ZENN SIMPLY LENORMAND DECK

NOTE. In this post, “Guidebook” refers to the booklet accompanying The Zenn Simply Lenormand deck.

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the channel. Thank you as always for tuning back in. If you're new here, welcome! I'm Layla, the Lenormand Reader, and I focus almost exclusively on the amazing Lenormand deck. Be sure to check out all the links in the description box for you and download some free resources so that you can master this amazing deck.

Today, I am doing a new deck review. I have done several deck reviews before, and they are on my forecast channel. As you might know, this channel is my new tutorial channel. I didn't move the tutorial videos and the deck reviews from my forecast channel onto here, although I might in the future. So this is a new deck review, and this is quite a special deck because it is coming from India.

This deck is by Zennobiia, who goes by Zenn for short. Her deck is called the Zenn Simply Lenormand. Her symbol is the horseshoe facing up, and we'll see this in her Guidebook as well. I was really delighted to hear from Zenn when she reached out to me to review her deck. I started to pick up from people joining my email list that there is a growing interest in India in Lenormand, so I am really excited about this and I'm really excited that it is traveling beyond our usual Europe and North America areas, into the east and the continent towards India.

DECK DESIGN & UNIQUE FEATURES

So this is Zenn’s deck. I have to say that the color scheme of her deck, the light green, is really peaceful and calming. It feels like an easy deck to connect with. The box is a hard box, and I think one of the most ideal boxes is this type of box. The Rider-Waite deck has it, and the Maybe Lenormand deck as well. They have this magnetic strip here that closes onto the box, and the box itself is hard and it packs everything in. It can sit, and it can sort of stand.

So it's one of the most ideal formats for a Lenormand deck, and I would say any deck as well. Let's look at the back a little bit before we open it. So there's Zenn's website. I'll link it in the description. And just a bit of information here about what's inside.

So let's go right ahead and open this lovely box. So we've got Zenn's business card. What's really interesting about Zenn's work is that she is an educational consultant as well as a numerologist. She focuses on children with learning difficulties, and if you visit her website, you will find that she combines all of these different skills in a really interesting way.

I have to say, I've had some people on the course on the master programs go off and do some really amazing things with the Lenormand deck. I have someone who is implementing the deck for specifically spiritual purposes, and someone else who is looking at implementing the deck in art, and I mean fine arts. So it's really fascinating the things that people come up with and what they end up doing with this deck.

I encourage you to visit Zen's website because you will see how she offers these different services in terms of numerology, helping children with difficulties through different modalities, and also offering Lenormand readings and training. So it's a really fascinating combination of things. I have to say, I am totally on board with you, Zenn. I absolutely love numerology, and I will be bringing it into the fold of my forecast channel and my tutorials at some point.

So this is a really fascinating combination of skills that Zenn brings together. And apparently, Zenn is the first person from India to create a deck locally. That's really exciting!

We have the Guidebook, which is a properly printed little booklet. It's not one of those paper ones that are just printed from cover to cover. It has a soft cover, and it's quite well-made.

The deck is very colorful, and I really like the images. I think I could use this deck on my channel because the images stand out well. It can be tricky sometimes to find a good deck for the channel where the colors and the symbols on each card are the right size so that they stand out well on camera.

This is a 36-card deck. The back of the card has Zenn's logo. I personally prefer when the back of the card shows whether it's upright or reversed. We'll be reading the deck upright only, so there's no need for the back to be one of those that you can't tell if it's upright or reversed. Of course, some authors read them in reverse, and that's totally fine, but you can do everything with the cards themselves and combinations.

Before we get to the usual card-by-card overview that I like to do on my deck reviews, let's continue looking at what's inside the box. We have a soft divider to lift off the deck, and we have a little bag that you can use for the cards. I think it's really convenient to have all of these components for how you want to store the deck and pack it away.

I'll come back to the Guidebook later. There are some interesting things I want to go over with you in terms of the card meanings and also the layouts. There's a really nice layout here that I want to try. But first, let's do our card-by-card review that I like to do.

I didn't shuffle the deck yet. The deck starts at the top with the Rider, so it's actually going to be more convenient if we start with the Cross. That way, when we go through each of them one by one, we'll have them in reverse order.

I'm going to do it in reverse, starting with the Cross, which is card number 36. Here is the Cross. I really like that the illustrations are so clear on the card. The colors are beautiful, and I love the background. I think it's all hand-painted and then printed. Very good effort here!

And here is the Anchor. Again, very clear symbols. I certainly like the minimalist approach with Zenn's deck.

This is the Fish. Again, nice and large on the card, very visible.

And the Key. The Key is always a favorite card of mine. It's the first time I see it with the actual key bit at the top, and that's really interesting.

And the Moon, also against a night sky, very beautiful indigo color here, very clear.

The Sun. Also quite interestingly, it is on a darker background. Isn't that interesting? So that is the Sun, the Lily. So Zenn's deck has the Lilies in plural. Many decks have the Lilies in plural. Again, very clear. It is the first time I see them in the color red actually. A lot of the time they're in white because lilies are white, but I like Zenn’s interpretation with the red.

And this is the Lady. Quite interesting. First time I ever see this, Zenn's Lady and Man cards are facing back. Their backs are to you. This is so interesting. I think it adds a mystery to them. It is the first time that I see this. Almost every Man and Woman card I have seen has the person facing you. So that is a really fascinating interpretation of the Man and Woman.

We've got the Letter, a very straightforward Letter coming out of an envelope. And the Book. Nice big brown book. Very clear symbols against the background, very clear on the card.

The Ring. It is a big Ring on the card, very easy to see. I think this is a really good deck to use on camera, very nice and large illustrations.

And the Heart, again, very clear, very interesting colors. You would have thought it would be the other way around [a yellow heart against a purplish pink background]. Some interesting interpretations of the colors and presentation of the card. Again, very clear in the center.

The Mice. Zenn's deck has several mice, which is common in most Lenormand decks. Mice are also a card of multiplicity, along with the Birds [which point to pairs]. So again, very clear.

The Crossroads is a very common representation. I just go by the Road, following Titania's interpretation. Very, very clear.

The Mountain is interesting because it's green. Most Mountains I've seen are a bit colder and whiter, and there are no green Mountains in any of the decks I've come across. So again, interesting interpretations here on the cards.

The Garden is again, a very clear representation of a garden with some flowers. You know, the outdoors, the spring element, the blue sky, very clear.

The Tower is a very nice card. I think this might be one of my favorite cards. I really love the red background against the Tower. I love the way it gives that impression of dawn or dusk, that beautiful moment. And with the Tower, it has that, I think, impressive energy. So that's a nice touch. It's almost like you see just a shadow of the Tower against this sunset or sunrise.

And here is the Dog, again, a very clear card. Straightforward.

The Stork is also very clear. Storks are often represented as flying, but this one is still. I don't think this affects your interpretations. We'll look at a few interpretations and see how they sort of go with the illustration.

We've got the Stars. It's very common to represent this card as several stars. I think Rana George does that as well with the starry sky. Very beautiful colors here, this blue into the deep, deep sky. Deep night sky, very beautiful. I think this might be my second favorite card.

And this is the Bear, again, very clear, strong standing Bear. Very clear, very immediate to connect with the cards. I also noticed a little bit of an arch here, just decorating the edge. And of course, all throughout you notice that there was the name of the card written on it, quite interesting with a bit of an artistic decor here around the frame.

So very clear. This might be a really good deck to start off with. You know, you've got the names of the cards, very clear symbols, really thinking about what the symbol means. It could be a really good starter deck. And of course, one that you can use throughout.

So here's the Fox. Again, very clear. I noticed that the animals are almost always in a field of green. Yes… So far. Except the Fish. I think the Fish was in the water. So you can see the Fox is watching something, planning, typical fox behavior. And well captured here.

We've got the Child, again, very interesting. The Child is facing away. You know, very interesting. The people cards are facing away, not facing you. This is very unique. I've never seen this in another deck. And a very beautiful baby blue here. Lovely cards.

So the Birds, yes, as I said, the Birds tend to be in pairs, and they are so in Zenn's deck as well. Often the major arcana present multiplicity and the Birds represent a pair. And other cards would represent one, like the Tower. For my part, I like to use the Flowers as multiplicity and I'll take the Birds as suggesting a pair as well, even if in my deck, there's just one Bird on the card.

And here is the Whip, again, a very clear card. I really like them, you know, how they turn out on camera. They're very clear, very clear cards with the frame and the name of the card.

The Sickle or the Scythe, nicely represented on this greenery here because the Scythe is often taken to suggest this concept of reaping. And I want to remember to check this one out in the Guidebook, to see how Zenn interprets the Scythe because it's one of those cards that can go in a few ways.

And here is the Bouquet or Flowers. You see a bunch of Flowers here. It's straightforward, but it doesn't stand out as much from the background because it really merges with the background. However, all of these Flowers and obviously the name are very clear.

Here is the Coffin covered with a red drape. I've seen this in other decks as well. I think it might be the Rana George deck. I think there's a purple drape over the Coffin in her deck. There are a few authors who like to drape the Coffin with a color. I like the purple and the red. They're beautiful. It adds a bit of character to the Coffin. So a very beautiful card here.

And the Snake, again, very clear and straightforward. This is a cobra, picking up from the Indian landscape, which is really lovely. The cobra has that bit of beautiful decor on the back of it, and then, of course, when it stands up, it inflates on the sides with its intimidating action. So that is really nicely inspired from the Indian landscape. Very beautiful.

And the Clouds. Typically, the Clouds have a light and dark side. We could read this as the darker side because there are more Clouds, and this one as the lighter side. However, it is not my impression from the card that this is something that Zenn focuses on. Instead, it's going to depend on the combinations, which is what I do for the most part. But let's remember to look this one up as well.

So far, we said the Scythe and the Clouds to look at, possibly. Was there something else? I forget, but definitely the Clouds we want to look at in terms of how Zenn interprets them.

Here is the Tree. It's quite fascinating that the Tree is yellow, not green. So again, a very original take on the colors in this deck. Zenn really interprets some colors very differently, and I really appreciate this. So a very beautiful yellow Tree, branching out. Quite amazing.

And the House with a tree in a garden. Very clear. Again, these images are very, very clear, very good on camera, I have to say.

And we've got the Ship. Now, the Ship is quite an interesting interpretation here. It's sailing at night and the Ship merges in color with the rest of the sea and the sky. When I was going through the deck before starting the video, this card really jumped out because a lot of Ships in a lot of Lenormand decks are not at night and they're not blue. The sea tends to be blue, and there's a lot of sun. There's a lot of brightness. So this is another really original interpretation of the Ship.

And the Clover. Very, very beautiful card. I love this card. I think this might be one of my favorites as well. What I love about it is the depth of the green. I love the colors on this, on this Clover, all green with yellowish tint on the sides here to stand out. The leaves of the Clover and then a strong green at the center. So I love the green. It really connects with this idea of greenery, which by the way is something commonly associated with the Clover, like it would advise on eating more greens, for example, going out into a green field, you know, connecting with nature, that sense of green is really associated with the Clover and also the Flowers, the Tree, and the Garden. So these are the green cards, if you like. So this one is a very beautiful card for this reading.

And the Rider. The Rider is card number one, the very first card, and also in a lot of green. So lots of green in the deck, lots of greenery, nature, and this landscape. And we've got a Rider on the horse. I can't tell if it's a man or a woman, which is quite a nice change because most of the time the Rider in the Lenormand deck tends to be a gentleman.

So these are some really lovely cards, I have to say. I love the green, and I love the original take on some colors. They're almost inverted from other decks. A lot of green.

So, what were the cards that we said we wanted to look into in terms of? Yes, the green Mountain. We said we wanted to look at the Mountain because it felt warmer than most Mountains on card illustrations. And just having a quick look through here, the Lily was interesting. Fabulous.

CARD MEANINGS AND CARD COMBINATIONS

So, very, very clear cards. Really ideal on camera. I have to say, let's pull up this Guidebook and see what Zenn makes of a few of these interesting cards.

So, starting with, let's see, the Clover. So, the Clover, obviously a lucky card, good luck, gaiety, lightheartedness, opportunity, and small joys. The idea of the Clover being small joys is something that I pick up in several authors. And she suggests two days or two weeks as a timing, which, by the way, is not the same across other cards.

What I mean by that is that the timing with other cards is not necessarily in reference to the card number. So she chooses two days or two weeks with the Clover, but for the Ship, for example, she suggests it could take weeks or months. So it depends on the card.

Comfort through fostering good and wholesome food habits, holistic alternatives, that's for health. So, again, as with many authors, there are what I call correspondences, which is the idea of interpreting the cards across different contexts. So she's got timing.

So she's got the main keywords and then she's got timing and health. As well as advice. And of course, you can draw many correspondences. I do ten in my Master Guides.

The advice of the Clover, according to Zenn, is "bold is beautiful but recklessness can wreck you." You know, Zenn, this is really interesting and I find this is actually really true. In my experience, the Clover is not always outright good luck.

It can mean that things turn out in unexpected ways. Often for the better, for the most part, but it is not necessarily good fortune in the way that the Sun is. It has that sense of risk and unexpectedness and luck. So I really appreciate that. She brings up both the "bold is beautiful but recklessness can wreck you" concepts into the same card.

And then she offers a couple of combinations. She has the Clover and Bear. And then she has the Bear and Clover. So again, there is that sense of directionality or what I call directionality, which is the idea of cards, cards can have different meanings if they show up in different orders.

So these are some really helpful summarized meanings of the cards. And like I was saying earlier, it sounds like a really good starter deck. It's a very good deck to connect with the symbols with keywords with some combinations, get a sense of the directionality, lovely.

So, the other card that I wanted to see was the Clouds. I wanted to see what Zenn had to say about the Clouds.

Let’s head to the Clouds. That is card number 6. So we go by this number, not the pip card, the number here. And then says that the Clouds refers to bad weather, confusion, insecurity, misunderstanding, and obscurity.

So this is really amazing. Timing, the monsoon months in India, elsewhere, it would be autumn. That's the timing correspondence. Isn't this awesome? So you know your environment, your context, inspires the way you can interpret the cards.

With health, Zenn suggests lung issues, breathing issues, and mental turmoil. So these are really interesting correspondences. So these are really interesting correspondences. The advice is clarity within leads to clarity without.

So definitely with the Clouds, it's important to clarify confusion. Her proposed combination, Clouds and Bouquets, obscurity lifts, gathers, and the reverse of that, Bouquet Clouds, is writer's block. Isn't that interesting?

I would take this as a specific context. I think the Bouquet with the Clouds can also suggest dampened enthusiasm in a general way, but to suggest that it can mean writer's block is a way that the cards can be made very specific, assuming the context or additional cards support that. So really interesting here.

The next card that I wanted to look at, I think, the Scythe was one of them. Let's head to the Scythe. So the Scythe is card 10. And so it shouldn't be too far. Here we go.

Accidents, danger, and harvest, impulsive actions, and surgeries. So all of these are common associations with the Scythe. This is pretty common. Personally, I never really associated the harvest with the Scythe. I felt it was so different from the rest of the ideas that are associated with the Scythe that I felt that the idea of reaping and sowing for me is closer to the Cross because the Cross is about spiritual matters, karma, decisions, and these things.

The timing is sudden or unexpected. I think we all agree on this. Health warns of injuries and danger. Often surgeries or other more or less invasive procedures. We totally agree with that as well.

Advice: Are you cutting off or are you carving? That is interesting. That is a really interesting question. What are you doing with this Scythe? That's what I'm picking up from this Zenn.

Scythe + Mice: Danger depletes. So I would say maybe I'm not sure what that means by this, but it could suggest that the danger is not as dangerous and then the other way around would be a sudden or unexpected loss. So again, directionality, I think sometimes is intuitive, like for some people, the way they see it, might be different for others.

So for example, for me, the Coffin and key is one of those pairs where I pick up a directionality. And when the key is after the Coffin, it suggests opening, but if the Coffin is after the key, it suggests closing. Whereas other people might perceive it differently. They might suggest the reverse.

So I would say that always go with your, you know, your resonance with the cards. You know, considering, you know, essentially being like mainly faithful to the card meaning, but there are, there are times and ways where you could, you know, it's debatable.

And actually, Zenn does have a note at the end where she suggests that this is only a beginning, like her keywords are just a beginning and you can move on and be inspired by your own imagination.

So that was for the Scythe. Let us move on to, I think, one more card, the Mountain. I wanted to look at the Mountain, so let me see which one is the Mountain.

I like the Tower. Well, let's stop at the Tower actually. I really like this card and how it's illustrated. Keywords are office buildings, ego, how interesting. This is the first time I come across the suggestion. I really like this. The idea of ego. There is something about the Tower that is isolated and of course this idea of elevation. So I think the ego is a really nice extension of these ideas. Institutions and isolation, like I said, yep.

Timing: 19th day of the month, so this is another card where Zenn refers to the number on the card for timing reasons. And with health, watch the spine stretch and strengthen it often. The Tower is associated with the spine and the back, obviously for obvious reasons.

The advice of the card is to be disciplined and to turn talent into ability. That is really nice. So I guess here the idea of time. The time it takes to become an expert at something.

She suggests the Tower and Ring as a combination: Institution of marriage, there is a sense of official matters that are associated with the Tower, so therefore marriage can be suggested.

And then the Ring and Tower: Packed and circling the work, the workspace, a work agreement. I don't think they're very different. I think directionality for me doesn't always come through. It depends on the cards.

And here is the Mountain. So two cards away. So here's the Mountain. Like I said, very interesting green that we have here. So the Mountain is about challenges, delays, hurdles, impairment, and a hilly landscape.

So any card can be interpreted for any context, and you can use any card to describe a landscape. Of course, some cards are more obviously about a landscape than others, but you could still stretch the card's meanings, and that's what I call correspondences.

So in terms of timing, it is delayed and distant. I think we all agree on that. In terms of health, it relates to health blockages. The Mountain tends to be associated with stiffness and not being able to move.

It is also associated with the head because the head is the heaviest part of the body and obviously it's on the top. The Tower can also suggest that, but it's just more amenable to suggest the spine. Now, of course, when we're looking at health in these matters, you want to be careful what you offer in terms of guidance with your cards.

The advice of the Mountain is to persist and the universe shall assist. Very interesting. So climbing that Mountain.

Her suggested combination for the Mountain is Mountain and Mice: Again, a hurdle depletes, so I think maybe the Mice are able to eat away at a hurdle. I personally don't see it this way. I think the Mice add to it. Instead, I would want a bright card to suggest that the hurdle is being resolved as it were. And then the Mice and Mountain worry persists anxiety as a burden. Yes, definitely, definitely.

So these are all some really straightforward, handy, practical, very common, I would say, keywords that we have. With the cards, it's interesting that Zenn focuses on the health correspondence. It must be because of what she does. So this is, this is worth noting folks. When you have a specific need for the deck, you can take the deck and apply it specifically for your context.

And like I was saying, there were some people in the Program who are off doing some pretty amazing things with their deck. They interpret it for their specific needs, for their specific context, for the specific people they deal with. And this is what you want to do. You want to understand the deck, understand what it's about. Be able to do all sorts of things with it. And then once you've mastered this, you know, you've got everything you need to stretch it and use it in the ways that you need. So very helpful.

And so it sounds like Zenn focuses on health. It seems to be specific to her needs as a professional in this area. Like I said, she has a really interesting profile being an educational consultant and a numerologist as well as a Lenormand Reader and trainer. So go ahead and explore how she's got all this together. It is so creative and so amazing.

LAYOUTS AND INTERPRETATION TECHNIQUES

Okay, wonderful. So with this said, now we're going to have to shuffle the deck and we are going to draw one spread out of Zenn’s Guidebook and the spread is her very interesting take on the past, present and future.

So I'm going to go ahead and do a messy pile shuffle of the deck and then I'll see you in just a couple of minutes because I haven’t shuffled this deck before.

Okay, here we are with the shuffled deck and I want to show you the spread that I want to do and this one immediately stood out to me as really interesting.

So this is Zenn's past, present, and future layout, and I love it. I think I want to experiment with it. She has one card for the past at the bottom, two cards above it, and three cards as the future on top. So it is an inverted pyramid.

I really like that there is only one card for the past, two cards for the present, and three cards for the future. Typically, we know the past, and usually we don't need that much insight into the past unless there is an unresolved issue that we're trying to understand. In that case, it might make sense to just do a portrait or something bigger.

But in terms of a past, present, and future reading, we normally know what happened in the past, so we don't need that much detail in it. And for the present, there's a pair, and the future has the most cards because it is what is unknown, so the most detail would be needed here. So a lovely, lovely take on the past, present, and future.

I'm going to go right ahead and do a past, present, and future. I'm going to deal the cards off the top, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to reverse the deal, so I'm going to start with the future and I'm going to end with the present with the past.

Okay, great. We've got the cards into view. I really like how they look on camera. I think they do really well for sharing readings with others. On YouTube, I might adopt this deck as an intro to my collection. Variety can be a bit tricky with Lenormand decks.

So here we are with the past, present, and future, and it stands out to me that there is a relationship element here at play. Now, I'm not going to assume any context, but just a quick read to get a sense of the flow from past into future.

So we've got the relationship element coming through the Woman in the middle line into the present. And with the Garden in the past, there could have been a meeting or a connection with this person. But keep in mind that the Tower is a card of going solo and being isolated, and we just read that. So obviously after a time of having been together, there seems to be a time of isolation.

And then look at the top line in the future, there looks to be a separation. We have the Whip and Scythe figure together, and the Rider, which is movement. This is a very clear message of a relationship falling apart or a break-off, as it were.

It can be a good thing, it can be a challenging thing. It can depend on the person you're reading for. Perhaps they are looking to break free from a relationship. In this case, it would be relieving to them. But if they are not, then this could be a pretty challenging reading.

So I really like this format for a past, present, and future, and I had been toying with a pyramid kind of format layout for our weekly readings on the forecast channel. But I haven't settled on one. I'm not sure I would do it inverted, but I think that the inverted pyramid for a past, present, and future is really handy. You know, with a little detail about the past and most details about the future with a pair in the middle.

So a very lovely deck, I would say. I really appreciate the clarity of the cards, and how the symbols stand out. I love that it is hand-drawn and it is so authentic in this way. And a really amazing job for pulling off the first Lenormand deck in India. It is really beautiful to see the interest growing. And that certainly makes me very happy because it is really part of my mission to grow the Lenormand community.

So folks, I'm going to link all the information about Zenn's deck in the description box. Do check out again her website and how she's got these different skills together. It might inspire you with your own practice and you know how you deliver this work in the world, what you do with it for others. It is very inspiring to see what people are doing. So I really want to encourage you to look at that, especially practitioners out there.

So thank you for tuning into this deck review, and then thank you so much for sending me your deck, Zenn. I just might pull it into my weekly and monthly forecast. Let's see how that goes. And be sure to check out all of the resources that I have as well, as well as other deck reviews on the forecast channel that I will also link.

So thank you for tuning in, and until next time, take very good care of yourself.

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