The Master Method - Lenormand
The Master Method is the perfect spread for any 36 card system. It is an easy to read and adaptable houses spread where each placement holds a specific meaning for the querent's future. We are used to using the houses in a Lenormand spread, but what can the Master Method add to the pot of interpretation? And why would you choose to use it over the traditional Lenormand houses?
The image below is from "Fortune Telling With Cards" – released in the early 20th Century by Professor PRS Foli", this becomes the baseline playing board for our reads.
As you can see from the image, the Master Method is somewhat "fatalistic" in its approach, yet simple and applicable in the modern world. The standard layout is the 6 x 6 (seen in the image above) but can be adapted to the 8 x 4 + 4 or the 9 x 4 layout should you wish.
Let's have a look at the "houses" (placements) to see what it can add to our Lenormand reads:
Project in hand - relates to any project that the querent has on the go!
Satisfaction - how satisfied will your querent be in the timescale?
Success - what will bring the querent success?
Hope - what hope does the querent have?
Chance, Luck - what chance does the querent have?
Wishes, Desire - what will the querent desire in the timescale?
Injustice - what will be unfair?
Ingratitude - what will the querent not be grateful for, or what will be ungrateful?
Association - what associations will the querent have?
Loss - what losses will be suffered?
Trouble - what issues will the querent experience?
State or condition - the state of the querent's wellbeing in the timescale.
Joy - what will bring joy?
Love - how will the querent's love life fair?
Prosperity - how prosperous will the querent be or what will bring abundance?
Marriage - state of the querent's relationships.
Sorrow, Affliction - what will bring negative feelings?
Pleasure, Enjoyment - what will the querent enjoy?
Inheritance, Property - what will be incoming or the state of their property.
Fraud, Deceit - What area of life will suffer deceit?
Rivals - How rivals / competitors affect the querent.
A Present, Gift - Incoming positivity, what will the querent receive?
Lover - how will the partner affect the querent or the status of the partner.
Advancement - what advancement can the querent expect?
Kindness - what helping hand will the querent receive?
Undertakings - what business can be expected or how positive will it be?
Changes - what will change in the querent's life?
The End of Life (Death) - what will end in the querent's life?
Rewards - how will the querent be rewarded?
Misfortune, Danger - what warnings are there for the querent?
Happiness - what levels of happiness can the querent expect?
Money, Fortune - what levels of abundance can the querent expect?
Indifference - what is the querent not bothered about?
Favour - the dice is rolling, what will fall in their favour?
Ambition - what does the querent hope to achieve or how well will it go?
Ill health, Sickness - what will suffer ill health in the querent's life (note: can also show situations that are struggling - for example, if Fish lands in this spot, financials will struggle!).
You will note that I have written a question or statement for each "house". These are the questions that we can ask ourselves as we lay the cards in their positions.
How to read The Master Method:
NOTE: The first time you read a Master Method spread, do not get bogged down with reading ALL houses, choose those that pertain to your querent's life and question!
Set your intention to read a Master Method spread with Lenormand.
Shuffle the deck and lay in the 6 x 6 format (above).
Find your significator (28 Man or 29 Lady)
Consider the house in which they sit. What information does this lend you?
Check the "State" house to see what the general climate is!
Consider the interesting houses for your querent (see example below).
Simple example of the Master Method application:
Our querent is a Female in her 40's who has asked about her relationship with her husband.
The querent's card (29 Lady) is sat in the house of pleasure, showing that she is focusing on her enjoyment within the timeframe (this is also corroborated by 30 Lily sitting beneath the Lady card - in the Method of Distance, Lily beneath a person shows that they are looking after number one!). In the "State" house she has 2 Clover, confirming that it is an easy and fortunate relationship. We can at this stage check any houses we would like!
For a relationship status I would suggest:
2. Satisfaction
(32 Moon) - the querent will be extremely satisfied and recognise this. Again this is substantiated by Lily beneath the Lady card.
6. Wishes
(24 Heart) - the querent wishes for more love in the relationship.
14. Love
(4 House) - Whilst she wishes for more love, the love they actually share is stable and a family unit.
16. Marriage
(35 Anchor) - the most important card in the deck falls in Marriage, they are heading towards marriage, but it could take a little while to make it happen.
23. Lover
(31 Sun) - the partner is full of energy in the relationship - interestingly, in the Game of Hope Techniques the male card takes his partner to the Sun card as a perfect progression in the relationship!
24. Advancement (how the relationship will advance)
(30 Lily) - As this is also sitting directly beneath the querent we can confirm that the relationship will move into a space that is in its essence perfect for her.
31.Happiness
(20 Garden) - the relationship thrives socially, they have solid friends and good people around that really bring happiness into their relationship.
What I love about this method is that the cards on top tell a story of the relationship and "happenings" therein - but the houses tell the story of the baseline relationship - even with difficult cards presenting in the top cards, showing that there will be some struggles to face, the baseline shows that the relationship is long term, happy and loving (albeit the querent would like a little more in that direction).
I would also suggest the "troublesome houses" to see if there is any underlying issues (you don't have to check all, just those that are of interest to you):
21. Rivals
(3 Ship) - it is nice to see Ship is in the house of rivals because it shows that the only rival in the relationship is business!! This is confirmed by the Ship card being sat above the partner's head, he is thinking about work all the time!
27. Changes
(28 Man) - there are some changes coming to the partner, but as we see he has Tree beneath him, suggesting ill health (check the cards around for health issues).
28. Death
(7 Snake) - a negative card in a negative house! The Snake card is also sat ahead of the partner card, showing that he is acting somewhat dickishly, but thank goodness that will stop as soon as it starts sitting in the house of death.
30. Misfortune
(21 Mountain) - the misfortune coming to the relationship is in the form of others - external bullshit that gets in the way.
33. Indifference
(5 Tree) - as we said above there are some changes health wise for the partner, they are currently ignoring it and it is something that does not affect them too adversely.
36. Sickness
(36 Cross) - I checked sickness because of the health scenario showing up, in sickness they have 36 Cross, which incidentally is sitting beneath the misfortune of others creating drama (21 Mountain) - it shows that the influence of others causes discomfort and probably physical stress with Tree sitting beneath the partner.
All in all the relationship looks pretty solid, they are not married yet (confirmed with Ring sitting inauspiciously to the partner card) but they are heading towards it (Anchor confirming). Their major issues come from external sources which do cause some discomfort within the relationship. The querent would like more affection in the relationship, her partner has a huge focus on work which takes his focus off affection, and he tends to get a little nasty when he is under stress, but this doesn't last long.
And that is just based on a few houses - how about reading the top story now? Give it a go using the Method of Distance and tag me in your interpretations @thecardgeek @worlddivination
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