Here’s another thought provoking question for the Symbolon cards.
Why do the Lenormand cards have Playing card insets?
VAMPIRE. THE PIED PIPER. DEPRESSION.
1. The Problem/Issue/Question:
Vampire: bondage, the victim
What a challenging card to analyze in relation to the question! I had to really stop and think about the message of the 1st card. My intuition tells me that many people are asking the same question about the Lenormand playing card insets. There is certain traditional attachment to reading playing cards even though most of the systems differ. Past cartomancy practices have victimized us and we cannot see the “new light” when interpreting the playing card insets.
The bondage to the playing cards meanings of the past limits us from creating a self-sustaining connection with just the Lenormand cards.
2. The Process/Way through the Issue:
The Pied Piper: images designed to seduce you, con-artist
How appropriate! The Pied Piper suggests that we should do what is best for us individually as Cartomancers. This card reveals we have fallen for someone else’s idea. I suppose it would be the card manufacturers who decided to put playing cards with the Lenormand images after Mlle Lenormand passed away. It is nearly impossible not to wonder how the playing card insets tie in with the Lenormand meanings. Many Cartomancers rely on their Tarot training to identify the Courts and link the pips with the Minor Arcana. People who read Skat cards possess some confusion because there are no 6′s in the traditional Skat deck. Others who have a good understanding of the playing card meanings from whatever system they have chosen to learn remain equally confused. Much of this confusion is from the contradictory meanings from the 2 systems of interpretation.
The message I am hearing from the Pied Piper is for all of us to put this question to rest because we have been conned into thinking there is an obvious connection. Listen to the song on the flute.
3. Outcome/Answer:
Depression: trapped, petrification (state of fear)
The original question was, ”Why do the Lenormand cards have Playing card insets?” The last card is supposed to shed some light on the outcome or answer. I have to laugh at the last card because it is depressing trying to figure this question out. The advice of the Depression card in the final spot is to look ahead with optimism. It is important not to forget the true essence of reading the Lenormand cards. Trying to find the answer to the question has trapped us into thinking there is something much more with this deck.
Why? The guidance I am receiving right now in relation to this reading is that the old structure of Cartomancy (reading playing cards) will be transformed. Any fear trying new Cartomancy techniques will be dissolved. The Lenormand Playing card insets exist because the Vampire put them there……….. 
Symbolon – the Deck of Rememberance by Peter Orban, Ingrid Zinnel and Thea Weller.
Nice!It is a big question though…I’m trying to figer out if there would have been 18th century skat cards devination systems with 36 cards in Germany…
Hi: Thanks for your comment. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a system of Skat cards divination around Madame Lenormand’s time. The challenge would be to find some evidence in the German history books. True gypsies wouldn’t share their knowledge publicly but they would pass it down. Let me know how you make out in your research. Seaqueen