The “PITA” Spread
AUTHOR’S NOTE: (Hint: It’s not hummus.) Acronyms are an economical convenience. As verbal shorthand, they can go straight for the jugular without mincing words. Take one of my current favorites among those in modern usage (or at least those that are suitable for polite company): “PITA,” or “Pain in the Ass” (in earlier times often preceded by “royal”). I’ve added it to my personal dictionary of colloquialisms, joining my more vulgar military expressions, SNAFU and FUBAR.
This problem-solving spread proposes that we pick the card that best describes a current “PITA” and place it at the center of a four-armed cross, each arm of which is intended to show a potential way out of the dilemma. The satellite positions are then populated with cards that depict a reasonable approximation of each possible solution. (Reversals can be used with this spread in both “base” card selection and during the shuffle.)
Here are suggested meanings for the four outer positions:
Top Position — The Way of Honor (grin and bear it as cheerfully as possible)
Bottom Position: The Machiavellian Way (in other words, “dissemble and connive”)
Left Position: The “Left-Hand Path” (show no mercy)
Right Position: The “Right-Hand Path” (don’t overreact; tolerate the situation but offer no further encouragement)
Next, choose a card from a second deck to serve as the Significator or “pointer” and leave it in the pack, which is shuffled and dealt face-up, in random order, onto the four “base” cards until the Significator turns up, revealing the recommended path to a successful outcome. One or two of the cards that come before and after the Significator can be formed into a three-card or five-card narrative with the Significator at the center. If the Significator sits at the very top or bottom of the sub-pack, just go with what you get; in that case, the querent will be either the instigator of a chain of events or the recipient/victim.
By way of hypothetical example, suppose my dear sister has come for a “short” visit and is still with me after a month, shamelessly mooching off me and showing no sign of leaving any time soon. I’ve picked the RWS 6 of Cups reversed from the Albano-Waite deck as the “PITA” card. For the “base” card in the top position, I’m using the RWS 6 of Pentacles (aka the “Energizer Benefactor;” it keeps “giving and giving”); for the bottom position it’s the RWS 7 of Swords (I know a guy who got rid of his unwelcome, overstaying brother by telling him that the lease didn’t allow more than two people in the residence, which wasn’t true); for the left position I’ve selected the RWS 5 of Swords (in other words, “Don’t let the screen door hit ya . . .); and for the right position I’ve chosen the RWS 4 of Pentacles (just stay calm, tighten my purse-strings and wait it out). This is what the pattern looked like before the pull.
Albano-Waite Tarot, copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT
I picked the Queen of Wands from the Radiant RWS to represent my sister. The draw was fascinating; the Queen of Wands came up reversed in the “Machiavellian Way” position, with the 7 of Swords as the “base” card suggesting that I should use cleverness and perhaps deception in order to unload her. The series of cards was the 5 of Pentacles, the World reversed, the Queen of Wands reversed, the 10 of Pentacles reversed and the 4 of Pentacles. The “story” here is that I should strive to shrewdly nudge her out of her “comfort zone” by crying poor (5 of Pentacles and World reversed) and withholding support (4 of Pentacles; maybe I should lock the refrigerator) in order to squeeze her out the door (10 of Pentacles reversed) while avoiding a hostile confrontation (Queen of Wands reversed). Ain’t tarot wonderful?
Radiant RWS Tarot, copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 12, 2022.
