Why Lenormand is Like Esperanto

Hi, guys. I’m a day late, and I am so sorry. Yesterday I felt something gnawing on the back of my brain, something I was forgetting, but I was so busy, and I just couldn’t remember…I’ve been so incredibly busy with work that I literally haven’t done anything else. I mean, literally. Oh, I wrote 181 words one Wednesday in January only because my fellow Turtleduckers forced me to. (And it was GLORIOUS). But that’s it. Anyway, I was washing dishes today when it hit me like a lightning strike: I’d forgotten to blog here. AGAIN. <facepalm> So…life has changed a bit since we last “talked.” I’ve started learning Lenormand, which is similar to Tarot, and it’s been really interesting. And challenging. And frankly a bit frustrating. I guess it stems from knowing Tarot so well, and it being like an extension of myself that I literally don’t remember my struggles with it — it’s been years, folks. I mean, I started learning when I was sixteen, almost thirty years ago. And then in my twenties I continued on several non-standard decks, a big no-no, as there are no pictures to help make associations with the meanings, and I honestly don’t know how I managed that, as there weren’t the zillion Tarot groups or Facebook groups there are now, or websites that teach you meanings. It’s actually quite amazing. Anyway, Lenormand’s imagery is very simple, but its method of reading is more complex because you’re combining cards and meanings to…

Continue reading

The Language Geek Gets Her Latin On

Yep. I’ve added another language. Backing up a bit, I started with Esperanto again, and I am really enjoying it. Getting pretty far on the Duolingo tree. It’s awesome. Many years ago, back when I was constructing a language for one of my novels, Requiem in Blue, I studied Latin a bit as a jumping off point. The language, by the way, is called Reka (R-ee-kah). I still want to get back to it someday. So I’ve always wanted to learn Latin. But Duo didn’t have it…until very recently. So I jumped aboard that train. The trip so far has been really interesting. And a bit challenging. I’m not sure if I’ve reached my limit on learning languages simultaneously, or maybe it’s because I can’t study it every day like I used to because job and life, but it hasn’t been easy. And that’s a bit disconcerting. I mean…I used to be able to pick languages up so easily. French was easy, and Esperanto, for the most part—so far, anyway. Here are some thoughts: 1 The lack of pronouns is just plain weirding me out. Yeah. You can actually drop the pronoun and still have a comprehensible sentence. It’s wild. I always want to add the pronoun because that’s what I am used to. And I’m an editor and a stickler for proper grammar so…yeah. Cue the nervous twitches. 2 The sentence order freaks me out, too. So you can say something like “Erin my name is” and, you guessed…

Continue reading