innowen's review against another edition
5.0
Disclosure: I received an PDF ARC copy of this book from netgalley.com. However, due to the LOVE of this book, I purchased the ePub version as SOON as I found out that google Play had a copy. Yes, this book is that good.
Patrick Dunn's Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot blew my expectations out of the water, turned what I thought good tarot books were, and indulged my love for language and cartomancy divination techniques. When I requested this title for review, I figured that this book would represent the first in a trend of books that showed tarot/Lenormand enthusiasts how to combine their love of the cartomancy techniques to blend together. I was wrong, but happily so.
This book explains both cartomancy styles side by side. There's a bit of linguistic lore and alchemical history in this book, but it's not enough to scare the layman away. Dunn discusses how the spiritual beliefs at the time each deck influenced their structure, and therefore, their strengths and weaknesses. Much of the later chapters in the book focus on the more practical side of how to use the decks for reading, magic, and other exploration.
Dunn's wit is great (tarot of the fraternities, tarot of the autobots, etc.) and reading the PDF became almost impossible due to the amount of information I wanted to highlight and reference for later. Once I purchased my own copy, I devoured this book quickly and bookmarked the exercises and techniques that I wanted to explore further.
Dunn's passion for languages is well suited to discuss the symbolic language of both these cartomancy types. The way that Dunn presents learning tarot mirrors my own toss the LWB and build your own symbolic language with the cards directly. Readings are explained in the terms of telling the story and relating the symbols in a meaningful way.
Bottom Line: I heartily recommend this to everyone interested in cartomancy. It's become a new favorite of mine and one that I'll be re-reading throughout the years.
Patrick Dunn's Cartomancy with the Lenormand and the Tarot blew my expectations out of the water, turned what I thought good tarot books were, and indulged my love for language and cartomancy divination techniques. When I requested this title for review, I figured that this book would represent the first in a trend of books that showed tarot/Lenormand enthusiasts how to combine their love of the cartomancy techniques to blend together. I was wrong, but happily so.
This book explains both cartomancy styles side by side. There's a bit of linguistic lore and alchemical history in this book, but it's not enough to scare the layman away. Dunn discusses how the spiritual beliefs at the time each deck influenced their structure, and therefore, their strengths and weaknesses. Much of the later chapters in the book focus on the more practical side of how to use the decks for reading, magic, and other exploration.
Dunn's wit is great (tarot of the fraternities, tarot of the autobots, etc.) and reading the PDF became almost impossible due to the amount of information I wanted to highlight and reference for later. Once I purchased my own copy, I devoured this book quickly and bookmarked the exercises and techniques that I wanted to explore further.
Dunn's passion for languages is well suited to discuss the symbolic language of both these cartomancy types. The way that Dunn presents learning tarot mirrors my own toss the LWB and build your own symbolic language with the cards directly. Readings are explained in the terms of telling the story and relating the symbols in a meaningful way.
Bottom Line: I heartily recommend this to everyone interested in cartomancy. It's become a new favorite of mine and one that I'll be re-reading throughout the years.
janadelbosco's review against another edition
4.0
Un acercamiento teórico interesante a la cartomancia occidental moderna. Si bien no comparto la metafísica sobre el autor, sí he encontrado relevantes sus aportaciones en cuanto a la definición de lo simbólico y del hecho de crear significados, su dimensión psicológica, sus efectos prácticos, etc.
El libro lo escogí realmente para conocer la baraja de Lenormand y descubrir si era útil combinarla con el uso del Tarot y cómo hacerlo, pero a decir verdad no siento que este libro me haya resuelto esta cuestión, a la que dedica sólo uno o dos capítulos, en comparación con todo el resto de asuntos que toca. Pero esos asuntos me han parecido interesantes, así que tampoco me voy a quejar. La forma de Dunn de explicar la cartomancia está muy influida por sus estudios lingüístico-literarios y eso es algo que me ha gustado mucho, puesto que afronta la cartomancia como un lenguaje y lo explica también en su contexto histórico y filosófico.
Me parece una lectura recomendable para quien esté interesado en investigar el Tarot en sus diversas facetas (histórica, filosófica, psicológica... y, en este caso, lingüística).
El libro lo escogí realmente para conocer la baraja de Lenormand y descubrir si era útil combinarla con el uso del Tarot y cómo hacerlo, pero a decir verdad no siento que este libro me haya resuelto esta cuestión, a la que dedica sólo uno o dos capítulos, en comparación con todo el resto de asuntos que toca. Pero esos asuntos me han parecido interesantes, así que tampoco me voy a quejar. La forma de Dunn de explicar la cartomancia está muy influida por sus estudios lingüístico-literarios y eso es algo que me ha gustado mucho, puesto que afronta la cartomancia como un lenguaje y lo explica también en su contexto histórico y filosófico.
Me parece una lectura recomendable para quien esté interesado en investigar el Tarot en sus diversas facetas (histórica, filosófica, psicológica... y, en este caso, lingüística).
silvernfire's review against another edition
5.0
At this point, there aren't that many books in English about Lenormand divination, so it would be reasonable to expect that the few books that do exist would focus on the basics of Lenormand and how to get started. Many of them do just that, but that's not this book's strength, and I can't recommend it as your Very First Lenormand Book. Dunn is forthright about that, saying that this is "only secondarily a how-to book," but it's not that obvious from the cover and the book description.
This book is intended for a reader who is familiar with the tarot, but not with Lenormand. It's mainly about Lenormand and secondarily about the Major Arcana (there isn't much about the Minor Arcana). Dunn provides a list of keywords and sample illustrations for both of these, and if you're feeling adventurous, you could get started learning Lenormand from that. But I think many people want a bit more to work with when they're learning a new system. For instance, card combinations are important in reading Lenormand. I enjoyed Dunn's analysis of four kinds of card combinations, but if this was my introduction to Lenormand, that would have confused me. He refused to list card combinations—and I understand there's always a danger when you have a list like that of deciding those are the only right answers and not trusting your intuition—but I liked seeing several examples (in other books) to get a feel for them.
Since other books will lead you through the basics, I recommend reading this book for what it covers that those others don't. There's a chapter on asking questions that would be useful for any form of divination, not just cartomancy. Dunn discusses questions that reveal meaning and those that reveal data, why some querents don't seem to have questions or don't want to tell you what they are, and how to focus a question so that it gets at what the querent actually wants to know. He speculates on how divination works and offers suggestions on how to use abductive reasoning (nonrational thinking) to perceive patterns. He talks about how to pay attention to how your body feels when you consider card combinations so that you're less likely to lie to yourself about a reading. There's a chapter on divination and magic, for when you wish to shape events, not just learn about them. Dunn writes with a sense of humor (the first appendix is called "Okay, Fine, A List of Meanings for the Cards, if You Insist"), and I thought the book was not just informative but a pleasure to read.
This book is intended for a reader who is familiar with the tarot, but not with Lenormand. It's mainly about Lenormand and secondarily about the Major Arcana (there isn't much about the Minor Arcana). Dunn provides a list of keywords and sample illustrations for both of these, and if you're feeling adventurous, you could get started learning Lenormand from that. But I think many people want a bit more to work with when they're learning a new system. For instance, card combinations are important in reading Lenormand. I enjoyed Dunn's analysis of four kinds of card combinations, but if this was my introduction to Lenormand, that would have confused me. He refused to list card combinations—and I understand there's always a danger when you have a list like that of deciding those are the only right answers and not trusting your intuition—but I liked seeing several examples (in other books) to get a feel for them.
Since other books will lead you through the basics, I recommend reading this book for what it covers that those others don't. There's a chapter on asking questions that would be useful for any form of divination, not just cartomancy. Dunn discusses questions that reveal meaning and those that reveal data, why some querents don't seem to have questions or don't want to tell you what they are, and how to focus a question so that it gets at what the querent actually wants to know. He speculates on how divination works and offers suggestions on how to use abductive reasoning (nonrational thinking) to perceive patterns. He talks about how to pay attention to how your body feels when you consider card combinations so that you're less likely to lie to yourself about a reading. There's a chapter on divination and magic, for when you wish to shape events, not just learn about them. Dunn writes with a sense of humor (the first appendix is called "Okay, Fine, A List of Meanings for the Cards, if You Insist"), and I thought the book was not just informative but a pleasure to read.
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