The Enchanted Lenormand Oracle & Under the Roses Lenormand

Okay, so I'd heard of Lenormand but hadn't given it much serious thought until a friend began to explain it a little more to me. She suggested The Enchanted Lenormand Oracle as a good starting deck, and I have to say I fell in love with it right away. The art is by Virginia Lee who has done work on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit films. And Caitlin Matthews has made a couple key changes to the traditional symbols that I like very much. For one, she's changed The Whip to The Broom, hearkening back to some older decks. And she changed The Cross to Crossing, thus removing some of the religious weight of that card.

Given that this was my first Lenormand deck and my first time learning to read such cards, I'm probably biased. But I find The Enchanted Lenormand Oracle very easy to read; we have a good connection. The cards themselves are a bit small, which makes them tricky (for me) to shuffle, but other than that I have nothing to say against them. I use them every morning for my daily draw and they've been consistently insightful (barring occasional operator error on my part).

Enchanted Lenormand
(Crossing card is top center)

Once I was pretty comfortable with my abilities to read the cards, I decided to try another deck. Of course there are decks like Blue Owl, and I like those well enough, but what caught my eye was the Under the Roses Lenormand deck. I saw some images online and was struck by them, so those are the ones I got. They arrived just a couple days ago, and though I don't find them as easy as my Enchanted deck, I feel that may just be a sort of awkward phase. If my Enchanted cards are like talking with old friends, I'm still in the getting-to-know-you stage with the Under the Roses ones. I can read them, but it takes a little more effort. I think, with time, we'll settle in. And I do really love the art.

Under the Roses Lenormand

I've been fiddling about with Tarot cards for some years now, and I still love them too, but after just a few months I find the Lenormand more intuitive. Maybe it's my French blood. Something in me is definitely predisposed to understand and interpret the Lenormand symbols more easily. It's been a fun learning experience, especially with these two lovely decks.