The opening practice
The question/topic can ground the reading and the conversation in a particular context. It can also help to form an intimate space where you can open up – expose and be exposed.
While shuffling the cards, the reader will ask the person receiving the reading if there is anything that troubles them at the moment, a question that weighs on them, an unresolved matter that they wish to
contemplate with the help of the cards. We advise to not let the choice of question stump you; instead, allow the initial intuition of the person receiving the reading to present the subject. This adds to the confidence and honesty of the reading.
Wording the issue in the form of a question can be beneficial, but is not required. We recommend allowing the person receiving the reading to choose the type and level of exposure they feel comfortable with, and to suggest the topic of conversation in broad strokes, or to share only the background to their conundrum or the dilemma they are facing. Do not get carried away by the background story; try to see beyond it, to see the principles that stand at its core. Let the cards guide the conversation in the direction they suggest. For the cards are not here to tell us what to do, rather they are intended to free the mind to think about things in a broader context, uncover hidden connections, and produce meanings that were not immediate or obvious.
First step: the question
There are different types of spreads. The meaning each card provokes changes according to its placement in the spread, allowing us to formulate a more elaborate and complex picture, which will get clearer and clearer as the reading progresses.
We will start with a Diamond Spread (four cards). After shuffling and asking the question, we will arrange the cards and present what each card chosen represents within the spread’s
format.
First card we chose is the
“topic” card. It can help us open an interpretive view of the question/topic itself, as if apart from the person who presented it.
The next two cards belong to the person receiving the reading:
Second card is the “thesis” (support) card, and refers to the positive aspects of the reader regarding the topic.
Third card is the “antithesis” (reversed or blocking) card, and refers to the negative aspects of the reader regarding the topic.
* It is important to stress that there are no good or bad cards. They are interpreted based on their placement in the spread and the individual content of the query. (It is worth remembering that our “negative” interpretations tend to point at our relations with our strengths).
Fourth card is the “synthesis” card, the perspective through which the person and the topic they wished to contemplate reconnect.
Step two: the opening
We will arrange the cards in this way:
Each card works on three levels:
The visual (“the activating image”), intuitive, iconographic level. An associative space that wishes to align through symbols and archetypes.
The conceptual (“the open-ended word”). An expanding space of concepts and definitions that wishes to open and spark your thoughts on the subject. Do not hesitate to (re)think the concepts yourself when you are looking at the cards. Do not hesitate to allow your own personal interpretation to meet the concrete contents the cards offer.
The contextual (“the ever-forming content”), relative, narrative level. The encounter between image and concept, the card’s number and suit, the perspective formed in relation to the subject of the question, the relation between the different cards and their placement in the spread, as well as the significance that emerges from the understanding of the deck of cards as a whole.
Third step: the reading
These three levels already allow us to start working. It is important to remember that it is perfectly fine to not know or understand everything completely and immediately, as we sometimes expect. One can and should linger in the indefinite. One can and should read again, stop, read in parts, feel one’s thoughts, try to understand and interpret together, through the conversation. Try to connect to the rhythm of thought.
We recommend practicing, trusting and relying on our intuitions and thoughts and giving them expression in the conversation. Enjoy thought’s freedom to play, even without knowing or fully and completely understanding, enjoy the hospitality of thought.
Each card has a short poetic-philosophical text in the booklet (and on the website). The content of the card is intended to allow for contemplation, more than interpretation, in order to move forward. To absorb the thought that has been raised and return to the topic of our spread equipped with new concepts, observations, and insights.
The more spreads we read through, the more elaborate and profound our readings will become. Our familiarity and knowledge of the cards will build and grow, and we will be able to move from card to card more effortlessly, link content to story, and develop ideas and concepts that are relevant to our life.
