I’ve been reading Lenormand for a while now and see it differently.
Most traditional decks do have 36 cards, but single-card pulls work fine for me. They’re like getting the day’s theme in one concentrated symbol. Sure, combinations give you more to work with, but one card can say plenty on its own. I’m also someone who uses intuition with Lenormand.
Yes, there are traditional meanings, but I let my gut guide how those apply to each situation. Makes for more meaningful readings. The book meanings give you structure, intuition makes it personal. As for spreads, Lenormand has them, they’re just not like Tarot spreads. Your 3x3 practice is a spread. So is the Grand Tableau, or even a simple 3-card line.
We just read them differently, looking at how cards relate to each other instead of what position they’re in. Grand Tableau is something to try eventually. It shows you everything at once. But for daily readings, I usually stick with smaller layouts anyway.