Do you practice any other divination technique besides Astrology?

yes
Total votes: 12 (52%)
no
Total votes: 7 (30%)
no, but I used to
Total votes: 2 (9%)
not currently but I do intend to learn another virtue
Total votes: 2 (9%)
Total votes: 23

31
Levi, Mathers and Papus assigned the Major Arcana symbols first to (what each of these men considered to be) the appropriate Kabbalistic Tree of Life path or sephira, then each made the card connection with the element, sign or planet associated with that path or sephira. This is the way in which each authority determined the astrological affinity of the card symbolisms. Thus we may correctly say that-relative to the above authors-the (varying) astrological affinities ascribed to the Tarot by them are made directly from each adept's interpretations of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life (note that both Waite and Crowley are in the Mathers/Golden Dawn/Hermetic Kabbalah "stream")

I do not know if the same is the case relative to Etteilla's astro/Tarot correspondences. Relative to Theirens this is not the case (Note: I should have clarified my earlier statement about Thieren's book: his was the first Tarot book devoted EXCLUSIVELY to Tarot/astrological affinities)

Lenormand Astrological Affinities

32
The 36 card Lenormand deck (eg, the "French Cartomancy" mini-deck) is a lovely little cartomantic device. There are, however, definite astrological connections to be found: traditionally each of the 36 cards has been allocated an approximately 10 day period of time stretching throughout the year, and these time periods fairly closely correspond to our zodiacal decanates. Thus an additional astrological interpretation may be made for each card. These decan-affinities, together with the (Chaldean) planetary Lord of each, are as follows (Note: cards are listed in deck order beginning with card #1 and ending with card #36):

+A Horseman: 2nd Capricorn Mars
+Clover: 3rd Capricorn Sun
+Boat: 1st Aquarius Venus
+House: 2nd Aquarius Mercury
+Tree: 3rd Aquarius Moon
+Clouds: 1st Pisces Saturn
+Snake: 2nd Pisces Jupiter
+Coffin: 3rd Pisces Mars
+Bouquet: 1st Aries Mars
+Sickle: 2nd Aries Sun
+Broom & Whip: 3rd Aries Venus
+Birds: 1st Taurus Mercury
+A Little Girl: 2nd Taurus Moon
+Fox: 3rd Taurus Saturn
+Bear: 1st Gemini Jupiter
+Stars: 2nd Gemini Mars
+Stork: 3rd Gemini Sun
+Dog: 1st Cancer Venus
+Tower: 2nd Cancer Mercury
+Garden: 3rd Cancer Moon
+Mountain: 1st Leo Saturn
+Path: 2nd Leo Jupiter
+Mice: 3rd Leo Mars
+Hearts: 1st Virgo Sun
+Ring: 2nd Virgo Venus
+A Diary: 3rd Virgo Mercury
+A Letter: 1st Libra Moon
+A Gentleman: 2nd Libra Saturn
+A Lady: 3rd Libra Jupiter
+Lily: 1st Scorpio Mars
+The Sun: 2nd Scorpio Sun
+The Moon: 3rd Scorpio Venus
+A Key: 1st Sagittarius Mercury
+Fish: 2nd Sagittarius Moon
+Anchor: 3rd Sagittarius Saturn
+A Cross: 1st Capricorn Jupiter

33
Sadly, Dr Farr, if you read 20 authors on Lenormand, you'll end up with 20 different astrological assignments. Were I going to use astrology with them, I'd go with the face/decan assignments, too, but these weren't even the cards la Lenormande used. As far as I can tell, the original Petit Jeu was actually a German invention.

I dislike the Belline with a fiery passion, but I love Medlindaf's reinterpretation of it - he studied Edmond's original drawings, and every other bit of his and Mlle Lenormande's stuff he could get his hands on because Belline made such a dog's breakfast out of the deck. The Belline (or better, the Eltynne) does have valid astrological assignments. And may be from Mlle Lenormand herself. Find it here.

Grandville named his Parlour Sibyl after Mlle Lenormand (they were friends), and it soon came to be known as 'the Parisian tarot' (not to be confused with the Tarots de Paris). I suspect she used Etteilla's deck, as well as playing cards, and possibly - Grandville's. But I don't know if we'll ever know for certain, and she tended to write books about sex scandals, how stunning her prophecies were, and the 'idiot police' who kept giving her a hard time and throwing her in gaol. If she wrote about her actual fortune telling methods, I'm not aware of it. All we have to go on is Edmond's work, and a few testimonials and letters from people who saw her for readings.

34
Well, now its "21 authors", because I made the allocations listed above, albeit based upon the dates of the year ascribed to the "time indication" of each card. Certainly there is nothing authoritative here, however I was struck by the apparent "similarity" of a number of the card symbols with either the meaningfulness of the zodiacal sign or of the planetary ruler of the associated decanate. Perhaps this is how divinatory devices are created!

35
Lenormand is a passion of mine - I've got a blog with about 150 entries on how to read it, since there was so little information in English. Thought about a book, but there really isn't demand, and I'd hate to see Lenormand go the way tarot has gone.

Not much danger, I grant. I didn't go into a lot of the history, though I've got some of the stories and legends up - my friend Fennario has a blog on the same site chronicling the Grand Jeu, and it was yours truly who at least attempted to sort out the fixed stars and constellations on that one (and all the flowers were taken from Grandville's drawings, too). Wow. Lenormand - Grandville. It just doesn't stop. They use his work on the Flower Lenormand, too.

But it's remarkable how well Lenormand works. That I can't get over, even knowing it was created more as a way to cash in on her name than on anything she did.

Which does indeed raise some interesting questions about divination.

Check Medlindaf's site, though - he does have all the cards from the Eltynne up there under their proper planet series, and for those of us who understand classical astrology, the planet-card assignments make wonderful sense. And it's a really neat deck. Dirt cheap for a handmade, as well.

The Lenormand, Eltynne, and anything created by or based on JJ Grandville's work seem to be the cards I reach for if I'm reading cards.

36
And can I repost your list to the blog - with attribution, of course?

As I said, it's the one that makes most sense to me, as well, but I usually advise people to leave astrology out of it, as that way lies madness. I'd thought of writing something about the decans, though, and if one was going to attempt an astrological reading that'd pretty much be the way to go with it.

37
Yes you may post my allocations on the blog. While Tarot (Rider-Waite) is, for me, pretty much the "be/end all" relative to cartomantic divination, still, I have come to regard the Petit Jeu of much value-however, I do not use any of the given (English language) meanings for the cards, my interpretations being, I guess, unique to myself: for the card meanings I use a combination of:
1) the meanings/correspondences/affinities of the allocated decanate and planet (as I have listed them, above);
2) numerological affinities based upon the actual number of the card, plus numerological affinities of the playing card shown (in the background);
3) elemental affinities/correspondences based upon the suit of the playing card shown in the background;
4) correspondences suggested (to my mind at the time of the reading) by the central symbol/image on the card (eg, bear, ring, cross, etc etc)

38
For those interested in making a study of I Ching astrological correspondences (within the context of the various Chinese "astrologies") may I recommend the following:

-"The Astrology of the I Ching" (A translation of the Ho Map Lo Map Rational Number); editied W.A. Sherrill, Arkana Penguin Books, 1993

-also see"I Ching Anthology", Sherrill + Chu, Arkana/Penguin, 1989, chapter 3-'Astrologies related to the I Ching'

(Happy Year of the Tiger to all Skyscript members!)

42
No. Aside from a booklet that came with a Lo Scarabeo deck that was written by a tarot artist who obviously didn't know anything about Leonormand, nobody's advocated reversing the cards.

Some people reverse cards in full sibilla decks, but not in the smaller ones - you read those, including Lenormand, by the card combinations.