The “Inner Question” Spread: Darkness at the Center
“When the day goes to sleep and the full moon looks/ The night is so black that the darkness cooks” - from The Green Manalishi by Peter Green
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In my ongoing study of I Ching divination (a lifetime pursuit similar to astrology and tarot but much more scholarly), I discovered the premise that the “bright” trigram Li (Fire) has “a darkness at its center,” a hollowness (more optimistically we might say a stillness) expressed by a passive yin line sandwiched between two active yang lines. I decided to enlist this concept in developing a three-card tarot spread that I see as a good exercise for testing our intuition.
In this spread, the center card remains face-down until we make a stab at intuitively assessing what its advice might be for progressing from “Point A” (the left-hand card) to “Point C” (its right-hand counterpart). The closer we hit the mark, the more valid we can assume the reading to be. We can still work with a non-intuitive result but it it might take more effort to navigate the “turning point” in the matter. Reversals can be used with this spread.
Begin by shuffling the deck while concentrating on the question or topic. Then deal a card to the left face-up, a card in the center face-down and a third card to the right face-up. The first card is intended to describe the present situation, or “Where It Stands Now,” while the third card implies “What It Will Become” in the future. The middle card, once revealed, will ideally convey “What It Will Take” to get there; note that this hidden card may show collateral developments with their own trajectory rather than direct intervention by the querent, who may just be “along for the ride” unless motivated to act.
First consider the nature of the two “bookend” cards, then make an attempt to intuitively surmise what the face-down card in the center might portend for reaching the projected outcome. If we “choose wisely” in a Raiders of the Lost Ark sense, we will have some confidence that the conclusion will play out as predicted (but not necessarily that it will be favorable for our purpose).
Here is the layout followed by an example reading:
Regarding the topic of the reading, I’ve had it on my mind for some time that a matter of interest will soon come to a head so I pulled a three-card line as described above to examine the possibility. All three cards appeared in a reversed orientation, which at best suggests deferral and, at worst, denial. Considering the path that circumstances have taken to date, I opted to go with deferral. As the present situation, the 4 of Cups (Luxury) reversed is an unsympathetic card that implies emotional bounty being “withheld;” fair enough, that pretty much sums it up. The 7 of Swords (Futility) as the future likelihood conveys frustration of my intent, not an encouraging outlook to say the least. However, it is possible to consider the reversals as taking some of the urgency out of the scenario (also a reasonable assumption in this case).
I made an intuitive guess about what might intervene to generate this “before-and-after” tableau. I figured that there would have to be a “full stop” of some kind to yield such an austere result. I was thinking it may come down to an individual who will stand in the way, so my impression was that a court card could represent this potential obstruction. The revealed “mystery card” is shown below:
The implication here is that “Discretion is the better part of valor,” although it will leave the matter in an uneasy state of mental abrogation. A more optimistic interpretation would be “Live to fight another day,” which would align more closely with my assumption of “deferral” rather than outright “denial” of emotional fulfillment. In any event, there is a “stillness at its heart” that must be acknowledged.
As has been my habit, I performed a numerical “synthesis” of the cards in the spread (similar to the “quintessence” calculation in a four-card reading) by summing the face values of the series to come up with a “big picture” or “long-range” perspective on the situation; this always produces a trump card. I’ve adopted two ways to perform this step: one is to treat all of the cards as positive numbers and just add everything up, reducing as necessary to a number within the range of the 22 Major Arcana; the other is to handle any reversed cards as negative numbers and subtract them from the total, which can yield a reversed “quint” card and also generate zero (the Fool).
Since all of the cards in the pull were reversed, I came up with Temperance upright in the first case and Temperance reversed in the second. I consider Temperance to be a card of exquisite finesse by which a judicious application of force (neither too much nor too little) must be brought to bear to maintain equanimity; a friend of mine suggests that it means “walking a fine line.” In keeping with the idea of “deferred satisfaction,” I’m taking the reversed interpretation in this instance to show the wisdom of abeyance for the immediate future. Matters should progress in due time despite lack of “instant gratification.”
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on July 30, 2024.
