Lenormand cards are like tarot cards in these ways:

1. They were first used as games rather than fortune telling
2. Their histories are not exactly "shrouded in mystery," but also not completely crystal clear
3. They are used today to divine the future

Lenormand cards are different from tarot cards in these ways:

1. The cards have concise, clear meanings, and are not meant to be interpreted "intuitively"
2. There are only 36 cards instead of 78
3. There are no divisions in the deck, like in tarot's Major and Minor Arcana and suits
4. Reversals are never used
5. The most popular (until recently) way to use Lenormand cards was to spread all 36 cards at once, in a layout called the Grand Tableau
6. While each card has a distinct meaning, each card gains dimension when read in relation to the cards around it
7. Lenormand readings excel at prediction
8. Lenormand readings are not designed to provide a lot of spiritual insight

Before delving into learning Lenormand, it is really important for people to understand these differences, most particularly for people who already read tarot. Many tarot readers bring their same practices and skill sets to other oracle decks, and that usually works out just fine. However, to get the best results possible from Lenormand, understanding what this deck is (and is not) and how it works is key to a satisfactory experience. Dragging your tarot language into Lenormand will just cause confusion, so leave it at the door. (Just trust me on this.) Once you understand the system and how it works, then it can be time to experiment and play and explore.

Why are Lenormand teachers so adamant about leaving tarot aside and accepting Lenormand for itself? This is not generally the case with other oracle decks. It is probably because when used the way it was meant to be used, Lenormand gives the most amazing results.

Lenormand is best suited for what we might call mundane, or everyday, types of questions, the kind the tarot readers often don't want to answer (such as, "Will I get the job?" or "When will I find love?" or "Is she trustworthy?").

In fact, I've seen skilled Lenormand readers shuffle their cards and lay them all out and use that one spread to answer all of a client's questions. I've never seen that with tarot. In these days of economic turmoil and social change (and change back, in some cases), people are becoming more and more interested in divination systems that provide clear and accurate answers, and this is why I think Lenormand has become so popular in the last few years.

If you have been thinking about adding Lenormand to your current divination skills but haven't yet, this would be an excellent time to do so. Back in the 1960s, when there was only maybe three tarot decks and two tarot books to choose from, it was hard for people to find much about tarot. But then in the 1970s and 1980s, things really changed and the tarot world bloomed into the amazing world it is today. Now, it is Lenormand's turn. After having hardly any resources in English and only a few decks, now there are a lot of great books and so many decks that it would be easy to be overwhelmed. But now we've made getting started easy, with our new kit: Easy Lenormand.

The kit comes with a simple deck, which is usually the best for Lenormand readings. Because the meat of the reading comes from reading the cards in relationship to each other, it is best to be able to see quickly which card is which. Unlike tarot, where often the images vary from deck to deck and have a huge impact on interpretation, Lenormand is not like that. The cards are more like signs (pointing to a single idea) rather than symbols (being keys to complex ideas). So, starting with a simple deck will make learning so much easier.

The book that accompanies the deck is excerpted from a longer book called Learning Lenormand by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin. Learning Lenormand is a really great book. However, it is very large and filled with a lot of material, some of which—while extremely interesting—is not necessary to learning to use the cards. For people who just want to give it a try or who want to start small, Easy Lenormand provides a kind of "just the facts, ma'am" approach.

The shortened book retains the most important teaching elements. Remember that big spread, the Grand Tableau, that uses all 36 cards? Remember how a good reader can answer all of a querent's question from that one spread? Remember how all the cards mean a specific thing and yet somehow don't really mean anything until they are in relation to another card or cards? That could get really confusing, and I've seen teachers stumble and fall when trying to teach it to novices. But Marcus and Tali are, among other things, excellent teachers. They've found a way to introduce Lenormand concepts in a step-by-step process that makes it easy to learn. After going through all the steps, you will be surprised (well, now you won't because I've spoiled the surprise!) to see that you have actually interpreted a full Grand Tableau, easily and painlessly!

Easy Lenormand, with its gentle price point, easy-to-read cards, and almost magical book, is a great first step for anyone interested in learning to divine with this astonishing and tried-and-true system.