Lenormand shopping spree

[Decan]

Concerning the Grand Tableau Lenormand oracle cards (to be released this summer) by Lo Scarabeo, I found out this video online (we can see more cards).

 

Actually, it looks like the deck that Katrinka displayed us at the top of the previous page, this one:

On 4/29/2021 at 8:18 PM, katrinka said:

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Decan

[katrinka]

That's it. 🙂
I have a delivery date of August 11th. We shall see.

[Guest]

Caved and Pre-ordered. 

[Decan]

I'm tempted myself, but I don't need another Petit Lenormand! The back is lovely and they just removed the verses for playing cards inset.

If the size is little (it seems) and the card stock not glossy (it seems too), this deck could be very interesting. The sturdy box is a good idea.

 

[katrinka]

18 minutes ago, Decan said:

I'm tempted myself, but I don't need another Petit Lenormand! The back is lovely and they just removed the verses for playing cards inset.
 

 

Yes, and there's something very familiar about those insets and backs. 😁

 

It's possible that the originals came in both verses and PC versions. I don't know how accurate of a reproduction it is - LS likes to mess with things, and that Clover looks a little funny in the video. It's more like something you might see in the Maybe. So it's possible they redid some cards. But it's probably as close as I'll ever get to this rare old deck, and for 15 bucks including shipping, I can't lose. 😉
 

18 minutes ago, Decan said:

If the size is little (it seems) and the card stock not glossy (it seems too), this deck could be very interesting. The sturdy box is a good idea.

Yes, the size, finish, and box look fine.
I think they might actually have noticed so many of us complaining about cards the size of manhole covers! 🤣

[Decan]

The exact size is 54x88, very slightly less than bridge size, but a little deck. Oddly on their site the cards look a bit long, but aren't.

https://www.loscarabeo.com/products/grand-tableau-lenormand-oracle-card

[Guest]

I am still awaiting a shipment date. It’s nice that they kept the original blue backs. 

[Decan]

The first unboxing in English for this deck.

I don't see a problem with the quality, it looks fine.

 

[katrinka]

How did she get hers already? Mine still has a ship date of August 11th,

[Decan]

Apparently this deck is already available on the market, but maybe not in the Amazon or Book Depository warehouses, particularly oversea.

I think I'll order a copy, it seems that a new Lo Scarabeo is born 🙂

[katrinka]

A Lo Scarabeo Piatnik, lol.
It does look like a good Lenormand.

[Decan]

Ordered! The delivery is planned for the beginning of July.

[Guest]

The Grand Tableau Lenormand is due tomorrow or Saturday.  Amazon were forecasting August but I found a seller with it in stock. 
 

Had a bit of a clear out last week. Just four Lenormands left (Brepols, Wanderwust, Maybe, Lilac Dondorf). It will be the fifth and (hopefully) replace my battered Piatnik. 

[Decan]

@timtoldrum let us know your first impressions when you'll receive it.

As I said it elsewhere, I don't really ask something else for a Lenormand.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Decan

[Guest]

The Grand Tableau Lenormand arrived earlier this morning.
 

I did not order the book edition. The cards come in a lift off box that is quite sturdy. 

 

The cards are of both standard size and of durable cardstock. LS have kept the blue backs of older Piatniks. It is nice to see the court cards in colour which is, again, consistent with older Piatniks.
 

The House, the Flowers, the Sun and the Moon cards are my favourites. The Park, the Birds and the Key cards  are probably the pictures I like least.
 

 

The set comes with a multilingual booklet. I did not see an author’s name, but it did not endear itself.

 

The GT instructions state that the Key card is the focus of the reading. Cards to the left and right are the past and future whereas those above and below refer to spiritual and practical aspects respectively. You do that for all the cartes maîtresses. 

 

The Fox is Job, Clever, Work... The High Tower has intuition as a keyword. It also has the Birds as social media, which is becoming a popular association but is nonsensical. 

 

I'll post a short introduction reading later on. 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

So, I did a quick introduction reading with the Grand Tableau Lenormand. For an introduction, I just asked the deck to describe its essence.  
 

The cards shuffled well. I use a riffle shuffle and it was smooth. 

 

The cut was the House — Birds. Straight talking. 
 

 

The three cards drawn from the deck were the Book, the Moon and the Flowers.

 

 

The Grand Tableau disseminates its wisdom while still being easy on the eye (Moon - Flowers = eye candy). It’s a deck of depth (Book - Moon) that might written off as twee (Flowers).

 

 

[Decan]

Very nice! I eagerly await my copy!

[katrinka]

2 hours ago, timtoldrum said:

The House, the Flowers, the Sun and the Moon cards are my favourites. The Park, the Birds and the Key cards  are probably the pictures I like least.

It's lovely. But the Park does look like the Ways, the Key would be better upright and I'd prefer the Birds nesting. Still, those are minor issues and overall it looks like a good reading deck - and very, very pretty.

 

3 hours ago, timtoldrum said:

The set comes with a multilingual booklet. I did not see an author’s name, but it did not endear itself.

Besides the questionable Lenormand information, it looks like they googled some totally unrelated playing card meanings, lol.

 

8 hours ago, timtoldrum said:

The Grand Tableau disseminates its wisdom while still being easy on the eye (Moon - Flowers = eye candy). It’s a deck of depth (Book - Moon) that might written off as twee (Flowers).

That's what I love about the old decks. They look like the reading is meant to be done at a table with china teaware and tiny finger sandwiches, all very dainty, but they give you the unvarnished truth.

[Decan]

The Garden card doesn't really worry me but I saw that it looks a little the Roads. The Birds card looks the same than in the Stralsunder but it's something I need to check; someone in a video said that the Coffin card is very similar to the one in the Dondorf.

Likely people in the old days didn't search to innovate (or within boundaries), but it's fine.

Okay, so finally the main issue with this deck is the booklet. For Lilies they say that the King of Spades is a rival, an enemy or dishonest lawyer, well it's the meanings with other systems of playing cards I guess, but not with Lenormand, for me he is an older man, generally supportive, so not the same 😁

Edited July 3, 2021 by Decan

[katrinka]

31 minutes ago, Decan said:

someone in a video said that the Coffin card is very similar to the one in the Dondorf.

 

So is the Heart.
Surrounding the Heart with roses is something I've seen in other old decks as well. It's perfect, I don't know why people stopped doing that.
 

33 minutes ago, Decan said:

Likely people in the old days didn't search to innovate (or within boundaries), but it's fine.

 

It's why I prefer old Lenormands. The more you "innovate", the more you ruin it.

[Decan]

Oh guys, guess what was in my mailbox this morning?

Yes, the Grand Tableau Lenormand!

Nothing to add to what already said Timtoldrum, I just shuffled and did a little cut (without a particular question) to see what the cards say.

Mice + Ring hmm intriguing, maybe I will erode the deck through repetitive spreads (until it looks like the destroyed Dondorf!)

The Mouse is very simple & lovely in this deck.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Decan

[Guest]

On 7/2/2021 at 9:15 PM, katrinka said:

It's lovely. But the Park does look like the Ways, the Key would be better upright and I'd prefer the Birds nesting. Still, those are minor issues and overall it looks like a good reading deck - and very, very pretty.

 

It is not clear on the photo, but the Park also has a closed iron fence and gate. Not terrible open. The Birds and the Key are, I guess, no different to the current Piatnik. It is minor quibbles. 
 

On 7/2/2021 at 9:15 PM, katrinka said:

Besides the questionable Lenormand information, it looks like they googled some totally unrelated playing card meanings, lol.

It is a weird booklet. These days, one expects the Fox to be described as work.

 

But intuition and the High Tower? Also, both the Heart and the Moon are romance and both the Birch Rod and Lilies are both sex (Birch Rod being rough). It is just cobbled together without discernment.
 

The author is Sally Rose Robinson who apparently is quite well-respected in Tarot circles. 
 

On 7/2/2021 at 9:15 PM, katrinka said:

That's what I love about the old decks. They look like the reading is meant to be done at a table with china teaware and tiny finger sandwiches, all very dainty, but they give you the unvarnished truth.

Yes. It’s definitely a connoisseur deck.
 

Already, it’s showing itself as quite direct. It has a voice like the early Miss Marple stories — not particularly nice, but knows everything. 
 

16 hours ago, Decan said:

The Garden card doesn't really worry me but I saw that it looks a little the Roads. The Birds card looks the same than in the Stralsunder but it's something I need to check; someone in a video said that the Coffin card is very similar to the one in the Dondorf.

Likely people in the old days didn't search to innovate (or within boundaries), but it's fine.

Okay, so finally the main issue with this deck is the booklet. For Lilies they say that the King of Spades is a rival, an enemy or dishonest lawyer, well it's the meanings with other systems of playing cards I guess, but not with Lenormand, for me he is an older man, generally supportive, so not the same 😁

 

The Coffin and the Stars are Dondorf-esque. 
 

My Aunt’s deck was a “Dondorf,” but it was monochrome and did not have the right back. It was a definite bootleg. 
 

11 hours ago, Decan said:

Oh guys, guess what was in my mailbox this morning?

Yes, the Grand Tableau Lenormand!

Nothing to add to what already said Timtoldrum, I just shuffled and did a little cut (without a particular question) to see what the cards say.

Mice + Ring hmm intriguing, maybe I will erode the deck through repetitive spreads (until it looks like the destroyed Dondorf!)

The Mouse is very simple & lovely in this deck.

 

Fantastic! It is a charming mouse. Sometimes the Mice — Ring can be an interloper. Something or someone who upsets the apple cart or status quo. Could your favourite deck have competition ? 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Guest

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, timtoldrum said:

It is a weird booklet. These days, one expects the Fox to be described as work.

 

But intuition and the High Tower? Also, both the Heart and the Moon are romance and both the Birch Rod and Lilies are both sex (Birch Rod being rough). It is just cobbled together without discernment.
 

The author is Sally Rose Robinson who apparently is quite well-respected in Tarot circles. 

 

I had to google her.
She's listed as the "cocreator" of the Vox Arcana Tarot, along with someone named Jaymi Elford. So I googled the Vox Arcana and it's a collab deck(!) done by "dozens of artists."
And that is ALL I could find. No books, no blog, no videos, no accomplishments at all other than being named as one of two "cocreators" of a deck that was actually done by a LOT of people. That, and this silly LWB.

It's odd she's named as a "cocreator", and it's odd they hired her to write a LWB about something she knows nothing about. Sometimes people with unemployable kids worry about what will become of them, so they give them jobs. I know someone who is in a fairly well-known band for exactly that reason. I suspect something similar is at play here.

 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, katrinka said:

 

I had to google her.
She's listed as the "cocreator" of the Vox Arcana Tarot, along with someone named Jaymi Elford. So I googled the Vox Arcana and it's a collab deck(!) done by "dozens of artists."
And that is ALL I could find. No books, no blog, no videos, no accomplishments at all other than being named as one of two "cocreators" of a deck that was actually done by a LOT of people. That, and this silly LWB.

It's odd she's named as a "cocreator", and it's odd they hired her to write a LWB about something she knows nothing about. Sometimes people with unemployable kids worry about what will become of them, so they give them jobs. I know someone who is in a fairly well-known band for exactly that reason. I suspect something similar is at play here.

 

I cannot comment. I’ve been told in the past that LS just hire people. I am, however, surprised that they did not secure a French, German or Italian author or just use the PL. Glück did the booklet for their GoH.

 

The deck is now in a wrap now minus the box and booklet. 

[katrinka]

7 minutes ago, timtoldrum said:

I cannot comment. I’ve been told in the past that LS just hire people.

 

Just random unskilled workers, like they were hiring someone to clean the offices?
 

7 minutes ago, timtoldrum said:

I am, however, surprised that they did not secure a French, German or Italian author or just use the PL. Glück did the booklet for their GoH.

 

Not hiring an author could be due to penny-pinching, but the PL is public domain. I'm not sure what to make of it.
 

7 minutes ago, timtoldrum said:

The deck is now in a wrap now minus the box and booklet. 

 

As it should be. That booklet is definitely going in the circular file!