I remember when I first started reading Lenormand.
I was comfortable reading Lenormand for myself. After all, it didn't matter if I made a mistake. Who would know?
But I was scared to read Lenormand for others. Did I know enough? Would I remember the card meanings and how to combine them? Would they think I didn't know what I was doing? Would I read the cards wrong?
All of these fears held me back as a Lenormand reader. It prevented me from trusting myself and my intuition.
But you know what? I'm not the only one.
One of the biggest challenges to new Lenormand readers are the very same fears and concerns that I had.
I want to share with you the 3 Worst Fears that New Lenormand Readers have when Reading Lenormand and How to Overcome Them. I want to help you become the best Lenormand reader you can be…without feeling scared or nervous every time you pick up a deck.
#1: Fear of Getting it Wrong when Reading Lenormand
No one likes to be wrong.
In school, a wrong answer was a form of failure. You could either get the answer right or wrong – nothing in between. It could be the difference between passing and failing, between making your parents proud or disappointed.
When reading Lenormand, many new readers get stuck on whether they have the right or wrong card meaning, the right or wrong combination, the right or wrong interpretation…
The problem is when that happens you stop trusting your intuition. You start looking at all the book meanings of Lenormand, or at a list of combinations on a website, and you ignore what you know about the cards.
You start trying to fit the cards to match what someone else is telling you they mean. You try to tweak everything to match your client's question.
You have a need to be right because you don't want to give your client a bad answer.
And when your intuition does try to tell you something, you're not sure if you should trust it.
You look up Lenormand meanings and combinations to validate you – to tell you if you're right or wrong.
But it's okay to make a mistake. I give you permission to get a Lenormand reading completely wrong. It happens…even to professionals.
I learned Lenormand from someone who had been reading Lenormand for over 15 years. At a time when his grandmother was ill, he did a Grand Tableau one night and became completely convinced she would die in a day or two. He was afraid and worried, looking at the cards literally. He saw a certain combination and jumped to the assumption that it meant the worst simply because it was one of the “by-the-book” combination meanings.
I looked at his spread and thought she would recover and be moved to a nursing home that she would really enjoy. I had been reading Lenormand for less than a year at the time, but my interpretation was the correct one.
It shows that even a professional can make a mistake. There are times when new Lenormand readers can be more accurate than a professional.
You have to learn to trust your intuition when reading Lenormand.
Here are some tips to help you read Lenormand intuitively:
- Allow yourself to go with the first idea that pops into your head. You might surprise yourself by how often you're right.
- Put the books down. Shut off your computer and tablet. Stay away from them for at least a week. Interpret your cards based solely on what you feel and on those sudden words that pop into your head out of the blue.
- Think of what the cards mean to you. For example, if you have a strong connection to the Navy, the Ship might come across as the military for you, rather than the more traditional Whip.
#2: Fear of Going Blank when Reading Lenormand
You know what this is…
You lay out some cards. You look at them. And you don't have the foggiest clue what they mean. Absolutely nothing comes to you.
What do you do when you're in front of a client? You can't throw all the cards in the air to distract them while you run out the door.
It happens. Even the most experienced readers have had it happen. I know I have.
“Sometimes you just can't figure out what the cards are saying…or it's like they don't want to speak to you.”
But that's not the real problem.
The real problem is what I like to call “Deer in headlights” syndrome. You're frozen and not connecting with your intuition. You're losing confidence in yourself and starting to panic.
You're scared because you don't know what to do. You can't read the cards if you don't know what they mean and that isn't coming to you!
It's like the nightmare of being caught in front of a classroom full of students wearing nothing but your underwear and you have nothing to hide behind.
So the next time you're reading Lenormand and you go blank, try this:
- Take a deep breath and center yourself.
- Look at the very first card and talk about what it means.
- Connect it to your client's question or ask them if they can relate to what it's telling them.
- If you're still blank, go to the next card and repeat the process. You don't have to worry about doing combinations now. You can go through each card until you can start to put together the story, then come back and do combinations, mirroring, etc.
The key is to calm down and focus. Work through each card until the answers start to come to you.
As you relax and talk about the card, your intuition will kick in and you'll know what to say. Reading Lenormand will get easier for you.
#3: Disappointing Clients when Reading Lenormand
It doesn't matter if you're reading professionally, reading for friends or family, or participating in a practice Lenormand exchange, you want to do a good job. After reading Lenormand for over 5 years, it still scares me. It's normal!
But you shouldn't worry about being good enough, accurate enough, skilled enough, esoteric enough, etc. You'll only lose your confidence and draw a mental blank when reading Lenormand (See fear #2 above).
Here are some tips to help you:
- Make sure your mind is very clear before you begin a reading and ask a specific, direct question to get a clear, easy-to-read answer.
- Listen to your first instinct when you see the cards – 9 times out of 10, it will be accurate.
- Practice reading Lenormand daily. The more you work with the cards, the more you'll understand how they speak to you, and the greater your confidence and accuracy will be.
- Stick with one system. Start with one set of meanings and stick to them. Make them the foundation of your Lenormand readings.
- Keep a Lenormand reading journal. Document all of your readings in it. You can go back over them to track your accuracy, help you sync to the language of the cards, and build your confidence as you see how often you are correct.
Overcome Your Fears when Reading Lenormand
You really can be a skilled Lenormand reader. You just have to take the first step and believe that you can do it.
When you start confronting your fears and reading Lenormand despite them, they will go away. You really can be a great Lenormand reader.
Hi! I’ve been practicing with the Lenormand for 5 months. I’m still having a hard time understanding it. Sometimes I do a reading for myself, and I can understand what is telling me, but there are sometimes that I get stuck. There are times that I ask a question, but I feel I’m getting a different answer to my question. I love the Lenormand and I don’t want to give up. I do use the meanings from the websites if I get stuck, but I’m using them to often. 🙁 I don’t have friends that I could do readings to them, and I don’t like to go in to groups online because I get overwhelm with the different meanings they can give to a reading. I was thinking, maybe I should do reading from my past, about things that I already know. Maybe that way I can start trusting what I’m reading. What do you think? Any advice? Thanks!
I’ve known people who have tried doing readings about their past, but it didn’t work well for them with learning the cards. Sometimes the cards would reveal information they didn’t know about which would confuse them about how to read the cards. It also limited their ability to tap into their intuition about what the cards are telling them.
I think you might be more successful sticking to only a few meanings when you’re learning. As you become more comfortable with those and what the cards are saying, you can begin to add more. You can try readings about different events in the news and how they might play out. Keep a journal of your readings and go back over them, see where you’re right and see how things may have played out a little differently. Relate them to the cards and how you could have more easily seen what the cards meant. Just be patient with yourself. 5 months isn’t long. It takes years to master Lenormand.
I have a question about spreads for yourself.
I have heard rumors that by doing so you kind of wasting your future, there’s specific word in Russian.
So please tell me is it ok to do that from your own experience.
Thank you for your reply in advance
You can do spreads for yourself. Nothing bad happens because of it.
Hi I have been reading the lenormand for around two years and there’s one thing that keeps your readings accurate KEEP YOUR LENORMAND READING SIMPLE,DON’T GO INTO MULTI MEANINGS THAT WILL CONFUSE YOUR CLIENT WHO YOU ARE READING FOR..STICK TO THE MEANINGS OF YOUR CARDS THAT WORK FOR YOU..I am a well seasoned Tarot reader as well and the same goes for the Tarot keep it simple and you will find that your readings are more accurate…Lenormand cards are a lot more different than the Tarot and are very straight to the point but this comes with practise practise practise,I have done many readings with the Lenormand cards and they haven’t let me down..Keep at it and keep following a good Blog like cafe lenormand were the person knows what they talking about..