When looking at most facebook groups and forums, it seems that there is a lot of confusion on how to reply to a yes/no type of question. We find many different methods, mostly having to do with the cards insets or a predefined list of positive, negative and neutral cards. I don’t believe these are the best way to proceed.
Insets have their roots in cartomancy, where usually reds are good and black are bad. From there, a polarized question like a yes/no becomes a simple addition. Hearts and diamonds become yes, while spades and clubs become no.In this system, we already find two different schools, some will use the complete deck, some will only use the pips, as honors such as kings and queens represent people. Interesting way to proceed, but as I will show it has its shortcomings.
Using a list of positive, negative and neutral values is mostly sponsored by a few Lenormand authors and seems quite popular these days. The problem with this system, is that these lists already vary from author to author, so figuring out which one would be the most appropriate is already a problem. These lists also do not take into account the context or the question, and I am sure that sometimes, for example, the coffin might be positive, for instance if the question is about ending an abusive relationship; or the sun might be seen as negative if someone is dehydrated.
The first pitfall with these two methods is that they don’t take into account the order of the cards. For instance, when asking about a relationship, having clouds followed by fish is certainly different than having fish followed by clouds. In the former, we have confusion at first, followed by a relationship flowing.
In the later, the relationship is flowing into confusion, into dark clouds. Totally opposite polarity with the same exact cards.
Another major limitation with these two methods is that they do not take the question into account. So, apparently asking if a relation is going to continue or if a relation is going to finish would have the same yes or no reply if the same 3 cards are drawn. However, the 2 questions are totally opposite. As such, we reach another limit of these systems: one is supposed to ask only positive questions in order to respect the polarity of the cards.
Really? What about doing what a cartomancier is supposed to do first, just looking the cards and reading the story? In that case, if for instance we have the cross, the ring and the coffin for the same relationship questions, the narrative will always be the same, that a painful relationship is ending. No more worry about having a positive or negative question, the reply will stay coherent.
Let’s take an example a little more complex. Brad had an interview and is asking if he’s going to get the job.
Key, Ship, Book, Anchor, Mice.
If we go by the insets, we have 2 reds and 3 blacks, so the reply would be no. But if we go by positive and negative values, according to most books, we have 3 positives (key, ship and anchor), 1 negative (mice), and 1 neutral (book), so the response would be yes.
In this example, the 2 methods already give opposite results, one saying no, the other saying yes. The end result is more confusion than anything else.
But what are the cards really saying? There are already 2 key elements without even starting the interpretation. Mice is ending the line, which is bad sign as they usually spoil and damage everything around them; anchor followed by mice certainly shows that the hope of getting the job is eroding. Also, this ship sailing nicely is stopped by the anchor, the initial movement is disrupted and stopped. So, what happened here? Something important when moving into what he knows stopped the progression:there was a problem with his knowledge or his experience. It’s eroding his hopes. No job this time.
In my book, reading the cards and coming with a narrative from the cards themselves will always trump any other method. There is no need to complicate and act differently when the question is a yes/no question.
Deck: Cartamundi, petit jeu de Mlle Lenormand.
