Dear reader of signs,
Welcome to the Tuesday, the 13th of June’s observation from my daily ‘Reading the Signs’ June challenge, an exercise of paying attention with a focus in mind as the day unfolds.
Two massive thunderstorms dominated my Tuesday. One in the early afternoon and another during the evening. Each resulted in a deluge of rain. The plants appreciated it, despite the hammering. And my car got a natural power hosing, so that’s great!
I chose The Burning Serpent Oracle, which is by Robert M Place and Rachel Pollack, and I drew The Fox and The Hound.
This deck is based on what is known as Lenormand fortune-telling cards, which is named after Marie Anne Lenormand (1772–1843), a famous French cartomancer during the Napoleonic era. She claimed to have advised some of the most important people during that tumultuous period, and after she died game-makers in France released card decks called the Grand Jeu (‘Big Game’) and Petit Jeu (‘Little Game’), inspired by her divination system.
The Petit Jeu is the more common deck used, and it is usually 36 cards, with simple images that are easy to understand. The spreads — how you lay the cards down — can be quite complex, but that is not generally the way I use cards.
I’ve never been attracted to the Lenormand system, but I felt a certain obligation to own one, so when I heard that Rachael Pollock created one with Robert Place, I knew that was the one to get.
Pollock was hugely influential in the Tarot world, and her book Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (1980) is considered a seminal text. She was also a science fiction writer, and I met her once when I was a fledging writer. I felt very outmatched by her and the company of high profile writers she was with. I immediately recognised her from the Tarot world, and what I wanted to say to her was how great her Tarot book was, but I thought that if I mentioned Tarot before that group of writers I would be admitting to being a flake, so I said nothing. I never met Pollock again, alas, and I was sad to hear she passed away two months ago.
I’ve always been of the opinion that if you meet someone whose work was influential you should say so to them immediately, and thank them for their work. You may never meet them again and they will appreciate the kindness. Alas, insecurity overwhelmed me that day. I learned from the error and since then I have never been shy to thank someone whose work has been important to me. I’m less worried about other people’s opinions these days, although that has been a very long battle.
What a long introduction to a pair of cards! A single Lenormand card will be difficult to understand on its own (but in response to a yes/no question it might be useful), unlike the Tarot where one can say much. Each Lenormand card is relatively straightforward, so they work best when considered with several cards together.
When I pulled The Fox I felt rather flummoxed. It had been a long time since I used these cards, so I’d forgotten what works best for me. I drew another card, The Hound, and immediately it ‘clicked’ in my mind. In fact the symmetry between those cards was quite interesting. I immediately thought that The Fox and the Hound is a common pub name, which comes from fox hunting. So they even sound right, a common complementary pair.
The Fox usually stands for trickery or deceit (perhaps flair and cunning) and the Hound represented loyalty and friendship. They are opposing forces, one who is fun and perhaps duplicitous, and the other who is steadfast and dependable.
In this positioning the Fox appears to be looking away, out in the distance, figuring out a new prank, but the Hound is watching the Fox, aware of his nature and keeping a eye on him. To me they looked like unlikely buddies, each keeping the other in check. We need this kind of balance in our life. Someone who pushes us and someone who anchors us. Even within ourselves, we need the ability to break away from constraints and also to recognise when we must pull ourselves back from unhelpful behaviours.
What I took from these cards is our mind’s astonishing ability to create stories from simple inputs.
And like all the signs I’ve considered so far this month, my associations with the cards can be wide-ranging and surprising if I remain curious and interested in what they can reveal. And not to get too invested in having the right answer.
Sometimes, they are a way into pondering an encounter from the past.