The Snake (Lenormand): meaning, combinations and spreads

Introducing the card

The Snake is the seventh card of the Petit Lenormand. The picture shows a snake, often long and wavy, sometimes raised; it is occasionally drawn on a dark ground or in grass. In older editions it is more decorative than threatening. It is nonetheless one of the cards beginners fear, rightly or wrongly: everything depends on what one puts into it.

The snake is an ambivalent figure in many cultures: the tempter in the Genesis story, the emblem of medicine in ancient Greece (the staff of Asclepius), a symbol of renewal because it sheds its skin, or the circle of eternal return in the ouroboros. The Lenormand card keeps mainly the cautious, winding face of this image.

Traditional meaning: a path that does not run straight

English-language glossaries associate the Snake with: betrayal, deception, lies and distrust. More recent authors add desire, seduction and forbidden knowledge. Between these two poles lies a common idea: an indirect course, a complication.

• A complicated situation: endless formalities, detours, misunderstandings that pile up.
• Caution to observe: rereading a contract, checking a piece of information.
• Desire: a strong pull, temptation, longing.
• Cunning intelligence: the art of going around, of slipping through.

This card accuses no one. It is an invitation to look at what, in a situation, is not frankly said or does not move in a straight line. It may concern your own detours as much as those of others.

When the Snake stands for a person

In traditional reading, the Snake is often read as a person: a woman, by correspondence with the Queen of Clubs, sometimes a rival. This reading is inherited from an old, strongly gendered cartomancy, which many modern readers set aside or qualify. Today, one more readily reads "someone skilful and reserved" than "an enemy".

For the sake of honesty, our advice is this: never describe a real person as deceptive on the basis of a card. A card does not replace a conversation.

In everyday life, work and relationships

• Daily life: a journey that gets longer, a labyrinthine administration.
• Work: a convoluted file, unspoken matters, internal politics.
• Relationships: a subject that is being avoided, a flirtation, jealousy, a conversation held in half-tones.
• Inner life: the urge pulling one way, reason pulling the other.

The Snake invites you to ask frank questions, to clarify, and not to sign anything you do not understand.

Common combinations

The meaning of the Snake changes a great deal with its neighbours: next to the Sun, it loses almost all of its dark side.

An example of a three-card reading

Question: "Why is this project dragging on?" Spread: Snake – Book – Key. Possible reading: the complication (the Snake) comes from information that is not yet known (the Book), and the solution lies in a key, that is, an element of understanding to be found. In practical terms: ask for clarification, reread a document, put the question to the right person.

The same sequence, read more pessimistically, would speak of a secret poorly kept. These readings are working hypotheses, not truths.

Playing card and link with the tarot

In the classic convention, the Snake is the Queen of Clubs.

The tarot has no snake arcanum, but the motif appears: in many tarots derived from the Rider-Waite, the Magician wears at his waist a snake biting its own tail (ouroboros). One may also compare the Snake's cunning with the Magician's sleight of hand. These are only analogies: the tarot tells an inner journey, the Lenormand describes a situation.

An exercise for reflection

Note down a situation that seems complicated to you and draw it as a path. Where is the detour? Who decided it? Then draw the Snake and observe whether your answers agree. Continue with the Coffin.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to the Lenormand oracle.