Note: There are two versions of the Man in my deck - you are now looking at Man (b). The following interpretations apply to both. Only the paragraph >> about the image differs from the one of >> Man (a).
The Man, like the Woman, plays a special role in the Lenormand deck. He is (almost) exclusively used as the representative of a person: a man (or boy). Other than being male he carries no defining qualities - with the excecption I mention in the fourth paragraph.
The Man represents the male querent: When the querent is male, the Man represents the querent. Other male persons are then represented by other, "ordinary" cards (often used: Rider and Dog) - or, if you are reading with both versions of the Man, by the other Man. If the querent is female, see next two paragraphs.
The Man represents the querent's steady partner: If the querent is female, according to one very common approach the Man automatically represents her male partner (husband or steady boyfriend) or, if she is single, her love interest - even if the question asked did not refer to the partner or love interest. According to this approach other male persons, e.g. an affair, or a male friend, are then represented by other, "ordinary" cards (e.g. Rider, Dog). For an alternative approach, see next paragraph.
The Man represents the most relevant male person: I personally don't assign the Man strictly according to the method described above. For me the Man always represents the male person who is most relevant to the question asked. In many cases, who this most relevant man is will be immediately clear, especially when the question asked explicitly concerns a specific man, e.g. "How do I make my boyfriend happy?". In such cases, the Man definitely represents the male person named in the question. But if no man is named in the question I don't assign an identity to the Man automatically. Of course, people's partners usually do have a major influence on their lives. So in many cases the most relevant male person will indeed be the steady partner. But that is not necessarily the case! To find out who the most relevant male person in each individual case and context is I usually talk to the querent about the different possibilities, and I also check if the cards surrounding the Man give more clues about his identity. As I said, very often he will indeed be the husband (or life partner, fiancee, or steady boyfriend). But it is not at all uncommon that the male person who is most significant within the context of the question turns out to be some other man - e.g. the man the querent has a secret affair with, or a male relative (e.g. father, son, brother), a platonic friend, or a colleague at work, a man of whose existence the querent isn't aware of yet, or even her imagined "ideal" man which she can't let go of! Also, sometimes, the identity of the Man remains mysterious. And sometimes when a reading doesn't make sense no matter from which angle I approach the cards I suspect that this is because I have assigned the wrong identity to the Man, so of course the other cards make no sense.
Which qualities does the Man carry? The Man represents someone who is of the male gender. For many readers, including me, this is the only fixed attribute the card has: maleness. Whether the male person is young or old, happy or sad, honest or deceiving, in control or helpless, which hopes he has, what motivates him etc., is not fixed but has to be gleaned from his position in the spread and from the qualities the cards surrounding him indicate. However, even while insisting that maleness is his only defining attribute some readers still go a step further. They assign a number of additional qualities to the card which they believe are inherently male - or "masculine". I have, for example, seen people interpret the Man as assertive, rough, or rational, behaviour. But this is a view of gender which makes me uncomfortable. It implies very limiting and judgemental assumptions about what a "true" man is. It implies that a man who doesn't strongly broadcast these qualities but their opposites, for example a man who prefers to yield instead of asserting himself, is less of a man, is "feminine". And it implies that a woman who doesn't like to submit to others and prefers to assert herself is somehow less of a woman, masculine. But I think that when a man is gentle he is not a man with strong "feminine" tendencies; he is a gentle man. When a woman is dominant, this doesn't make her masculine - she is just a dominant woman. In short: I don't assign character qualities to the Man (nor the Woman) because I think character qualities cannot be divided along the line of gender.
The impact of male gender roles and stereotypes on the querent: As I wrote above I don't think that (seemingly) dichotomous qualities like assertiveness/gentleness or rationality/emotionality should be assigned to specific genders. However, this is what many, maybe most, people do. And these ideas about what is inherently male and female will also impact their behaviour greatly. It will influence how they see themselves, how they judge others, and it will impact the decisions they make for themselves and for others. So when the Man turns up in a reading for a male querent, the card might indicate that the querent's ideas of what a "real" man, a "proper" man is, influence the situation he is asking about. They could for example influence what options he thinks are available to him, or the ways he goes about achieving what he wants to achieve, or whether he allows himself to go for what he wants at all. And something similar applies to readings for female querents. Their ideas of what is male, or masculine, will influence how they judge the men in their lives, and it will influence which behaviour, which decisions, they allow themselves as women (e.g. "I must take care not to appear harsh!" or "No, I can't keep insisting on this - I'm supposed to be accommodating!"), and it will influence how they treat men (e.g. "Men are strong, tough creatures, I will just let him handle this strenuous task, he won't mind / will be able to handle it better than I!")
Other: In a few rare cases it has turned out quite productive to interpret the Man as situations or places were there's a majority of men (e.g. politics; military; football field etc.). But I usually only apply this meaning when it is strongly indicated by the context (e.g. the querent is looking for social connections) - or by surrounding cards. I might, for example, interpret the combination of Man + Ring as "men's association" or Man + Dog as "men's support group".
The Man by himself: My Man (b)
faces away from the viewer, into the card, as does Man (a). I chose this design because both Men represent no specific qualities other than that they are of the male gender. If I'd shown the Men's faces, I'd have had to give them specific facial expressions, specific ages, and races. Let's say I'd have chosen to make Man (b)
look Asian. But what if the man he is supposed to represent was Caucasian? What if I'd given him a quietly stern facial expression but man the querent was asking about was a very happy-go-lucky or highly agitated man? So I decided to paint Man (b)
from an angle which doesn't show his face. What you can say about him is that yes, here is someone who is almost certainly of the male gender because the clothes he wears strongly indicate it. Other than that, not much is fixed. There is no way of telling for certain whether he is young or old, happy or sad, what skin colour he has. He could be very slim underneath his flowing summer garments, but he could also be quite chubby or muscular. Thus I hope it is easy to project the specific characteristics of any man you know onto Man (b).
If you put yourself in the Man's shoes you will find that you are indoors, stepping up onto a stool - you are just about to fix part of a carved wooden frame to the window opening. It seems that you also were the person who built the already finished parts of the room surrounding you, for there are tools in a bag hanging from your belt, and spare nails, a file, and a couple more carved wooden ornaments, waiting to be put up, on the floor. Outside the window opening, a spring or early summer landscape lies in front of you, with blooming trees.
The reason for showing the Man in the process of building a room (possibly, a whole house) was because I wanted him to be busy with some constructive task. For life is an ongoing process in which we always, continually, do something. Even if it is sleeping, or sitting idly and daydreaming; everything that we do eventually becomes part of our history, becomes part of us. So I chose the handyman theme only partly because building (or improving) one's home is one of the most traditionally male tasks. It was more because by the room the Man is building around himself I could symbolically express that what he is doing is already in the process of becoming part of himself. To emphasise this I made his garment blue - the same blue as the blue of the walls. And the symbolism doesn't stop there. You've probably already noticed that the Man hasn't painted the walls with just any blue colour. He has actually painted his walls (and probably ceiling) with the blue of the sky! This is to express that the Man is actively creating a home for himself in the world - and of the world. And that is what we all do, as long as we live.
The Man (b) in relation to Woman (b): If you compare Man (b) and Woman (b) you will notice that I placed them in very similar locations. Apart from some minor differences it could even be the same, one, room. The most important reason for me to design the two cards in this way was that even in the cases when Man/Woman do not represent a couple they still always represent two people who are in some kind of a relationship, who share at least part of their respective realities.
When Man and Woman are facing away from each other it looks as if they shared adjoining rooms of the same house. They are both busy with their own task. Possibly, the Man is home improving not just for himself but for her, too, and the Woman might be spinning yarn not just for her own clothes but for his, too (after all, she is spinning blue yarn, like his clothes). But it could also be the case that they are working for their own benefits only. Very definitely, because they are facing away from each other it looks a bit as if - at least at the moment - they were very focused on their own task, and not communicating with each other.
When Man and Woman are facing each other it looks a lot like they are sharing the same room. They are both busy with their own tasks, but because they are facing each other it seems a bit more likely that the Man is building the room not just for himself but for her, too, and that the Woman is spinning her yarn not just for her own clothes but for his, too. And, again because they are facing each other, it looks a lot like they are in communication with each other - at least silently.
The Man (b) in relation to Man (a): One reason why my Lenormand deck contains two Men and two Women is so that same sex friends, relatives, or lovers, could do relationship readings in which both representative person cards conform with their genders. Since the two Men cards are supposed to represent two men who are in some kind of relationship I wanted the two images to relate in form and content, too.
If you look at Man (b) and Man (a) you will hopefully make the association that the grapes Man (a) has been collecting are intended for his friend or lover, as nourishment! And the warm room Man (b) is building will shelter Man (a) from the cold when he comes back from his work outside. This interlacing is to express that both Men fulfil an important role in their mutual relationship. Moreover, the Men's shared reality is also hinted at by the fact that the landscape Man (a) is walking through looks a lot like the landscape outside of the window of Man (b).
The Man (b) in relation to Woman (a): Another reason why my Lenormand deck contains two Men and two Women is so that there is the possibility to pair Man and Woman cards in which Man and Woman face in the same direction. Some readers are used to (or prefer) this option. Again, since these different pairings would also represent two people who are in some kind of relationship I wanted the two images to relate in form and content, too.
If you look at Man (b) and Woman (a) you will hopefully make the association that the apples Woman (a) has been collecting are intended for her friend or lover, as nourishment! And the warm room Man (b) is building will shelter Woman (a) from the cold when she has finished her work outside. This interlacing is to express that both people fulfil an important role in their mutual relationship. Moreover, their shared reality is also hinted at by the fact that the landscape Woman (a) is walking through is the same as the landscape outside of the window of Man (b). And finally, I gave each of them blue clothes and a a blue frame and title - this should make it even easier to pair them together.
