A yes/no method
Posted: 18 Sep 2018, 19:40
Ahh, yes or no questions. The bane of our existence! I came up with a new method on the fly a couple of weeks ago or so and I like it so far, so I thought I'd release it into the wild. I might end up doing a few swaps with this one, to practice more myself.
First of all, I'd like to credit Jack of Wands and his Aristotlean shadow work spread, which is here, and on which this is heavily based:
https://jackofwandstarot.wordpress.com/ ... ot-spread/
My take on it as such:
1. Formulate your question (Duh!) and take a moment to consider if it falls in the broad category of fire, water, air, or earth. If it's complicated or you're not sure, I would do something like Case's First Operation to have a firmer grasp on what element of your life is really in play here, though IME this method works fine if something feels like a genuine combination of two.
2. Follow the method outlined in the blog post above: deal the cards into four different piles. I like to have them in a circle so the association with cardinal directions is a little easier to manage. Clockwise from top I go North/earth, East/air, South/fire, West/water, but whatever system you prefer. If any pile has a card of the same element (unlike Jack's spread, in this one I also allow for a dignified element, so if a Cups card lands in the North pile, that counts) it receives no more cards. Otherwise continue dealing until each pile has a matching/well-dignified card or until you run out of cards.
3. When piles have an immediate or almost immediate match, it's a "yes." (Obviously, if you're split between two elements, you'll just look at two piles instead of one.) The more cards you have, especially if they're poorly dignified, the more likely it's "no." I haven't found a good cut-off number yet in this regard but I get an iffy feeling with any more than three, and more than five is generally my "no", but I always read with just about a quarter(ish) of the deck when I do this, since I pair it with a First Operation; maybe the cut off should be different if using the whole deck? You can consider the cards in the relevant piles as a sort of reading in and of itself; depending on how many you have you might want to shuffle them and lay out a small spread.
I like this better than a simple three-card draw (reversed = no, upright = yes) because it's a *process* rather than a spread, and I've come to like Tarot *processes*. Take it out for a spin and let me know what you make of it!
First of all, I'd like to credit Jack of Wands and his Aristotlean shadow work spread, which is here, and on which this is heavily based:
https://jackofwandstarot.wordpress.com/ ... ot-spread/
My take on it as such:
1. Formulate your question (Duh!) and take a moment to consider if it falls in the broad category of fire, water, air, or earth. If it's complicated or you're not sure, I would do something like Case's First Operation to have a firmer grasp on what element of your life is really in play here, though IME this method works fine if something feels like a genuine combination of two.
2. Follow the method outlined in the blog post above: deal the cards into four different piles. I like to have them in a circle so the association with cardinal directions is a little easier to manage. Clockwise from top I go North/earth, East/air, South/fire, West/water, but whatever system you prefer. If any pile has a card of the same element (unlike Jack's spread, in this one I also allow for a dignified element, so if a Cups card lands in the North pile, that counts) it receives no more cards. Otherwise continue dealing until each pile has a matching/well-dignified card or until you run out of cards.
3. When piles have an immediate or almost immediate match, it's a "yes." (Obviously, if you're split between two elements, you'll just look at two piles instead of one.) The more cards you have, especially if they're poorly dignified, the more likely it's "no." I haven't found a good cut-off number yet in this regard but I get an iffy feeling with any more than three, and more than five is generally my "no", but I always read with just about a quarter(ish) of the deck when I do this, since I pair it with a First Operation; maybe the cut off should be different if using the whole deck? You can consider the cards in the relevant piles as a sort of reading in and of itself; depending on how many you have you might want to shuffle them and lay out a small spread.
I like this better than a simple three-card draw (reversed = no, upright = yes) because it's a *process* rather than a spread, and I've come to like Tarot *processes*. Take it out for a spin and let me know what you make of it!