The Clouds: meaning of Lenormand card 6

The card at a glance

The image on the card

In the Sol da Alma Lenormand, the Clouds fill almost the whole card: an enormous mass of cloud billowing upwards, dark, blue-grey and almost green on the left, and lit in shades of cream, gold and peach on the right, where the sun breaks through it. Beneath it stretches a plain of golden grass and wine-coloured heather, crossed by a stream that winds into the foreground; there are a few isolated trees and, in the distance, hills half hidden in mist. In the corner, the number 6 and the king of clubs.

In the Engraved Lenormand, in the manner of the watercolour sky studies of the early nineteenth century, there is no landscape: only storm clouds, heavy and grey, filling the left side and the top of the card, with a curtain of rain falling at the bottom left. On the right, the clouds open onto a pale blue sky and a rosy light on the horizon. The two paintings agree on the essentials: the dark side is on the left, the light side on the right, and the weather is changing.

The symbolism, detail by detail

The clouds

What blocks the view: doubt, confusion, missing information. You cannot see the sun, but it is there.

The dark side

Where the weather is heavy. In the traditional reading, you note which side of the card the dark clouds are on: the cards on that side are the ones most affected by the confusion or the problem.

The light side

The break in the clouds, the place where the light comes back. The cards on that side tend to clear first.

The rain

In the Engraved Lenormand, a curtain of rain falls from the dark side: confusion that does not stay up in the air but comes down and soaks you — sadness, annoyance, bad temper.

The plain and the stream

In the Sol da Alma painting, the land is still there below, and the water keeps flowing. Life goes on its course beneath the clouds; the confusion belongs to the sky, not to the ground.

The mist in the distance

The half-hidden horizon: you cannot quite tell what comes next. It is uncertainty about the near future.

The king of clubs

A male figure, a king. That is why some readers see in the Clouds, in certain spreads, a man whose ideas are unclear or whose moods are changeable. Curiously, many of the difficult Lenormand cards — the Clouds, the Snake, the Mountain, the Mice, the Cross — carry clubs.

The history of the Clouds

The Clouds were already card 6 in ‘Das Spiel der Hoffnung’, the Game of Hope published by Johann Kaspar Hechtel in Nuremberg around 1799, with the king of clubs in the corner. It was a board game of thirty-six cards moved across with dice, which the miniature playing cards allowed to be used for fortune-telling as well.

The deck came to be sold under the name of Marie Anne Lenormand after her death in 1843 — the most famous fortune-teller in Paris, of whom no one knows whether she ever used it. In Portugal and Brazil it is the ‘Baralho Cigano’, the Gypsy Deck, a popular name with no historical Romani origin.

The rule of the light side and the dark side is one of the best known in reading the Clouds. It depends on the picture: decks usually paint the clouds with one part heavier than the other, and it is that difference that is read. In the Sol da Alma deck, as in the Engraved Lenormand, the dark side is on the left and the light side on the right.

The meaning of the Clouds

The Clouds are the card of confusion and uncertainty: you cannot quite tell what is going on, information is missing, things are unclear. They may speak of inner doubt — indecision, anxiety, thoughts going round in circles — or of an unsettled outside situation: misunderstandings, contradictory information, plans that keep changing, someone who is not being clear.

They also speak of moods: a phase of mild sadness, of irritation, of emotional bad weather. As in the sky, it is something that passes, but while it lasts, it takes away visibility. That is why the Clouds call for caution: this is not the time to make big decisions or to sign without reading. It is the time to wait for the weather to clear, or to look for the missing information.

The card is more or less heavy depending on its neighbours. With bright cards beside it — the Sun, the Stars, the Clover —, the cloud is passing and clarity is on its way. With heavy cards, the confusion makes them worse. And there is the dark side: the cards that fall on that side are the ones most caught up in the doubt or the problem; those on the light side are the first to be resolved.

The Clouds in love

In love, the Clouds speak of doubts and misunderstandings: you cannot quite tell what the other person feels, there are mixed signals, a relationship that has not yet been defined, or a phase of bad moods and distance. For anyone who is single, they may point to someone who is not clear about their intentions, or to the indecision of the person asking.

The card does not say that the relationship is going badly; it says that clarity is lacking. The advice is to talk, to ask, not to jump to conclusions. Next to the Heart, it is a feeling that exists but is confused; next to the Snake or the Fox, it is wise to be wary of anyone who will not show their hand.

The Clouds at work and with money

At work, the Clouds indicate a phase of uncertainty: restructuring, confusing instructions, postponed decisions, an atmosphere in which no one quite knows what is going to happen. This is not the time to take big steps without information. They ask you to get everything clarified in writing and to wait before making changes.

With money, they call for care: unclear accounts, poorly explained offers, risky investments. With the Fish, money whose source or destination is unclear; with the Mice, losses through carelessness or lack of information. With the Sun, the situation becomes clear.

The Clouds in health and wellbeing

In questions of wellbeing, the Clouds speak of mental tiredness, of worry, of a phase of low energy or low spirits, and of doubts that are best cleared up with someone who knows. They call for rest and clarity. As always with the Lenormand, a reading shows tendencies and attitudes, and it is no substitute for any consultation or any medical care.

The Clouds as a person

When they describe someone, the Clouds are an indecisive, unsettled person of changeable moods, hard to read. There may be no ill intent — sometimes it is simply someone who does not know what they want either. Because of the king of clubs, some readers see in them a confused man, or one whose intentions are unclear. At best, it is a dreamy, imaginative person with their head in the clouds.

The Clouds as advice

As advice, the Clouds say: wait for the weather to clear. Do not decide in the middle of the confusion; look for the missing information, ask for clarification, sleep on it. And remember that bad weather passes — what seems dark now may be clear before long.

The timing of the Clouds

The Clouds are passing by nature, but they do not say when they will pass: the confusion lasts as long as information is lacking. In general, it is a matter of days or a few weeks. Next to the Sun or the Key, it clears quickly; next to the Mountain or the Anchor, the uncertainty drags on.

In the Grand Tableau: house 6

In the Grand Tableau — the spread in which all thirty-six cards are laid out in four rows —, the sixth position is the house of the Clouds. The card that falls there tells what is unclear in the life of the person asking, or where there is doubt and confusion. And the Clouds themselves, wherever they fall, bring uncertainty to the theme of that house — more to the cards on the dark side than to those on the light side.

Combinations with other cards

• Sun — The weather clears: the confusion lifts, the situation becomes clear.
• Key — The answer that dispels the doubt; the solution that appears.
• Heart — Confused feelings, doubts in love.
• Letter — An unclear message, a misunderstanding in writing.
• Birds — Rumours, muddled conversations, anxiety.
• Snake — A tangled situation; someone who causes confusion on purpose.
• Fox — A deception, a manoeuvre that is hard to see through.
• Rider — Confused news; a visitor whose intentions are unclear.
• House — Tension or uncertainty at home.
• Anchor — Uncertainty that drags on; persistent doubts.
• Clover — A little luck in the midst of confusion; a brief break in the clouds.
• Crossroads — Indecision in the face of several options; not knowing which way to go.