The “Grand Jeu du Destin”

The grand tableau is not the only spread that can give a general overview when using the Petit Lenormand. There are several other spreads using less cards, the russian cross being one. Today, I’m going to show another alternative, which was described in Mary Marco’s 1989 book “Petit Lenormand, Methode de Cartomancie”.

She calls it “le grand jeu du destin”, which could be translated to “the great game of destiny“. This spread uses 21 cards. What I like about it is that, contrary to the grand tableau, we do not access all aspects of the life of someone. We let the cards guide and tell us what is important. Of course, the same way we can do a grand tableau on a particular theme, we can do the same thing to give more details on a delimited subject to our consultant.

The complete version of this spread is done in 3 steps. First, we spread all 21 cards ans interpret them. Second, we gather the cards in pairs, that’s what she calls confirmation and proof by 2. And finally, we spread them in 4 columns, she calls this confirmation and proof by 4.

Selecting the cards.

In her book, she describes a very particular way of selecting the cards. After mixing, we take the cards 3 by 3 and examine them. If the cartomancy shows that they are all from the same suite (3 clubs for example) ou the same numerical value (3 nines or 3 kings for example), we put all 3 cards on the table. If there are 2 cards from the same suite, we take the higher one. In all other cases, we discard the 3 cards.

When we are done examining all 36 cards, If we did not select 21 cards, we re-shuffle and restart the same procedure until we have 21 cards on the table.

We have to make sure that the card representing the consultant (no 28 for a man, no 29 for a woman or no 13 for a child) has been selected. If it’s not, we look at the remaining cards 2 by 2 until we get a pair containing the significator, and we put the 2 cards at the end of the 21. 

That way, we always finish with a spread of 21 or 23 cards, and it always contains the card representing the consultant.

That’s the procedure she describes and I followed it religiously for the example reading I did. But I’m sure cards could be selected any way you want with the same result. As long as the last step is followed, in order obtain the card representing the consultant. That’s the only mandatory rule to use this spread.

Step 1, the 21 cards.

In her book, Mary Marco presents all 21 cards in a single row. In my example, I spilt them into 3 lines, for practical reasons. As long as we follow the same order, there is no problem in using more lines, the interpretation will be done the same way. 

Let’s do a practical example. Marc is in his 30’s, married with 2 children and is looking for an overview for the next 6 months. The Man card did not appear in the first 21, so I had to look at the pairs to select 2 additional cards.

 

 

 As he is a man, we will start with the card of the Man, and then we select the cards to interpret by counting by 5. 

The Man is card 1, book card 2, bouquet card 3, stork card 4, snake card 5, we interpret the snake. When done, the snake becomes card 1, key card 2, paths card 3, fox card 4, and bear card 5, so we read the bear next.

And we continue the procedure until we get back to the Man.

The complete sequence becomes the Man, the Snake, the Bear, the Letter, the child, the Whip, the Book, the Key, the Ring, the Heart, the Clouds, the Scythe, the Bouquet, the Paths, the House, the Sun, the Fish, he Dog, the Stork, he Fox, the Moon, the Tree, the Lady, and finally back to the Man.

As this reading can be quite long, as some cards can go in different directions for the interpretation, I will keep it succinct and go only to the main ideas. It would be possible to develop in much greater details.

We start with the Snake. Immediately we see complications, that might be due to an adventure with another woman (the queen of clubs). That might be a poisonous situation thar turns into jealousy with the Bear. There might be a problem of communication (letter) because of his his children (child), creating some quarrels (whip). Keeping everything secret (book) is key (key) for his marriage (ring).

Concerning his marriage (ring), were see that the feelings (heart) are clouded (clouds), the situation is problematic (clouds) and threatening (scythe) his happiness (bouquet). He is facing a choice (paths) in his domestic life (house).

We see much more success (sun) in his finances (fish), that prove to be reliable (dog). But the indication is that a change (stork) could be coming and take a long turn (fox), due to the unhealthy romance (moon, tree) with his wife (Lady).

Step 2, the proof by 2.

Or the step where we add some details… We form a series of mirroring pairs with the cards, 1 with 23, 2 with 22, … until we are left with card 12 alone, the middle card. And we interpret them, one by one. Not all of them might be relevant, and they should be looked in the context of step 1. They’re just here to add some details.

 

 

Bouquet + Book. Something hidden is impacting his happiness.

Stork + Man. He is facing some radicals changes.

Snake + Dog. The “other woman”, being among his close entourage, or lies in what he though trusty.

Key + Scythe. A lack of solutions of him, he certainly lacks initiative.

Paths + Whip. That results in difficult choices for him.

Fox + Lady. As we’ve seen, duplicity around his wife.

Bear + Fish. A powerful financial situation, good financial reserves.

Ring + Clouds. Important problems in his marriage.

House + Child. His domestic life is dominated by this children.

Moon  + Tree. His reputation becomes unhealthy (a consequence of his situation being discovered).

Letter + Sun. His exchanges (communications) come to light.

Heart. All this impacting the heart.

Step 3, the proof by 4.

You take the 23 cards and shuffle them. You draw 4 of them in a line, and continuously cover these 4 until all the cards are drawn.

 

 

The first column obtained talks about the consultant.

As we’ve already seen, there is jealousy (bear) for his mistress (snake), because of his relation to the children (child). As we’ve seen, they are a cause of friction with her. And why the romance becomes unhealthy for him (moon, man, tree).

The second column talks about domestic life.

There is something wrong (fox) oil his happiness (bouquet), the duplicity (fox) comes to light (sun) and creates quarrels (whip). We see arguments (whip) to find solutions (key) around the domestic life (home).

The third column is about hopes and desires.

He wishes to rekindle with his wife (lady, heart) and that communication (letter) will improve the situation (stork), but st the same time he knows he’s facing difficult choices (paths, clouds).

The last column is about surprise from destiny.

 What was reliable (dog), marriage (ring) and finances (fish), are threatened and in danger when what happens is uncovered (book, scythe).