The “End Game” Spread (aka “Life’s Big Questions”)

Few tarot readers will attempt to answer “Life’s Big Questions.” Either they’re spooked by the possible outcome or they feel it’s unethical to delve into such matters. I don’t think any of us would say to a client “This is the Death card. Better update your will.” It reminds me of the old, faintly vulgar joke about two prospectors who are trudging across a desert when one of them is bitten in the groin by a rattlesnake. The bitten one says to the other “Get back to town real quick and ask the doctor what we should do.” The second prospector hurries back to the doctor, who tells him “You have to make an incision between the two bite marks and suck out the poison with your mouth.” He returns to the anxious victim, who blurts out “What did the doctor say?” He replies “Doc says you’re gonna die!”

One such profound question might be “Is there life after death?” Some of you may remember the Monty Python sketch in which they had four “noted authorities” on the subject sprawled out in chairs on a stage, most definitely dead. The narrator says “I put it to the panel: “Is there life after death?” After a meaningful interval of silence in which none of them moves, the voice-over returns with “There you have it, four No’s.”

But we could just as readily ask “Will I be happy in this marriage?” I decided to approach such questions from four different angles, Spiritual, Mystical, Intuitive and Pragmatic, with a final “quintessence” or summary card to give a broader perspective on the answer. This spread requires only the 22 Major Arcana cards and I recommend not using reversals. I don’t have time to do it right now, but tomorrow I will post an example reading.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 8, 2022.