Lenormand Bliss

This is art project is all about combining two worlds of symbolic meaning to create a new one. The first world is Blissymbolics, a constructed language made from basic symbols. It was created by Charles. K Bliss. (Born Karl Kasiel Blitz) He was an Austro-Hungarian Jew who fled to Shanghai and then Australia during WW2. He was inspired by Chinese characters. He wanted his symbols to be a universal language understandable by someone from any language group. His symbol system went on to be used to help people with disabilities communicate. Learn more at www.blissymbolics.org.
The second world I drew from was Lenormand, a set of 36 cards like the Tarot each with a particular image with associated meanings. Below I will show each card and describe the meanings of the symbols I've arranged. I have been the midwife of these two parents to bring forth their child I am calling Lenormand Bliss. Below you can see the cards I have created with their meanings. There are many beautiful Tarot and Lenormand decks but since I am not much of a painter or graphic artist I looked for a simple way to depict the meanings of the cards. I remembered having visited a special needs elementary school and observing children using boards with symbols on them as an alternative way to communicate. I found the global symbols website and amid many different symbols systems I was attracted to Blissymbolics for their simplicity. In my design of each card I tried to use the Bliss symbols as I found them, but sometimes I arrange them or modify them to suit my aesthetic vision. I hope you enjoy my work and look into Lenormand and Blissymbolics to learn more . And maybe you can copy my work and make your own set of cards. Below I will describe the imagery and meanings but on the back of each card I broke down all the meanings so that someone new to the cards can study their meanings.  

 Book -  It is a simple rectangle bisected with a vertical line. It comes with meanings like Education and the Unknown. Education is symbolized by an arrow going up and down inside a bowl meaning exchange. It comes with an symbol for knowledge which is an image of a box , and a symbol of mind using a curved line at the top. This is to say that knowledge is something we store in our minds. And then education is conceived as an exchange of our collective supply of mind goods. 

 Clouds - The symbol for cloud comes from the symbol for sky which is a horizontal line and the symbol for water which is a curved line starting from the left going above the straight line and then midway through dropping below and curving on its way to the end of the line on the right. Clouds are water droplets in the sky. I like the way the symbols combine to make a new image. The major association with this card is Confusion which in Blissymbolics is depicted with the Heart for feeling and two arrows chasing each in a circle. I added the X at the top as an indicator of plural "clouds" and the descriptor symbol of a V to make it "cloudy". We might be lost in the clouds of our life going in circles but hopefully we can find our way. 

Crossroads - This card begins with the symbol for the action "to cross" which is two parallel horizontal lines with a vertical line going through them. To this I added a symbol for driving which is a seated person on an arrow signifying forward movement. I placed that on top of a symbol for a vehicle which is two circles with X's in them with a horizontal line on top. In the center is a symbol for this card's meaning which is a Point of decision. A line curves back on itself with an arrow pointing to where it started. 

Stork - This card has the symbol for bird as it's base. Two curved lines start at the bottom of the page a little spread out and then rise up toward each other for a bit and then move away from each other to either side as wings. To add the classical association of the stork bringing babies to families I added the symbol for Birth which is a star with an inverted V signifying protection. The meaning given here is that there is a new being under the protection of this roof. The meaning of Stork for Lenormand is a Positive change. In Blissymbolics they have a symbol for life or being that is a circle with a vertical line bisecting it. To make the symbol for change they took that symbol and modified it by adding a symbol for water in a wavy line going horizontally to add the meaning that life is changing like water changes. A better thing is depicted by adding a plus sign. 

Letter - The pictograph for letter looks like an envelope. The meaning of the card is Written communication. To get at that Blissymbolics used the symbol for exchange, the symbol for communication which include three symbols. The symbol for speech is a circle. The symbol for writing is a diagonal line starting from top left and slanting down to the right cutting through the circle. Going over the speech and through the top part of the writing symbol is a curved line for the mind or "to think". 

Stars - Blissymbolics makes a star by having a vertical line bisect an X. With Bliss you could just draw one star and add the indicator for plural but I thought repeating the symbol had a nice aesthetic effect. The Lenormand meanings include a warning to Beware, having one's head in the clouds, possible success and hope. The symbol for "Beware!" is made of a triangle with an exclamation point. The symbol for Head in clouds had a pictograph of a head as a circle with two lines for nose and mouth close to the image of a cloud. Possible success is a combo of life, plus sign and question mark. Hope is constructed from heart with arrow up meaning happy, the C line means future, and question mark means uncertain.

 Bear - This card starts with a basic animal symbol using two inverted V's with a horizontal line over the top. Then there is a circle with two round ears and three dots for eyes and nose. One of the meanings associated with the Bear is Food. This is shown with the symbol for mouth above a line symbolizing the earth. A second meaning is a Leader. This symbol is formed by a vertical line with a short horizontal line at the bottom for person, then on top is the curved line for mind with an arrow coming off the right side for the future. The combination of the use of the mind to move people or situations forward is leadership. A third meaning is Strength which combines the symbol for health which looks like the number four but is a modified human symbol made from a vertical line with a right angle coming off the side to mean an arm flexing. To this we add the symbol for muscle which adds a semi circle onto the arm. The fourth meaning is Money. For this Blissymbolics created a symbol that consists of two circles stacked on top of each other with a vertical line running through the middle. The source for this was the staff/rod of Hermes/Mercury or Caduceus which has two snakes coiling around a vertical staff. This has been a symbol for commerce. I stacked many of these symbols on the bear's back to show their strength. 

Child - This card has a plain meaning of a young person. The symbol is made from combining the symbols for small and flower. The symbol for small looks like a short capital letter I with a short vertical line with horizontal lines on the top and bottom. The symbol for flower is a circle with a vertical line extending downwards. This is to say that a child is like a little flower. 

Man - The symbol for man is made from a modified person design with a vertical line. At the bottom there is an inverted triangle which means "action" The founder of Blissymbolics Charles K. Bliss (CKB) thought of man as the Action principle in society. 

Woman - the symbol for a woman is made from a person symbol plus the symbol for Nature/Creation. CKB thought of woman as the creative principle in society. 

Ring - The symbol for ring is two circles one inside the other looking like the shape of a real ring. Below it added the symbol for Marriage which is a combination of two symbols. One is the symbol for connection, which is two circles overlapping like a Venn Diagram. Over it is an inverted V meaning protection and in this case living under one roof. 

House - the symbol for house is made with a pentagram pictograph. Inside I added the meanings of Property which is formed by one short vertical line with two horizontal lines crossing it at the bottom and in the middle. Another meaning is Family. For this symbol I wanted to have a gender neutral family with a child in between them. I was happy that Bliss had symbols already made for gay, straight and lesbian families but they didn't have a gender neutral one. So I developed this one just adding on to the gender neutral symbol for couple the diagonal lines that leave off from the person's vertical line and meet between them. 

Birds - The card for bird starts with two curved lines. It comes with a symbol for a Couple made from two persons. and a symbol for Communication made from an inverted V meaning action, and two parallel and horizontal arrows each pointing in opposite directions. 

Fox - The symbol for a fox is made from a symbol for canine which takes the basic symbol of animal which is two inverted V's with a straight horizontal line over them and adds a curved tail to the left side. It doesn't say it on the Bliss site but the legs of the pictograph look like the repetition of the symbol for action and animals as living beings can be associated with action. To this we add the symbol for small and then the symbol for open. I'm not sure why the open symbol is used. The meanings of the fox card are cleverness and work. To make the idea of Clever the symbol for mind, a c shape with the points of the line pointing downwards along with an exclamation point. The symbol for Work is made from two half-sized action symbols to emphasize the intentional type of action that is work. 

Bouquet - To make a flower we have a circle and a vertical line. To make flowers we add the X symbol at the top. The meanings associated with the Bouquet are happiness, beauty and gifts. Happiness is a heart shape for feeling with a upward facing arrow. Beauty is made from a combination of happiness and the symbol for "Eye" which is a circle with a dot in the center. This gets at the meaning of beauty is something you see that makes you happy. The symbol for Gift is formed with a square for thing, and upward turned C shape with an upward facing arrow. I added some creative license by repeating the tip of the arrow to signify roots and leaves of the flower. 

Mice - the symbol for mouse is made from the symbol of Small, the symbol of gnawing made from two V's with a line on top, and an animal symbol. The meaning associated with this mice is small problems. The symbol for Problem is a question mark inside a symbol for opening with the symbol for difficult which is an arrow facing right spitting open a vertical line into two smaller ones. 

Whip/Rod - To make a whip I took the Bliss symbol for whipping which only referred to a sewing knot and added the symbol for stick and used the symbol for "Hit" which looks like a check mark with two exclamation marks. I did this because there was no symbol for whip and the symbol for stick was the only thing close to rod and it was a simple line with a small square on top. I wanted something a bit more evocative. To qualify "hit" I added the symbols for sexual passion which is made from a vertical wavy line for "Fire" combined with the symbol for gender made from a cone and a triangle signifying male/female. I'd like to propose a new symbol for gender that acknowledges the spectrum of diversity between male and female. I made up my own symbol for rainbow which has three curved lines each bending over the other.  Blissymbolics had a symbol for rainbow which was one curved line to symbolize an arch, an x for plural and then a symbol for color which was a combo of a symbol for eye and earth to say that color is what the eye receives from the earth. I thought the one curved line looked too much the symbol for mind and that three lines worked better. In a way it is a play on the symbol for mind because with a rainbow of diversity you have to think over an issue, or thing again about the matter because it's more complex than the either/or. Arguments is the other meaning with a symbol for speech made with a small circle, a symbol for communication made with two horizontal arrows pointing in opposite directions. An exclamation mark is added for intensity. 

Scythe - Bliss had not symbol for Scythe so I combined the symbol for cutting/knife with a symbol for grass which is a short curved line like a lower case "r". One of the meanings of this card is Danger which is made from a triangle with an exclamation mark. Another is Pain made with a heart and zig zag line like a wide letter N. A third meaning is Sudden made with a symbol for time that is a circle with a right angle in the top right. This is meant to look like a clock with the hour and minute hands. Next to the symbol for time is a zig zag line looking like the letter M if the left side turned 90 degrees to the right. 

Tree - This card comes with the meanings of health, rooted, and spiritual. The basic symbol for tree is a vertical line with two curved lines descending from the top and going outward like branches. To this I added the symbol for Health which looks like the number four. The vertical line is a modified person and the right angle is an arm flexing. In this situation I combined them to made more trunk and a branch. I then added a horizontal line for Earth and two curved lines for Roots. Below this I added the symbol for Spiritual which is a heart with a circle with a vertical line down its middle. I like the idea of the spiritual meaning a feeling for being/existence.

Snake - The snake is made from a line that bends back and forth like a snake slithers. It represents a big problem. The symbol for big looks like a capital I and goes with the symbol for Problem also described above in the Mice card. 

Coffin - The symbol for coffin is a rectangle with a person lying down inside of it. The symbol at the top is for Transformation. It's a pictograph of a wand. At the bottom there is an arrow that hits a wall and it means Endings. 

Ship - The symbol for money is sitting inside a bowl shape line meaning Commerce. The symbol for ship is riding on a wheel symbol for Travel and it rides on the symbol for water. 

Clover - Clover has its own pictograph which is made with three circles in a triangular formation each touching the other two. To make a stem there is a line going down and curving to the left at the bottom. Luck is made with a heart and plus sign meaning feeling and good. It thought this can mean feeling lucky or feeling good that some lucky thing has happened. 

Rider -  To make the Rider we have a person symbol with a horse symbol. One meaning for this card is News, made by combining the symbol for Eye/to see (circle with dot in the center) and for Ear/to hear (a curved line that supposed to look like an ear. Another meaning is Speed. This is produced with an arrow pointing to the the right, meaning Forward. It is pointing at an exclamation mark. So Speed is forward intensity.  

Cross - This card is made with a pictograph of a Cross with a vertical line crossed by a horizontal line that is a bit shorter. It is clearly a reference to the Cross Jesus was crucified on. The meanings of Grief and Religious suggest this connection. Grief is made with a heart symbol and a downward arrow signifying sadness and a minus sign meaning "to take away". The sense of the Religious is created with Blissymbols in two possible ways. In one it is a naturalistic feeling for nature like Einstein wrote of. This is made with a superimposed Heart over the symbol for Nature/Creation. For those who believe in God there is another symbol that adds another triangle just behind and above the first symbol for Nature. This is to say that God is behind and above Nature. To do theology with Blissymbols there is a definition of God as the Creativity behind the Creation. 

Anchor - The symbol for Anchor is a square for Thing, an arrow hitting a vertical line for Stop, and half circle with horizontal line on top with a vertical line going up from the center for Ship. Two meanings come with the anchor being Security which is made by adding the heart/feeling symbol with the symbol for Protection which is an inverted V with a greater than 90 degree angle. I need to do this card over because the way I drew it angle is too narrow and looks too much like the symbol for Action. Another meaning of Anchor is Perseverance which is made combining by the symbol for Action, an inverted V and the symbols for Repeat,  two vertical parallel lines, and Intensity, an exclamation point. 

Fish - This was the first Blissymbol I found in my search for simple elegant imagery for the Lenormand cards. It is made by two curved lines overlapping. One starts at the bottom and curves up and to the right over to the other side. The other line starts at the top left and curves down to the right upper side. Combined this gives an effect of making a fin shape on either side. I added the symbol for water to give an effect of a fish in its natural environment. I also added the symbol for Money both in the fish itself and floating on the waves. 

Key - This is a pictograph of a key. It comes with the meaning Open and Yes. Open is a square without a top line and Yes is made with a plus sign with two exclamation marks

Moon - The Moon has its own crescent shaped pictograph. It comes with the meanings of Art, the Feminine, Intuition, and Imagination. Bliss gets at the meaning of Art by combining the symbol for man-made which is made with an obtuse triangle and the symbol for feeling which is a heart. Art is something made that evokes feeling. The Feminine is made with the symbol for a female. Intuition is made with the symbol for knowledge and the symbol for inside, which is made with a square with a dot in the middle. Intuition is an inner knowledge. Imagination is constructed by putting the symbol for Being above a line indicating sky. Imaging something beyond the sky. 

Sun - the sun shines so bright in the dark of night into outer space on an alien's face. That's a little song for you. The circle is a pictograph of the sun. To create the effect of having sun rays I have repeated the symbol for Heat around the circle. It is made from a vertically oriented line that curves down to the right then in the middle curves down to the left. There are little arrow heads on either side of the symbol to express the emanation of the heat outward into waves. One association with the sun is a Masculine person. Another meaning is to Win or success. Two horizontal arrows point to the right towards a plus sign. The top one further to the right than the bottom one.

Lily - Lily is made with a flower and water symbol. Meanings associated with this card are Longevity and Peacefulness. Longevity is created using the symbol for a time interval with the symbol for long which is a horizontal line with two shorter vertical lines on either end. To make Peacefulness Blissymbolics combines the heart for feeling and horizontal lines above and below it signifying Earth and Sky. The website says this means feeling at one with the world.  

Heart - This card is about love and emotions. The basic symbol is a heart shape signifying Feeling. All the emotions in Bliss are made with a heart symbol with various symbols next to it. I put the symbols inside the heart for aesthetics but also because feelings are felt to be inside us. I was influenced by Paul Ekman's view of five universal human emotions - Happy, Sadness, Surprise, Fear, Anger, Disgust. A Happy feeling is made with an arrow going up and Sadness is made with an arrow going down. Surprise is a question mark and exclamation mark. Fear is a downward arrow with a vertical line curving down to the left like an elongated C. This symbolizes the future. Next to it is a question mark. Angry is made with two arrow heads next to each other horizontally pointing to the left. This is the symbol for opposition. The X indicates much or many. Disgust is created by combining a symbol for hate, a minus sign with two exclamation points and an extra exclamation for intensity. 

Mountain - A mountain is made with an scalene triangle with one right angle. Within the mountain I have put symbols for being Alone, being Remote, and for Waiting. Alone is made with the symbol for being and the number 1. Remoteness is made with the symbol for being far away made from two vertical lines with some space between them filled with three dots evenly spaced out. The idea of Waiting is created by adding the symbol for a time interval to the symbol for stop which means waiting is stopping for a certain period of time. 

Garden/Park - To make a garden symbol we have a flower and a tree symbol connected with a horizontal line for earth. Above them I have used the Symbol for Gathering made out of four arrows pointing at a single point in the middle with two arrows pointing vertically from above and below and two arrows pointing horizontally from left and right. 

Tower - The card for tower is a pictograph of a tall house. At the top we have a symbol for Alone made with the symbol for being with the number 1. I put the symbol for tall in there for good measure. Then there is the meaning of arrogant or selfish. This is made with a symbol combining the symbol for mind and the symbol for self which is a vertical line and the number one, 

Dog - to the symbol of dog I added a heart and plus sign and exclamation point to signify Friend.