The Man

Gentleman · No. 28 · Playing card ♥A · The male querent

The card

A man stands on the card — one of the two significator cards in the deck.

Traditional meaning

Traditionally the Gentleman represents the querent if male, or the significant man in their life.

How to read it

The significator is usually not read symbolically; it points at a person: the querent, the partner, or the man the question is about. What you actually read are the cards around it — those describe his situation. Which card is the significator follows from the querent: for a male querent card 28 is himself and card 29 is the woman he is asking about, and the reverse for a female querent. For same-sex questions the reader assigns them in advance — that has to be settled before the draw, not fitted afterwards.

In context

Love

The man himself, or the man the querent is asking about.

Work

A male colleague, manager or client.

Timing

It gives no timing.

Common combinations

Lenormand meanings were first written down in the instruction sheet issued around 1846 by Philippe Lenormand, heir of Marie-Anne Lenormand, and that sheet has long been in the public domain. The "Traditional meaning" section here describes the classical reading handed down from that line, in our own words — it is not a verbatim quotation of the sheet. Card images are public-domain scans of Das Spiel der Hoffnung (1799).