The Lenormand

I dropperd the to Lenormand because Tarot felt too fatalisistic. Too much symbolism, too many interpretations, too much room for bullshit.

Lenormand is different. Just 36 cards. Simple symbols—house, ship, letter, a dog. Things you'd recognize in everyday life. Named after Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand, an 18th-century French fortune-teller who apparently read cards for Napoleon. That's the story, anyway.

What I like about it: the cards don't pretend to be mystical. They're practical. The combinations tell straightforward stories. Ship + Letter = news from far away. Dog + House = loyal friend at home. You get the idea.

It's not about predicting the future—that's not real. It's about pattern recognition. The cards force you to look at situations from different angles, to notice connections you'd otherwise ignore. Kind of like debugging code, but for life decisions.

The deck works because it's simple enough to not overwhelm you, but structured enough to actually be useful. It doesn't give you cosmic revelations. It just helps you think.

I keep a deck on my desk. Don't use it every day, but when I'm stuck on something—trying to figure out what's actually bothering me, or what I should focus on—it helps. The act of shuffling, drawing, interpreting forces me to slow down and actually think instead of just reacting.

Your mileage may vary. But if Tarot feels like too much theater and you want something more grounded, Lenormand might work for you.