The Elemental Divide: A “Temporal Shift” Decision-Making Spread

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here is another spread that employs four randomly-selected “elemental” cards to offer guidance in making a well-informed decision. The card that presents the most favorable alignment with the central “Focus” (aka “Decision”) card, as determined by elemental alignment and/or cooperative polarity, number, rank and inherent nature, becomes the preferred incentive for driving the choice. The pair is then read as a template for taking the best possible action in the matter. (See the example reading immediately below.)

Here is a personal example reading reflecting my first use of the spread. The decision involves a tooth that will eventually have to be pulled due to a growing cavity that will slowly encroach on the nerve and may compromise adjacent teeth as well. Because it has already been filled to the extent possible, the question is not whether it must be pulled (it’s only a matter of time) but whether to have it reconstructed afterward with extensive oral surgery and an implant, or whether to just leave a gap there and forget about it (the downside of which is that the surrounding teeth and the one above may shift and give me “bite” trouble). I didn’t purposely choose the “Focus” card, just let the draw provide it.

The Queen of Wands as the “Decision” card is not going to waffle too long on acting once the verdict is in. If something needs to be done, she will be the one to do it.

The four randomly-drawn elemental cards were an interesting lot, not only because they are awash in feminine energy. (As an aside, my wife is strongly in favor of reconstruction.)

The Princess of Wands in the “Fire” position is obviously the most attuned to the Queen of Wands by a combination of element, nominal rank (as a court card) and inherent nature; she seems to advise returning the tooth to its previous state of soundness through prompt and vigorous action (with the understanding that further filling isn’t an option). I’m reading this as saying to go for the reconstruction. The flaming image even looks a bit like a healthy tooth (or maybe a “fang” is more precise).

Although this card had nearly ten more beneath it before it turned up, I grabbed the first two underlying cards to create a three-card “story” describing the nature of its contribution to the decision, which I will explain in the second half of the reading.

The Queen of Swords in the “Air” position is also aligned with the Queen of Wands by both rank and elemental friendliness, but her function is mainly to say “You know what has to be done, just get on with it!” Although she is well-favored, she doesn’t have the same “inside track” as the Princess of Wands. Her involvement is advisory and not instrumental to the decision-making.

The Empress in the “Earth” position clearly lobbies for maintaining the status quo as long as possible, but once she is finally pushed into it she would want the reconstruction done primarily to preserve appearances. No gap-toothed grins for her! (I should note, though, that this isn’t a front tooth but a mid-range molar; the dentist said “Just grow your mustache longer” to hide the hole.) As a feminine archetype she is attuned to the Queen of Wands by nature and by elemental compatibility of the “neutral and supportive” kind (I view this expression of Venus as relating to “Earth,” not “Air”); the Queen is likely to do whatever she says (while almost certainly complaining about it) but the Empress will stand on the sidelines and let the Queen reach her own conclusions. I also note that the Empress is gazing calmly toward the two Queens and the Princess, implying her tacit approval.

The Chariot as an avatar of Cancer in the “Water” position is also fundamentally a status-quo kind of guy, although he would grudgingly endorse moving toward reconstruction if it is certain to be successful. But — although his esoteric keynotes are passive and feminine Cancer and the Moon- his element is hostile to the Queen’s Fire and he is a male archetype so he is laboring under a disadvantage in getting her attention. Alejandro Jodorowsky observes somewhat fancifully that the Charioteer is not mobile of his own accord but is anchored in the Earth and only advances by virtue of its celestial rotation (in other words, he is more ponderous than nimble).

Since the overall recommendation clearly leans toward having surgical reconstitution done, I examined the two cards immediately beneath the Princess of Wands to obtain additional insights on her perspective. Two Earth cards appeared in series here, the Prince of Disks and the 4 of Disks, both of which are in elemental agreement as “neutral and supportive” to the Fire of the Princess. These cards bring practical acumen to the table. The 4 of Disks stabilizes the Prince of Disks and together they establish a solid, capable and pragmatic foundation for the proposed reconstruction (all it will take is money). Teamed with the Princess of Wands they tell an encouraging tale.

Commentary: When I do this again, I will pick the “Focus” card intentionally to signify the nature of the decision; here I should probably have used the Sola Busca 3 of Wands, which looks like an abscessed tooth and a migraine headache rolled into one. But the Queen of Wands works well enough since her trademark irritability will ultimately translate into a royal pain in the ass, as perfectly symbolized by a raging toothache.

I also recognized belatedly that any card chosen or pulled to reflect the “Focus” will have two automatic “friends,” one “neutral and supportive” complement, and one “enemy” among the four elemental modes, essentially preloading a possible favorite or two when they are drawn; only cards of a substantially antithetical nature could defeat this potential; an example of such antipathy might be the 2 of Wands (Dominion, free of the “lust of result”) and the 10 of Wands (Oppression, consumed by said lust). When intentionally selecting the card, I will have to be mindful of doing so based entirely on its overall suitability as a symbol of the “decision” scenario and not just on its elemental character or qualities.

I must always ensure that I assign sufficient weight to factors other than elemental alignment. Here the two cards representing “Past Emphasis” are the highest-ranking cards in the spread but their relatively benign nature did not marshal enough horsepower between them to outshine the teamwork of the Queen and Princess of Wands. If I listened only to the Empress and the Chariot, I would probably defer acting on the reconstruction and just live with the hole in my gum. The cards on the “Future Emphasis” side are much more dynamic and convincing, which is why I reached the conclusion I did.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on March 23, 2023.