Game of Hope Lenormand Arrives! (And a Reading)

I was so happy to receive today in the mail two copies of the new Game of Hope 2.0 Lenormand deck! A year ago many Lenormand readers/artists of all talent levels joined together to produce a deck, and the card I chose to create was the 28-Man card. I wrote a bit about this project in a previous post (click here if you'd like to check it out).

All contributors received a mini deck, and I chose to purchase an additional poker-sized deck, both of which came in a black tin. It's hard to describe the satisfaction involved in holding the finished product in my hand after nearly 12 months (which really, for deck creation/production, is a pretty short amount of time!). My younger daughter, Lourdes, was elated to hold my Man card in her hand, and she ran down the hall to my bedroom to compare it to the canvas hanging on the wall. She said, "Mom, how did your painting get FAMOUS??" I had to explain that it's not necessarily famous, but it is still pretty cool to see the painting as part of a deck of cards!

Here is sneak peek at some of the cards in the deck (including the Man, of course!):

Here you can see the Man, Ship (which is a Venetian boat), Star, Sun, Key, and Scythe.

I love how the different artistic styles and media came together in this deck. The idea of reading with a deck comprised of so many stylistic variations seems like it might be a bit dizzy-making, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it reads quite clearly and smoothly, and it's fun to experience the aesthetic diversity present in a single line of cards!

I had to break the deck in, of course, and I had the perfect subject matter: our ESL department is going to have a rather tight month in December, and we don't have enough instructors to cover all of the laboratory hours that our students need. As a result we are "borrowing" instructors from a different department for a series of four weeks. These instructors will facilitate activities with the students for 6-hour periods of time. I've had to run some trainings for the teachers so that they're comfortable with the task for the month ahead, and though preparations are going fairly well, I'm admittedly a bit cautious about how things will unfold. So I asked my new deck how things will go with the lab situation in December, and pulled:

Garden - Clouds - Fox - Tower - Child - Crossroad - Mice

Woohoo! Looks like an interesting month! Above this line you see the Snake, which is the "theme" card from the bottom of the deck. Complications - things may not flow as smoothly as I hope!

Rather than pull apart the line I'm going to give my impressions upon looking over the layout. I see confusion in the network of teachers we have lined up. It may be that not all of those who have signed up to help will come through in the end (perhaps in part due to their own busy schedules). I also see anxiety on the part of our students who will face some divisions in their schedules that they'll have to attempt to navigate with their limited English ability. I'll have to stay on top of things this month in order to nip any issues in the bud (as they say). Better forewarned! (They also say that).

If you are interested in purchasing this limited edition deck, it is available at present for $11 (plus shipping) from Delphi's Chamber.