Mini Tableaus

Tableaus are where Lenormand and playing cards really shine. But when we’re dealing with a precise question, or when a grand tableau would be too much information for the subject, a mini tableau becomes my spread of choice.

Still having a fair amount of cards, a mini tableau will be able to deliver a clear response with quite a significant amount of details. There are several ways to do them. Any size which is not using the full deck would qualify as a partial tableau of course. It could for example be done in 4 rows of 5 cards, 3 rows of 7 cards, or whatever number you fancy. I do sometimes 3 rows of 5 cards, where cards are read freestyle.

Not long ago, I discovered a layout on the blog of Jozefa Seaqueen, that she calls the “trigger spread”. Jozefa is a great reader and has a wonderful blog, I would certainly highly recommend at visit at seaqueen.wordpress.com. The spread is not positional (I gave my opinion on these not long ago), but temporal. It is made of 4 columns representing the recent past, the present, what should happen soon and what should happen later, ot the outcome. So, moving left to right is like moving through a timeline. I can imagine easily that this spread could be done as well with a Tarot de Marseille as with Lenormand, probably using the full deck of 78 cards.

I have played and experimented with this spread for a while and really love it, to the point where I’m now including it in what I regularly use in my own practice. It uses 12 cards, 3 rows of 4 cards, which provides a fair amount of details for most questions.

We start by reading the second line. What represents you facing the question is the second card of that line, in the present column, it’s what is called the trigger. That card could be preselected depending on the theme, but personally I prefer to let the cards decide what should be of importance to show. When the line has been read, we start reading column by column, from the past to the outcome, the additional cards in the column giving details on the main reading that was done.

As an example showing how I use it, my friend John had an interview for a job just a few days ago and asked me if he would get a job with the company. John is not feeling happy at his current workplace.

The trigger in this spread is the Snake. It represents John facing the question right now. Right of the bat, we see a situation where some complications might be involved, he might feel let down, victim of some kind of injustice. We’ll let it at this for the moment, we will add the details when reading the columns.

With the Moon, he comes from a situation where he was well regarded during the interview, he feels that he succeeded with honors. But as the Snake’s head is pointing at the Moon, there might have been something that did not please completely around his prestation. Looking at the future, Clouds and Stork, we can certainly see first a situation which is quite unclear, and positive changes coming later on.

Now, if we look at the columns, the recent past is represented by Key, Moon and Bouquet. Moon being a significator for work, that shows that he is certainly a well respected professional in his field, also that he felt that this position is key for his future. Moon and Bouquet show that he did well.

So, if the interview was so good, why is his situation looking so gloomy in the line representing the present, Paths, Snake, and Coffin? The complications announced by the Snake can certainly come from the Paths, and even if he did very well in his interview, they probably are going to look at other candidates and he will be put aside for the present moment. We’re not supposed to read cross columns, but once in a while a little peek at a neighboring card might be significant. The Book next to the Paths might explain why, they might have found another candidate with a better perceived experience for what they are looking for.

That brings us to what should happen soon, Book, Clouds and Sun. Some unknown period concerning what happened, that will darken his optimism.

The only solution for John is to wait. The last line, with Tree, Stork and Bear, give much more than a sliver of hope. We can see changes coming, something where he’ll be able to grow strong roots and flourish. That certainly can represent that they will end up selecting him at the end.

Feedback: John was promised a response the next day, and finally after a week of waiting, he received an offer. In order to understand what that confusion in the present and soon columns was, I drew three additional cards, asking for clarification on why things were not clear. Getting Ring, Child, and Scythe, can certainly mean that they had an offer made in good faith to someone else, who refused, confirming our suspicions.

Deck: White Back Dondorf from Game of Hope Lenormand.