How Lenormand and Tarot Differ
The first time I saw a Lenormand deck, I took it for a minor branch of tarot.
Thirty-six small cards with a dog, a rider, a house on them, like a set of flash cards.
Only when I actually used them did I find that these are not two versions of one thing — they are two ways of thinking.
Where the Name Comes From Is Slightly Surprising
The name "Lenormand" comes from Marie Anne Lenormand (1772–1843), a celebrated French card reader who was well known in Napoleon's time. After her death her name was put on several decks, among them an illustrated deck of 36 cards called Petit Lenormand — what people now call the Lenormand deck — and it is still widely used (Source 1).
In other words, the deck was named after her; she did not design it. That is often misunderstood.
Its circulation has a character of its own: it is used most in France, the Low Countries, Central Europe, the Balkans and Russia (Source 1).
Differences in Structure
Number of cards: Lenormand has 36; tarot has 78 — 22 Major Arcana plus 56 Minor Arcana (Source 2).
Whether there are "major" cards: tarot has 22 Major Arcana, often strung into a narrative that runs from departure to completion; Lenormand sets 36 cards side by side, with no division into major and minor.
The language of the images: tarot card faces mostly show symbolic scenes; Lenormand card faces are concrete nouns — letter, ring, dog, tree, cloud.
Differences in How They Are Read
Lenormand is read more like defining nouns. Each card's meaning is relatively fixed, and combining them makes a sentence: Rider plus Letter means news is arriving soon, Cloud plus Tree means the matter is unclear but will grow slowly.
Tarot is read more like describing a state. The same card in a different spread position, with different neighbours, reads very differently.
So the questions they suit differ too:
Ask about one concrete thing — whether this person will reply, when this contract will move, where the missing item is — and Lenormand tends to be more direct.
Ask about a state — why I keep getting stuck here, where this relationship is heading, what my situation is now — and tarot fits better.
How I Divide the Work Between Them
Both decks live in my drawer. For everyday errands, and for times when I need one sentence in a hurry, I use Lenormand; for questions about a state that I keep circling without an answer, tarot.
The two are not rivals. It is like a screwdriver and a hammer: which one serves better depends on what is in front of you.
Tools on this site (for entertainment)
This site offers an entertainment-oriented process: describe your situation clearly → get a method suggestion → read the chart and the interpretation → export the result if you want to keep it. The content is for entertainment and self-reflection only; it promises no prediction and is not decision advice.
This article was last checked on 19 September 2026. Traditional divination has many schools and a long history, and their formulas and versions do not fully agree; the text relies on publicly verifiable sources, and for dates and calendars please refer to the latest official publication.
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Sources
- "Marie Anne Lenormand" — English Wikipedia entry (where the 36-card Petit Lenormand came from, and where it is used): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenormand_cards (accessed 19 September 2026)
- "Tarot" (《塔罗牌》) — Wikipedia entry (78 cards, of which 22 are Major Arcana): https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/塔罗牌 (accessed 19 September 2026)
- Method page on this site: Lenormand: https://zhanbumizhi.top/en/methods/lenormand (accessed 19 September 2026)