’s just the odd 19th-century pastoral style.

Unlike a lot of the new Lenormand decks coming out, I found the Gilded Reverie to be quite good at putting the focus on the main symbol of the card, and although the backgrounds are more elaborate, they do, for the most part, integrate well with the main image. And I like that the numbers are clearly presented, and although abbreviated, the playing card inserts are there (being gold/brass colored, they sometimes blend in a bit with the image, though). No deck is perfect in clarity, I’m finding, and I don’t find the Roads/Paths card to be obvious (it’s a split staircase), for example, but that was Ciro exercising his artistic choice. It still creates the message of making a choice between options.

So, I’m finding myself using the Gilded Reverie for most daily draws. I think it will be a good reading deck, and I find the artistic quality to be just pleasurable all around.

Pepi Valderrama’s next question prompt:

Do you have more than one deck? (I know… tricky question) If so, how many?

🙂 Not a true professional deck-aholic, at least not yet. I have three Lenormand decks, two traditional European ones, and one “art” deck. I have the White Owl, French Cartomancy, and Ciro Marthetti’s Gilded Reverie.

I really do favor simple imagery for this tool since it’s challenging enough to read the cards without a lot of distracting background symbols, but as long as the backgrounds don’t overwhelm the main image, I’m cool.

I use the Gilded Reverie now most often, followed by the White Owl. I doubt I’ll get a bunch more Lenormand decks, although there may be some interesting ones that are coming out with the increased interest in this system in the English-speaking world these days.