The Lenormand Revolution, the Review & Interview

“Mais je le vois, tu me méprises comme un insensé, parce que ma raison s’égare au sein des délices : mes emportements t’effrayent, mon délire te fait pitié, et tu ne sens pas que toute la force humaine ne peut suffire à des félicités sans bornes.” (Julie ou La nouvelle Héloïse (1761), Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

The Review

Being in love is like being into a Revolution. Your normal state changes to one of excitement, to one of wanting to free yourself from society rules and jump into the sweet pool of love. These feelings can be found into The Lenormand Revolution of Carrie Paris and Roz Foster. One of the best decks ever! If you are to madly fall in love with one deck, this is the one.

If you like classic art, vintage art and elegant collages, this is the perfect deck for you! Colors are soft, and yet, powerful and inspiring. New as it is, you can feel the Revolution through your fingers. Compelling, frightening, revolutionary… its art brings you to a time in which liberty of thought, liberty of any kind was asked by women and men alike. You can feel romance, power, energy and the will of living a revolution yourself. This deck is perfect for self discovery, guidance and meditation. If you seek to be free, soul free, from anything that might be bothering you, but aren’t still sure of what it is, a good way to discover it is using this deck.

It’s a great tool for both “tradition” lovers and “revolutionary” lovers. Each card has included the correct amount of tradition and revolution so that anyone can use them feeling attached to them. The art is amazing, sweet but strong, romantic but sharp. Antagonism in love in each card. You are going to love the backs of the cards too. The patterns are soft, the colors are vintage perfect, and they keep the atmosphere of the general artwork.

The card stock of the first edition (the one I have between my hands) is a little bit thinner than the decks I normally use, but strong enough to be able to use the deck. The third edition has The Game Crafter paper stock. I know this paper stock well, since my decks are published by them as well. You can expect a stronger paper stock, perfect to use it for as long as you want 🙂 The third edition comes with an extra female child and three additional card surprises for customizing your readings.

It comes with two “dames” and two “monsieurs”. For me the best ones are Napoleon and Joséphine. But, you might want the revolutionary counterparts as well. Call me romantic, or chic, or catastrophic… but for me, the Empereur et son Imperátrice are the most compelling Consultants of the deck.

In short, this is a must-have-at-all-costs deck. Its art refinement, combination of vintage colors, atmosphere, deep meaning, elegant collage, wonderful backs and great information booklet by Carrie Paris makes of this deck a treasure to use, touch and admire.

Interview with Carrie Paris

I must admit that I’ve enjoyed this interview a lot. I love Japan, and when I discovered that Carrie had discovered the Lenormand in Japan I gasped and felt into a deep trance while I was reading her words. Can you image my excitement? Two of my geeky weaknesses found into the same deck: French style, with all the French language attached to the titles which I love so much, and Japan hidden within its story! I just want to transmit to you the excitement I experienced while I was into the Interview. I hope that you enjoy it as I did, and I hope that you enjoy this fin jeu de cartes.

Pepi: Why the Lenormand Revolution? From where did you get the inspiration?

Carrie: The Lenormand revolution started over 25 years ago when I moved to Japan. Just before takeoff a friend, who knew I read tarot, gave me a “used tarot deck” held together by a rubber band. Without giving it much thought I thanked my friend and added it in my luggage. I recall sitting on my apartment floor in Kyoto, divining with my new “tarot” deck and thinking how simple it looked and that there must be cards missing. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered it to be a Lenormand. Unfortunately it didn’t come with a LWB and at the time the one English bookstore available to me didn’t carry material on the topic of cartomancy. This was also pre-Internet which limited my research. Despite this lack of information, I did the next best thing— improvised! On more than one occasion I would shuffle my Lenormand cards in with my Thoth or Rider, Waite, Smith decks. I can hear the gasps from here! Oddly enough, they actually worked beautifully together. I was in an environment where anything was possible and my philosophy has always been; given a new tool, adopt shoshin, the Zen concept of the beginner’s mind, which usually sees more possibilities than less.

Jump ahead to winter of 2009. At that time I was living in Santa Fe and on a six week retreat in the hills of northern California to work on a tarot project with web designers Roz Foster and Gabe Marihugh of glopilot.com. I brought with me only the essentials—you know, computer, warm clothes, toothbrush and a few decks. One of the decks that made it into my suitcase was a Blue Owl Lenormand, which I had for a number of years but only seem to use whenever I’m on the road. Before starting each day I would pull three cards from both my Blue Owl and a Thoth decks (yes, I still use the two together) and it was during one of these pulls that I became more infatuated by the simplicity of Lenormand readings. While the Thoth deck certainly spoke to me, it was more on a soul level and less practical an adviser than my Lenormand. For example on any given day the Thoth deck could tell me how I might “feel” about my day ahead while my Lenormand would tell me who, where, how and at what time I might be experiencing those feelings. I think it was about half way into my retreat that I connected Roz Foster with Lenormand.

I’m a big fan of Roz Foster’s art and it was during a Skype meeting I mentioned Lenormand cards to her and how I thought she would make a beautiful deck. This turned out to be a passing conversation that went on a back burner. However as time progressed the idea would not leave me alone. I think I mentioned it to Roz a few more times before making a few cards myself, sending them to Roz and Gabe and asking what it would take to create a Lenormand deck, website and iOS app. Long story short, and a couple of days later they got back to me and away we went!

While researching Lenormand as a divination system I came across bits of history about Mlle Lenormand and how she was Josephine Bonaparte’s diviner. This lead to a gathering of images of Josephine followed by Napoleon, which as a couple became the parent’s to our deck’s imagery, theme and atmosphere. Both made a strong Lady and Gentleman card and were not only part of the French revolution, but the Lenormand Revolution. In 2012 we started working on the deck’s design and came to realize that the overall theme of revolution was very much in the air. Wall Street, the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement—all where in full swing as was a Lenormand revolution. Lenormand decks were taking up the US tarot community by storm and causing a great upheaval in this traditional divination system. It was only natural that we follow suit and go with the revolution theme.

P: Was it difficult to work with another author?

C: You might want to ask Gabe and Roz that question. I think I may have overwhelmed Roz with imagery and Gabe with information and was fortunate to be working with uncomplaining professionals. Roz is a delight to work with and is incredibly talented in creating atmosphere and mood. Her eye for detail is impeccable. Each card delivers a sense of era and place and as I’ve shared with Roz, makes me feel as if I’m time traveling. Gabe is amazing and is putting the finishing touches on the Lenormand Revolution app which is just gorgeous. He’s also a gifted diviner and visionary artist/musician, so has approached the app with a diviner’s mind and needs. I have the beta version and love how easy it is to navigate. Inside the app is a built-in study guide that we will be adding material to via updates. Much of the material was overseen by Lenormand professional, Stella Waldvogel. The app itself is not only a go-to divination deck on your device, but also a learning tool for all levels. It features traditional spreads including two versions of a Grand Tableau plus much more. Gabe has done a fabulous job and we can’t wait to launch this part of the Lenormand Revolution!

P: Which layouts do you think will fit best your deck?

C: All traditional spreads work with the Lenormand Revolution—there’s really no limit. We also encourage people to create their own and this has become evident as more people feature their discoveries on blogs and websites. There are some really creative juices flowing out there in Lenormand Land! Right now we’re interested in non-traditional spreads and our reason for this is that we feel there are already a number of great resources for traditional teachings. We are currently working with video to introduce modern concepts. You can find an example of our first video spread that features the Scythe card as a tool for personal clearings. We have a new spread coming for Valentine’s Day and another that explains how people can use the three additional cards that are included in the third edition of the Lenormand Revolution deck. They are stunning!

P: Which is the most gratifying thing/emotion you got from creating this wonderful deck?

C: Thank you, Pepi . For one, I got to meet you and other wonderful indie deck designers. And oh my how the community is growing! I enjoy watching how the Lenromand Revolution has activated the non-conforming rebel in all who divine with it and for this we are very happy It also shows what a group of friend’s can do when they follow the call of creativity and for this we are in total gratitude. The Lenormand community has supported this project from the first day we introduced an image of Josephine on Facebook. From there it has been overwhelming and again, we joyfully find ourselves in heartfelt gratitude to those who encouraged us to publish the Lenormand Revolution.

P: Any tips for readers?

C: Know thyself and then let the revolution begin!

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