When the cards say STOP

[Krystalida]

I was wondering how do the Lenormand communicate when they want you to stop. When you do lots of readings for an issue, or made many times the same question.

Tarot have particular cards to tell you this.

 

I was thinking that maybe they start to say things that don't make sense to you.

 

Any ideas or experience? 

 

 

[Ferrea]

In my experience, the cards start talking about random stuff, preferably things in the immediate future. For example, I'll keep asking about a job application and the Lenormand describes a conversation I'll have with my neighbour on the stairs an hour later.
These incidents (which I have had with tarot as well) made me disagree with the notion that you should always tie the meaning of the cards to the question—this could make you blind to the message that wants/needs to come through.
The more often I ask about a specific subject the less relevant and the closer in time the cards become.  

I'm yet not aware in my Lenormand practice of stop cards. Personally, I wouldn't expect this as I perceive Lenormand to be less conversational in terms of subconscious interaction/mirroring. 

[katrinka]

It's rare, but sometimes the cards will "refuse" a question. 
But that doesn't mean they're the "wrong" cards. It means we're not supposed to know at the time of the draw.
IME when this happens, it's unmistakable. The cards are absurdly dire - basically "rocks fall, everyone dies!!!!!" 🤣
It's just the cards telling me to wait awhile. Try again when I'm not stressing over it, or when a suitable amount of time has passed.
But I agree that there's no "stop cards" in Lenormand. Or anything, really.

Edited March 7 by katrinka

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this to the Lenormand section as it's more of a discussion than a reading 🙂 

[Krystalida]

16 hours ago, Ferrea said:

In my experience, the cards start talking about random stuff, preferably things in the immediate future. For example, I'll keep asking about a job application and the Lenormand describes a conversation I'll have with my neighbour on the stairs an hour later.
These incidents (which I have had with tarot as well) made me disagree with the notion that you should always tie the meaning of the cards to the question—this could make you blind to the message that wants/needs to come through.
The more often I ask about a specific subject the less relevant and the closer in time the cards become.  

I'm yet not aware in my Lenormand practice of stop cards. Personally, I wouldn't expect this as I perceive Lenormand to be less conversational in terms of subconscious interaction/mirroring. 

I noticed that! They show you something else and usually immediate! I asked about a love issue and got what happened at my work in the time frame I've settled in the question.

 

I w8ll agree on what you say about the question and especially about Yes or No question, the cards always say something, maybe setting a subject would be enough. 

 

I've been observing for some time now if and how will they communicate to me the STOP and it took quite a while I must say for them to react xexe like to point to other random things 

[Krystalida]

13 hours ago, katrinka said:

It's rare, but sometimes the cards will "refuse" a question. 
But that doesn't mean they're the "wrong" cards. It means we're not supposed to know at the time of the draw.
IME when this happens, it's unmistakable. The cards are absurdly dire - basically "rocks fall, everyone dies!!!!!" 🤣
It's just the cards telling me to wait awhile. Try again when I'm not stressing over it, or when a suitable amount of time has passed.
But I agree that there's no "stop cards" in Lenormand. Or anything, really.

You mean you get readings with the negative cards let's say, or  more neutral cards like Bear, House, Anchor, Tower that could point to a non change, or something unlovable? 

 

[Krystalida]

11 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I've moved this to the Lenormand section as it's more of a discussion than a reading 🙂 

I was wondering if this was the right section 😇

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, Krystalida said:

You mean you get readings with the negative cards let's say, or  more neutral cards like Bear, House, Anchor, Tower that could point to a non change, or something unlovable?

Much worse than neutral cards. Nasty malefic cards like Clouds, Cross, Coffin, Mice, etc. Always in answer to something that couldn't possibly be that bad. That's how I know they're refusing the question: they go absurdly bad.

Other than that, the cards are always the right ones for the question. It's just a matter of putting them in context. I've never had them refer to minor unrelated events, and I've been using the method over 20 years.

[Krystalida]

13 hours ago, katrinka said:

Much worse than neutral cards. Nasty malefic cards like Clouds, Cross, Coffin, Mice, etc. Always in answer to something that couldn't possibly be that bad. That's how I know they're refusing the question: they go absurdly bad.

Other than that, the cards are always the right ones for the question. It's just a matter of putting them in context. I've never had them refer to minor unrelated events, and I've been using the method over 20 years.

Like Tarot more or less, there you see 7 - 9 - 10 of swords, Devil, Tower etc

I didn't have this yet with Lenormand but from the last reading I did, which is the one that brought me to post here for enlightenment, I noticed that the cards were saying things that couldn't match they were overreacting somehow, because there isn't anything else to see about the subject.

[Sadewa]

On 3/8/2025 at 10:00 AM, katrinka said:

Much worse than neutral cards. Nasty malefic cards like Clouds, Cross, Coffin, Mice, etc. Always in answer to something that couldn't possibly be that bad. That's how I know they're refusing the question: they go absurdly bad.

I think I have had the same experience.

 

My personal theory is that asking the same question multiple times in a row is like asking a person to check a problem multiple times. At first they might provide a general but accurate overview (or get straight to the point but then you wouldn't be asking again), the second time they might get more specific. But when you go on and on they might start to pick on the slightest issues and magnify them for you to see, because their previous responses just didn't seem to do the trick, or they might just stubbornly repeat what they've said, and that can also be a clue to stop.

 

Anyway, this theory does risk anthropomorphizing the cards, but I do not mean to imply any sort of spirits inhabiting the deck. Personally I do feel taking it as a kind of conversation helps me understand working with the cards, though. I think Rana George in a Youtube video once touched on the subject of asking reassuring questions, stating that "there's no cartomantic police out there". But her demonstration, while useful and undoubtedly rooted in her long time of experience, seemed more mechanistic to me personally. You ask clear questions, you learn the key words, you put things into context and then BAM, it doesn't matter if you ask the cards once or twice or thrice. To be fair, she did say you have to do reassuring questions for every question asked. It's just I do come to think that there's more to it, although I can't properly put it down in words.

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, Sadewa said:

My personal theory is that asking the same question multiple times in a row is like asking a person to check a problem multiple times.

Yes, you can see the cards getting "annoyed" when you do that. Mine start showing nonsense. Silly stuff.

Maybe it's just me, but I get the "Rocks fall, everyone dies" when I'm really stressing over something, even when it's the first time I asked about that particular subject. This only happens when I'm scared half to death. That's when the cards blow up the negative stuff and I realize after the fact that I was looking to them for reassurance. They let me know in no uncertain terms that's not their job. They're essentially telling me to f*** off. 

Oddly, they don't do that in client readings. I've been able to tell a lot of people that things aren't as bad as they think.
 

1 hour ago, Sadewa said:

Anyway, this theory does risk anthropomorphizing the cards, but I do not mean to imply any sort of spirits inhabiting the deck.

Amen! See above. 🤣
We're on the same page when it comes to that. Publishers aren't capturing spirits and imprisoning them in tuck boxes a la Solomon. Nothing jumps into the deck when we remove the shrinkwrap, either. But it's just impossible to explain these "behaviors" without anthropomorphizing the cards. I don't think the english language has words for these things. So we run the risk of coming off like we have an imaginary friend if this is taken literally, lol.

Anyway, wikipedia says anthropomorphism that "is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology." It's hardwired into us.

Edited March 10 by katrinka

[Sadewa]

18 hours ago, Sadewa said:

o be fair, she did say you have to do reassuring questions for every question asked.

I realized I wrongly typed "didn't" as "did". She most certainly didn't advocate asking reassuring questions for every occasion😅

 

17 hours ago, katrinka said:

Maybe it's just me, but I get the "Rocks fall, everyone dies" when I'm really stressing over something, even when it's the first time I asked about that particular subject. This only happens when I'm scared half to death. That's when the cards blow up the negative stuff and I realize after the fact that I was looking to them for reassurance. They let me know in no uncertain terms that's not their job. They're essentially telling me to f*** off. 

Oddly, they don't do that in client readings. I've been able to tell a lot of people that things aren't as bad as they think.

I can relate to that.

 

I do not like the psychological theory of cards but I too have found it better to approach the cards with a relatively peaceful state of mind. My mantra is "it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad but I just need to know".

[katrinka]

2 hours ago, Sadewa said:

I realized I wrongly typed "didn't" as "did". She most certainly didn't advocate asking reassuring questions for every occasion😅

That did confuse me a bit. Thanks for clarifying!
 

2 hours ago, Sadewa said:

My mantra is "it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad but I just need to know".

That's a keeper. 😊