Lenormand cards share their name with Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand, a notable 18th century card reader and writer. A typical Lenormand deck has 36 cards read in large spreads. In a Grand Tableau, the entire deck is laid out at once.
To learn more about the history of Lenormand and how to read it, check out my free guide linked below.
The Stretch Lenormand Story
I started work on a Lenormand deck not long after publishing The Stretch Tarot. My main aim was to have a smaller project with fewer cards that would allow me to action some of the things I'd learned from making my first deck. The project came to a standstill when I went to university, but during lockdown I had the time to finish the cards, fund through Kickstarter, and finally publish.
As Lenormand is typically read in larger spreads than Tarot, I wanted the cards to have a sense of unity, so I used the corresponding pages of a dictionary to create all of the backgrounds. Like with The Stretch Tarot, I used public domain images sourced mainly from the Wellcome Collection and Wiki Commons to give it a vintage feel.
I included two additional Man and Woman signifer cards with reversed numbering to allow for same-sex readings, and I also created two original signifer cards (The Mirrors) free from gender and race to make the deck more universal.
The first edition came in a black and gold foiled tuck box which was inspired by 19th century mourning card designs.
While I no longer keep stock of the original Stretch Lenormand, it is currently available to order on MPC Marketplace. It now comes in a black velvet bag.
Praise for The Stretch Lenormand
"So much detail in this deck. Beautiful imagery you get drawn into the stories and lives that the people in the photographs lived."
@tarotcafe_collective
Free Download
The Key to Lenormand
I wrote and hand-bound this guidebook as a Kickstarter reward. You can now download the text to read online or print at home for free.