Hello and welcome! This is a reading for the year of 2020 using all 36 cards of the Mlle Lenormand Blue Owl deck in a Grand Tableau spread. This is a very in-depth spread that covers a lot of different areas of a particular topic, situation, or time frame. For this reading the question I focused on while shuffling was, “What major themes or experiences can we expect to see in 2020?”
A picture of the reading can be seen above. I also put together a PDF of the spread layout highlighting each area I talk about so you can follow along with the reading as I go through each section.
The first card read in a Grand Tableau spread is the card right in the center. In this spread we have card 34 Fish. That means the major focus of the year will be about money. It’s going to be about resources, maybe trade, transactions, the flow of income whether it be in or out, where it goes, and where it comes from. All of this will be the center of attention for the year. It could manifest personally, locally, or internationally.
Directly above Fish we have Ship and Mice. Below we have Whip and Lily. There is a warning here of loss or theft from some sort of negligence from the Mice card which represents things dwindling away. Lily is a card of something old and Whip represents strife, disagreement, something that’s done over and over again. Lot’s of physical exertion. On a global level this could reflect the working class getting nearly nothing compared to the big guys on top. Because Fish is in this context and in position number 21 which is also known as the “house” of the Mountain card, this could look like hoarding and exploitation. Something to focus on an individual level here is to consider where you may be hoarding your own resources and restricting their natural flow or consider how you may be mindlessly exploiting the resources of others. This is a fine opportunity to balance sharing and boundaries because both are equally important.
Moving on to the horizontal line intersecting Fish and starting from the far left we have: Snake, Woman, Anchor, House, Fish, Ring, Stars, and Stork. This row looks like a commitment to change, to becoming more true to yourself. The resources represented by Fish aren’t just money – they are also internal resources – what your energy, focus, time, and emotion goes towards. When you recognize instances where you put up a tremendous amount of energy toward something that doesn’t serve you, you have the opportunity to choose to direct that energy toward something else. First comes the commitment to do that and that’s where the Ring comes in right after Fish. The combination of Snake, Woman/Person, Anchor can represent someone focused on self-refinement or someone who is able to shed their skin and regenerate after a period of difficulty. This continual growth and change is necessary for security, represented by Anchor and House. With Stars (hope) and Stork (change) at the end of the spread, we can expect there to be some good news around the end of the year affecting us personally or perhaps globally. Our hard work individually will pay off collectively.
Looking at Fish in the middle of the “x marks the spot” diagonally we have Clouds, Mountain, Fish, Cross. On the other hand we have Key, Moon, Fish, Garden, Rider. These are two very different sides! Clouds, Mountain, Fish and Cross together can look like a tremendous amount of debt, repressed emotions, or generally brooding about something heavy. It can look like struggles dealing with the nebulousness of not knowing where to start or how to approach something that feels daunting. On the other hand we have the complete opposite, we have Key – success, Moon – fame, Fish – resources, Garden – social gatherings, and then Rider – news. This can look like a break from the heaviness of the other diagonal line. Maybe you successfully crowdfund something. Maybe a famous person happens to visit your local haunt, maybe you’ll start a local club, or maybe this will manifest more along the lines of attending an important public speech or event. The themes from these two lines could intersect at some point, probably in the middle of the year. This could look like something to do with the finances and resources of religious institutions – ones that are very well known. This could have to do with institutions of higher learning or student loan debt. There could be some sort of breakthrough with that around the middle of the year.
Starting from the four-card column on the far left representing the beginning of the year we have: Bear, Clover, Snake, Man. Once again there is a financial focus with Bear. This could represent whoever is in charge of the family, like the matriarch or someone like your boss. With Clover, Snake and Man/Person that’s like a light deception, a white lie, something like someone taking your lunch at work. Something sneaky, but not really all that devastating. Double check things. Double check what you’re eating. This could look like something going bad in the fridge, something small that gets lost, because Bear also represents the large thing that has your food so the refrigerator, the root cellar, whatever is relevant to you. If you are a business owner in the food-service industry, make sure everything is nice and clean and organized and you’re getting rid of old stuff. This could look like finding that one lime that’s completely fuzzy when all of the other ones are totally fine.
Moving on from that to the second column from the left we have: Tree, Dog, Woman, and Sun – which is lovely. Good health, good friends, joy, and wonderful things. So even though we’re going through it politically/personally/astrologically etc. there will be a nice break and nice things can still happen. Early in the year when Venus is in Pisces (mid January through early February) will be a great time because we’re naturally more inclined toward inspiration, music, and growth through togetherness.
Moving onto the third column from the left we have: Clouds, Tower, Anchor, Crossroads, and Key – which can represents hospitals, courthouses, and important buildings in general where major decisions are made. Importance is emphasized with the Anchor which here which represents buildings or monuments that anchor a place to a particular time. The original or intended meanings of these monuments may be lost or distorted because Clouds are right above representing confusion. The cards here can also represent somewhere that people travel to a lot. Somewhere that people intentionally go out of their way for. The placement of Clouds above Tower also reminds me of different places where things that can’t really be explained occur – paranormal hot-spots, locations of Marian apparitions, and so on. Crossroads are also famous for their magical significance.
After this in the fourth column we have: Fox, Mountain, House, Moon, and Birds. This gives me the distinct impression that there will be some focus on buying and selling houses and real-estate in general. It looks like some people might make money off of that. I strongly discourage anyone from taking financial advice from me and this reading because this can play out in all sorts of ways. The money-making may not be entirely ethical or honest. This could also look like lots of talk (Birds) about something sneaky (Fox) regarding a famous (Moon) home or family (House).
The middle column we already addressed Mice, Ship, Fish, Whip, and Lily with old foreign exchange things. In the next column over we have: Letter, Garden, Ring, Cross, Scythe – this is a breaking of a major agreement of some sort and it’s going to be all over the news and it’s going to be sudden and wild. This could look like recent events with the British royal family for example.
After that in the second column from the right we have: Rider, Bouquet, Stars, and Coffin. This is actually pretty nice and looks very much to me like death in the sense of it being the necessary thing preceeding the next big, new, awesome thing. I recently broke a kettle and was devastated about it, but I got a new one and it’s wonderful – even better than the old one. So having Stars, Rider, and Bouquet right on top of the Coffin means that after whatever transition this indicates, it will bring in a really nice new thing.
In the final column on the right we have: Heart, Child, Stork, and Book. This shows me that there is so much hope and good stuff in the future that we can’t see yet BUT, we CAN imagine it and that is really, really, really important – that is what we should strive towards, no matter what happens in the meantime it’s very important to still imagine the good stuff that could be. What is the best case scenario? What does that look like? None of these things can happen if we don’t have any sort of desire for it. If we are just completely zombified and complacent then that is what will be. Having Heart at the very top right for the future is a very promising and hopeful sign that we can and will create something better for ourselves and each other.
The four corner cards of this Grand Tableau spread are Bear, Heart, Man, and Book. This speaks of themes around food-related resources, authority, love, abundance, and the unseen future of mankind that will be the “framework” for the year 2020. What sort of future will we write? Astrologically we are starting a whole new 200 year cycle where Jupiter and Saturn will be meeting in air signs – the element of thought, communication, and innovation. Humans are exceptional at innovating things if we really want to, we just have to really want to. 2020 is going to be a year where we identify what it is we want for the future for ourselves, our communities, and the planet.
At the end of the spread are the four cards at the very bottom which in this case are Key, Birds, Lily, and Scythe. These last four cards, similar to the four corner cards, are like another meta theme for the reading. They can be considered final words of wisdom from the deck. The combination of these four cards is especially important because Key shows up in it’s own house. Key is the 33rd card in the Lenormand deck and in this spread it is in the 33rd position. This means the message here is very important. With Birds, Lily, and Scythe this could look like the importance of communication. Key “knights” to both the Man/Person and Woman/Person so this especially has to do with self-talk and is relevant to everyone. Key also “knights” to House, and Whip which this can also look like fights or poor communication at home. This does not necessarily mean you will end up living with someone mean to you, but it does invite you to be more mindful of the words you use toward yourself. It is very hard to be open to positivity while simultaneously telling yourself you don’t deserve any. It is up to you to decide whether or not you want to talk to yourself in a way that supports you. This sort of change takes time (Lily), but each time you catch yourself (Scythe) framing something in an unnecessarily negative light, it gets easier and easier to do it in the future.
I hope this reading was helpful. I do offer Grand Tableau readings for clients that are done live and go even deeper than this one. You can learn more about my Lenormand and Tarot services here. You can also read my (shorter) predictive 9-card reading that I did about Hellier season 2 on my sister site here. If this reading really spoke to you and you would like to buy me a coffee so I can keep doing these, I would be extremely grateful! Thanks so much for reading and I wish you all the best in 2020!
M. M. Kelly 