Lines, Circles and T-Squares: The Three-Card Reading
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Dreams have a way of bringing things to your attention that would have never crossed your mind. This one sharpened my view of the three-card spread.
A few days ago I dreamed I was having a conversation with a former subordinate (someone I haven’t supervised in over twenty years) about the nature of work. He was saying that employees like goals that are linear, or that move in a straight line from Point A to Point B; they are given a task and are expected to bring it to completion as effectively and efficiently as possible, following guidelines and using whatever native ingenuity they possess. I told him that it may be true for technological disciplines, but that a large percentage of production workers (at least in industries that haven’t succumbed to rampant automation) prefer not to think about it, and would rather have assignments that are circular (that is, reliably repetitive). Put raw material “A” in one end, push button “B” and collect product “C” from the other end. Push the button as many times as necessary to meet the quota, and don’t stop until the allotted material has been exhausted, the work order has been filled or the shift ends. Then start over with a new batch, perhaps during the next workday.
Then I began wondering where management stands in all of this. It strikes me that the role of the middle manager is to look at the scope of a new project that has been handed down, from the best-case situation (most productive and least resource-intensive) to the worst (just the opposite), and — with the help of production engineers — chart a course that arrives as close to the ideal outcome as possible given senior executive expectations. In geometric terms, this resembles a “t-square” with two lateral inputs feeding a single perpendicular output stream. The extent to which any trade-offs can be brought into relative harmony spells the team’s measure of success in meeting the aim of maximized profitability.
In tarot terms, the “line” pattern is represented by the three-card linear series, which is frequently expressed as a past-present-future reading from left-to-right, although other formats are occasionally used. The “circle” formula is embodied in the triangular array that follows the action-reaction-resolution (or thesis-antithesis-synthesis) premise in which the flow is less-rigidly-structured. Various square and elliptical layouts can also emulate the circle, but they begin to depart from the simplicity of the three-card pull.
That leaves the “t-square” model that, to my knowledge, is not captured in any traditional three-card spread design. The idea behind it would be to lay left and right “input” cards and then place a single card above or below their confluence as the “output” scenario. The two “feeder” cards would be read from the outside in (consider the more fortunate card to show the “best case” success path, with the other as the less-favorable outlook). Any significant imbalance in their nature would be integrated to the degree possible in the interpretation of the third card. It’s entirely possible that one of the three will dominate the spread and might be given special consideration. Another creative way would be to find the card that sits at the numerical midpoint between the two extremes by applying the table attached to my recent post titled “The Third Principle” and, rather than drawing a random third card, use that as the conclusion of the matter
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on February 2, 2024.
