The Grand Tableau — the great Lenormand spread

The layout

All 36 cards are laid out in a grid. Two classic formats: 8×4 + 4 (four rows of eight and four "cards of fate" at the bottom) and 9×4 (four rows of nine — handier for the house method). The cards are laid left to right, top to bottom, in the order they were drawn.

Houses: the "what" and the "in what"

Each of the 36 positions is a house with its own theme. The themes of the houses match the themes of the cards by number: house no. 4 — family/home, house no. 24 — love, house no. 34 — money. The house shows the AREA (the "in what"), while the card that falls into that house shows WHAT is happening in that area. For example, the Coffin in house no. 4 — an ending/loss in the family; the Sun in house no. 34 — success in finances.

Reading techniques

Significators — the Man (28) and Woman (29): nearly all reading of the querent is built from them. The direction of time: cards to the right of the significator are the future, to the left the past, above are thoughts and goals, below are the foundation and the subconscious.

Distance: the closer a card is to the significator, the stronger and sooner its influence. Mirrors: cards symmetrical about the centre describe one another. The knight's move ("rösseln"): a card affects those standing from it in an "L" shape — hidden connections. Plus the "gaze" of directional figures (the Rider, the Ship, the Scythe, the Stork) accents the cards in the direction they face.

Crisis and supportive houses

Houses divide into supportive ones (stable areas) and crisis ones — the Coffin, the Scythe, the Cross, the Clouds, the Mice. A card landing in a crisis house reads harsher; in a supportive one — gentler and steadier.