A Four-Path Attitudinal Guidance Spread
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m fond of spreads that diverge in opposite directions along several different paths to closure. This one is designed to aid the querent in deciding whether the matter at hand should be approached assertively (Wands/Fire); compassionately (Cups/Water); thoughtfully (Swords/Air) or pragmatically (Disks/Earth). It uses all 78 cards and can be read with reversals. It is more about setting the proper tone than arriving at a specific answer.
Remove the four Aces from the deck and lay them in a square as shown in the photograph, then deal the rest of the cards around those four in a uniform layout such that there is room for a five-card array radiating out horizontally and vertically from each Ace.
Next, beginning with the Ace of Wands, roll a single six-sided die for the purpose of achieving either an odd or even number of spots. If you roll odd, move out horizontally one card to the left of the Ace and turn that card face-up, and if you roll even, move over two cards and turn that one up; the actual number of spots doesn’t matter. (See the example spread below.)
Move on to the Ace of Swords and the Ace of Cups, working horizontally to the right in the same manner.
Proceed to the Ace of Disks and go to the left after the roll, turning up one card as described.
Return to the Ace of Wands, roll again, and move vertically upward either one or two cards from the first card revealed. Do the same with the Ace of Swords, moving vertically upward.
With the Ace of Cups and the Ace of Disks, roll again and then move vertically downward either one or two cards from the first card turned.
Go back to the Ace of Wands chain, roll the die, and then move horizontally either left or right depending on where there is more room for further expansion (and also to esacape colliding with the Swords array). Repeat this for the Ace of Swords, Ace of Cups and Ace of Disks, moving either one or two cards horizontally. You should now have three cards plus the Ace face-up in each series.
Back at the Ace of Wands, roll the die and move vertically upward one or two cards from the previous one according to the polarity of the roll. Then move to the Ace of Swords and do the same thing.
With the Ace of Cups and Ace of Disks, move vertically downward as long as that will leave room for the next roll; if not, move horizontally to the left or right as I did for the 2 of Swords/Lust transition. The objective is to avoid constriction and, as long as you observe the odd-or-even rule, the directional flow of the sequence isn’t particularly critical. Moves other than those shown are possible to keep it on the template, so follow your instincts and choose the pattern that works best from that perspective.
The fifth roll should move horizontally left or right if there is room to do so; otherwise, use the vertical axis. Close examination of the example reading will show where I chose to do that. The Ace of Wands and Ace of Swords series went pretty much according to plan, but the Ace of Cups and Ace of Disks chains ran out of sufficient room to precisely follow the intended pattern. I added the black lines to prevent confusion over where to turn next.
Below are the five-card elemental sequences laid out in rows for reading.
Looking at these cards, the Wands group started out elementally emboldened but ended on a conciliatory note. The Swords series — except for the “hollow spot” with the 2 of Disks in the center, suggests that the issue will succumb to intellectual intervention accompanied by a little “fire in the belly.” The Cups set with four Air cards at the end ultimately comes across as emotionally arid with no compassion to spare (it may be “all head and no heart” but it doesn’t have the energetic “cutting edge” of the Swords array), while the Disks series is waylaid by the dreary 7 of Disks (Failure) and the two bland Swords cards (elementally hostile to Disks) that have corralled Lust, rendering it impotent.
If I were to make a recommendation, I would be most comfortable proposing the “Swords” approach because it has its head in the game and its eye on the ball, as well as the energy to make it happen. The Wands row also has something to be said for it, but the last two cards suggest a solitary Candide tending his garden at the end of Voltaire’s novel. Cups can’t leverage its sympathetic feelings with all that Air, and Disks is pinned down by inertia.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 20, 2025.
