Lenormand vs tarot quiz: how the two decks differ
A quiz on the Lenormand deck: where it came from, how many cards it has, how it is read and what sets it apart from tarot. Five of twelve, with review.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
How is Lenormand different from tarot?
A Lenormand deck has 36 cards with simple pictures: Rider, Clover, Ship, House, Heart, Key. Tarot has 78, including 22 Major Arcana and four suits. This quiz checks whether you understand the difference: where each deck came from, how it is built and how the reading itself changes.
In short, Lenormand tends to talk about events, while tarot talks about processes and inner states. A Lenormand card is like a word that gains meaning next to its neighbour; a tarot card is a whole scene with its own story. So "what will happen" leans toward Lenormand, and "what is going on with me and what do I do" leans toward tarot.
Who was Mademoiselle Lenormand?
Marie Anne Lenormand lived in Paris around the turn of the nineteenth century and was the most famous fortune-teller of her day. Legends gathered around her, including the story that Empress Joséphine consulted her. She reportedly read with various cards, but she did not create the deck that carries her name today.
Its real ancestor is a German board game, The Game of Hope by Johann Kaspar Hechtel, published around 1799: 36 picture cards on which players moved their pieces. After Lenormand died in 1843, publishers began selling fortune-telling decks under her famous name, and the label stuck. Many Lenormand cards still show a tiny playing card in one corner, a trace of the game.
How are Lenormand and tarot read?
Lenormand has no suits and no Major Arcana, and reversed cards are usually ignored. Meanings are short and concrete: Clover is a small piece of luck, Clouds are uncertainty, Anchor is stability, Ring is a bond or contract. Cards are read in pairs and chains, like phrases. The best-known layout is the Grand Tableau, which uses all 36 cards at once.
Tarot is read by position, takes upright and reversed into account, and its images leave more room for reflection. Plenty of readers keep both decks: Lenormand to name the event, tarot to understand what to do about it. Tayna's spreads use tarot, but knowing the neighbouring tradition is worthwhile.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. How many cards are in a classic Lenormand deck?
Right answer: 36 cards
Lenormand has 36 cards, as many as the pictures in The Game of Hope. Tarot has 78, a playing-card deck 52.
2. Which game is the Lenormand deck based on?
Right answer: The German Game of Hope
The deck grew out of Hechtel's board game, The Game of Hope, published around 1799.
3. Mademoiselle Lenormand designed the Lenormand deck herself.
Right answer: Myth
Decks bearing her name appeared after her death in 1843. A famous fortune-teller's name simply helped sales.
4. The Lenormand Coffin card means an ending. Which tarot trump is closest?
Right answer: Death
The Coffin marks the end of a phase, like Death in tarot: a chapter closing, not a literal death.
5. What does a Lenormand deck lack, unlike tarot?
Right answer: Major Arcana and suits
Lenormand has 36 equal cards with no suits or Major Arcana. They do carry numbers and pictures.
6. What does the Lenormand Clover usually mean?
Right answer: A small piece of luck
Clover is a little stroke of luck, a pleasant chance. It is about a short bright patch, not a big change.
7. What is the Lenormand Grand Tableau?
Right answer: All 36 cards laid out
The Grand Tableau lays out the whole deck. Cards are read by their neighbours and their distance to the querent card.
8. Lenormand points to an event: the Letter. Why do many readers add tarot?
Right answer: To see what to do about it
Lenormand names the event, and tarot helps you see how you feel about it and what step to take next.
9. Lenormand readers usually read reversed cards, as in tarot.
Right answer: Myth
Lenormand traditionally ignores reversals. Neighbouring cards refine the meaning instead.
10. When did decks bearing Lenormand's name appear?
Right answer: After her death in 1843
Publishers borrowed the famous name after her death, and it stuck to the deck for good.
11. How are Lenormand cards usually read?
Right answer: In pairs and chains, like phrases
A Lenormand card works like a word: meaning comes from combinations. Ring plus Heart is a union of love.
12. The Lenormand Clouds card means confusion and doubt. Which trump is closest?
Right answer: The Moon
Clouds hide the view, much like the Moon in tarot: twilight, uncertainty and what is still hidden.