Fairy Tale Reading: Tarot and Lenormand

In my _review_ of the lovely and talented Fairy Tale Lenormand (artwork by Lisa Hunt, written by Arwen Lynch, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.), I mentioned the possibility of doing a reading that combines this Lenormand deck with one or more of my Fairy Tale tarot decks.

This 3-card reading has the positions:

(1) yesterday............(2) today.............(3) tomorrow 

My cards:

The decks I am using are:

(1) yesterday: The Fairytale Tarot designed by Karen Mahony, illustrated by Alex Ukolov, with artwork by Irena Triskova (Magic Realist Press)

THREE OF WANDS – _The First Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman_

The card representing my “yesterday” is about making plans, exploring, dreaming of new horizons. As a young man, Sinbad is careless, squandering the wealth he inherited from his parents. I can see how, in some ways, I squandered the many gifts of many different kinds that I was given. The Three of Wands, however, does not represent regrets or unhappy outcomes. It represents a spirit of adventure, a desire and a willingness to search and explore and expand. This, too, applies to my “yesterday.”

(2) today: Fairy Tale Lenormand

SUN (Ace of Diamonds / 31) – _Little Daylight_

My “today” is represented by a very positive Lenormand card, the Sun, with the keywords “opportunities, success, vitality.” This deck associates the Sun card with the tale “Little Daylight,” one of those “female saved by the kiss of a male” stories that I lost my fondness for after reading The Cinderella Complex: Women's Hidden Fear of Independence Paperback by Colette Dowling in 1982. Nevertheless, my “today” is indeed based on a “rescue” of sorts that is not all that far removed from this type of story. Unlike the story, in my case, I did not lie sleeping, awaiting that magical kiss. My own decisions, choices, and actions contributed to the outcome and my present circumstances.

(3) tomorrow: The Fairy Tale Tarot by Lisa Hunt (Llewellyn Publications)

NINE OF CUPS – _The Mermaid and the Boy_

The story of The Mermaid and the Boy comes from Lapland, and it comes complete with the promise of a first-born child in exchange for being saved from death, an attempt to hide the child to avoid making good on the promise, and the child growing up and going out into the world. Out in that world, the boy helps various beasts, gaining the ability to turn into those beasts as needed, and this allows him to escape the mermaid who snatches him from the shore in fulfillment of that long-ago promise. The boy marries a princess and all is well in the end.

So, in terms of my “tomorrow,” I can look at this story not only on the surface but a bit more deeply, with the help of Lisa Hunt’s commentary: “We have shed the last vestiges of emotional turmoil and are now on the path toward reaching our objectives. We enjoy the ride as we feel the exhilaration of our goals being fed into our emotional well-being. We feel a keen sense of personal accomplishment and bask in the multitudinous blessings that are finally making themselves visible.”

I can certainly live with that!