The Ring

Ring · No. 25 · Playing card ♣A · Commitment, contracts, marriage

The card

A closed ring. It has no beginning and no end — an image of both cycle and constraint.

Traditional meaning

Traditionally the Ring is marriage, contract and commitment, and also things going round.

How to read it

The Ring is binding: marriage, a contract, a partnership, any tie with obligation in it. It is neutral — a good binding is called commitment, a bad one is being unable to get out. The circle also means recurrence: the same thing coming round again.

In context

Love

A promise, an engagement, a marriage — or a relationship you cannot untangle.

Work

Contracts, partnerships, long-term agreements.

Timing

Cyclical, or within the term of an agreement.

Common combinations

The Ring + The Heart · A vow made out of love
The Ring + The Scythe · A contract terminated, or a marriage cut short
The Ring + The Cross · A heavy commitment, responsibility bearing down
The Ring + The Letter · A written contract, marriage papers
The Ring + The Fish · An agreement involving money, or a dowry
The Ring + The House · Making a home, grounding the relationship in family
The Ring + The Snake · A trap in the contract, or a third party in the marriage
The Ring + The Fox · An employment contract, a partnership agreement
The Ring + The Tower · A formal relationship that has to be registered
The Ring + The Anchor · An arrangement that holds for the long term

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).