The Philippine artist Lynyrd-Jym Narciso is no stranger to designing divination tools. If you look on the page of his studio Paraluman you will see several published and (as of yet) unpublished tarot decks and Lenormands. His most recent project is the Anino Lenormand – now on Indiegogo. A little Q&A about all things Anino.
What is (was) the inspiration and process behind the Anino Lenormand?
Anino is the Filipino word for shadow. This deck began as an ‘art block’ therapy for me. As such, it holds a special place in my life. I have been having difficulty consciously making art, but have no difficulty in drawing doodles. I resolved to turn these doodle sessions into art-making sessions, and – after four months – the Anino Lenormand was born. The art is the result of an organic, almost subconscious method of doodling – I let my mind wander about while at the same time keeping the image’s function in mind (the key figures in each card have to be readily recognizable). I was not afraid to make mistakes because these mistakes eventually ended up incorporated into the patterns in the images. The influences for the striking images of this deck are wide and varied: shadow puppets, graffiti, ethnic textile patterns, doodles, and paper-cutting traditions.
What’s your experience with Lenormand?
This is rather interesting. To me, making Tarot Art, aside from fulfilling an inner desire to translate desires and inspirations into artworks, is also a means to meditate about the meanings of the cards. To gain insights, at times even to have fun with the cards’ meanings and imagery. I had to learn the hard way that this does not work with Lenormand. In a way, making a Lenormand deck gave me insights on Lenormand’s personality. How it differs from tarot, how, it’s less about the imagery and more about the cards’ relationships with each other (although some modern users do interpret the cards’ imagery as if they were tarot cards), and more importantly, how each figure in the cards has to be readily identifiable at a quick glance.
How does the Anino differ (or not ) from regular Lenormand?
Even at the start, the deck was created with readability in mind. That said, it was also created to showcase its art. Anino Lenormand is an exotic and vibrant interpretation of the Lenormand. It is also a Lenormand that closely follows the standardized card meanings and icons so that Lenormand readers can take full advantage of it. Playing card inserts appear as glyphs in the title border so as not to distract from the compelling multi-cultural imagery. My goal was to create a deck that is both compellingly exotic and gives a sense of familiarity by being very readable. I do not think there has ever been a Lenormand deck done in this theme.
How did the deck come to life?
The images were originally drawn using a rather thick technical pen on A4 sized sheets – 4 images to a sheet. It’s a size that is quite convenient to carry around anywhere. The deck was created in coffee shops, while waiting in line, etc. These were scanned, digitally cleaned, and digitally treated to give the look of old shadow puppets or paper lanterns.
So, when can we start playing with the Anino Lenormand?
I am planning the decks to be shipped out some time around January to February. It will be queued in the printer’s production line, so printing and shipping is not an instantaneous affair.
The deck may be available via print-on-demand via mid 2017 or later, but it will be at a much higher price. Per-piece printing is expensive. Which is why I highly recommend getting a copy of the deck via its Indiegogo campaign.
From the looks of it this deck is promising to be original in style, but still very easy to read. I really like the tribal pattern. Also, I see no issues in understanding the symbols, no obvious deviations that might become a problem later. The glyphs are small, but still readable. This could just be a deck for both beginner’s and advanced readers.
For more information on Paraluman’s work you can check both his website or his FB page.
