Share a Spread Sunday - Autumn Equinox Spread

For this week's Share a Spread Sunday, I decided to do a general spread covering the period of Autumn Equinox (23 September) to Samhain (31 October). I thought it would be fun to try an idea from Deck of 1000 Spreads called 'divining a spread'. In this technique, you take the cards in Deck of 1000 Spreads (which are a kind of spreadcrafting marker) and instead of going through the deck and selecting card positions, you shuffle the deck as if it were a tarot deck and draw cards and see what you come up with. I decided to choose 7 cards, then just shuffled while asking myself, 'What do I need to know about, examine, work on in the weeks from Autumn Equinox to Samhain?' I then cut the deck and laid out the following seven cards:  

You'll notice there are 8 cards. That's because while I was shuffling, one card went flying across the room and fluttered to the floor face down. I laid out my seven cards then went over and picked this one up. It was actually perfect for the outcome or final position. So there it is. 

The spread positions are:

1. Problem - The topic or issue to be addressed. 

2. Unconscious desires - Your 'unknown intentions' about the topic. I take this to mean things you haven't fully admitted to yourself or allowed yourself to see. 

3. What you can't change - These are things you are going to have to learn to deal with; they are outside your sphere of influence. 

4. Present - 'What's going on now in regard to your question.' 

5. Hopes and fears - These are most likely things you are aware of. 

6. Future life - Now this position is interesting, because it does not address the immediate future, but rather 'something relevant to a future lifetime, based on what's left unaddressed in this one.' 

7. Mind - Either your current mindset, or how something affects your mental well-being. 

8. Lesson - 'The karmic teaching you're meant to receive from the situation.' 

I rather like the outcome of my first attempt at 'divining a spread.' 

Examining influences

Deck of 1000 Spreads with Prairie Tarot

This morning I decided to take a closer look at something that has been bothering me a lot lately, diet and fitness. I've ended up with a monster of  a spread, which is a side-effect of using the Deck of 1000 Spreads tool--but it was fun putting this thing together.

Top row
1. Problem   2. Health   3. Conscious Desires   4. You

Middle
Negative Influences from
5. Partner (what you can't change)  6. Partner (what you can change)
7. Co-Workers (what you can't change)  8. Co-workers (what you can change)
9. Friends and family (what you can't change)  10. Friends and family (what you can change)

Positive Influences from
11. Partner
12. Co-workers
13. Friends and family

Right side
14. Success
15. Outcome

Summary: The Columns

Summary
Looking at the columns of the spread gives an interesting summary. Overall, the spread suggests that this is a time in my life where I have potential (Sun), but also a lot of confusion and uncertainty (Moon). A certain ruthlessness is required (sword cards), but I am making progress, as I am leaving behind certain patterns of behaviour that no longer serve me. Or at least, I should leave them behind. Things like...complacency, self-defeating habits, defensiveness, and giving up of control of my own life. It seems clear from this spread that the onus is upon me to take care of my own little internal scabs...but it's also important that I accept as genuine any compliments or positive feedback I receive from outside sources, particularly in relation to my talents (though not necessarily in relation to financial decisions!).

The advice offered here is peculiar, but not unsuited to my personality. It's not telling me to change my basic nature, but I think to use those qualities to their fullest potential to effect change. I am told to carry on with my solitary explorations, be both logical and skeptical, and to be wary of instances where there might be some sort of attack or challenge. I think the final column is telling me more to wake up and use the skills I have than to turn over some big new leave into uncharted territory.

I think maybe I can do that. :)

Line Four: Finances

Line Four Finances
Heart of the Situation - Seven of Swords Rx
What to Leave in the Past - Strength Rx
Others - Two of Cups Rx
Advice - Five of Wands

Now on this line, curiously, there was a clump of cards in my deck that had somehow become reversed, even though I hadn't purposely shuffled to get them. So, I left them reversed. Three of four cards reversed, wow.

The Heart of the Situation is Seven of Swords reversed. Now, the Golden Dawn title of Seven of Swords is 'Unstable Effort', and the description of the card is 'partial success, yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserve of strength were used up Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining through not continuing the effort.' (Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot). The card being reversed suggests that my recent efforts in shifting my savings around to find a better interest rate have not been wasted efforts. I've done something instead of not doing anything. I believe having a reversed card here rather than one that might have a similar meaning in an upright position helps to underline that this is a new sort of behaviour for me. I assertive in some things (really!) but terribly passive in others. In this case, what for many would seem a routine and simple action, for me really was like uprooting myself, turning my usual behaviour upside down.

Line Three: Career

Line Three Career
Heart of the Situation - The Moon
What to Leave in the Past - Seven of Wands
Others - Fool
Advice - Prince of Cups

This line of cards perplexes me. I suppose that is not a surprise, as the heart of my career situation is The Moon, a card of confusion and hidden currents. I'm up in the air (or under the sea, maybe?) about my career. There seems to be no future in my current work. I really have no idea what to do, what I want to do, or what I should do.

I would like to leave in the past all the struggle and strife represented in the Seven of Wands, for sure. This is a card, among other things, of being always on the defensive, of standing up for oneself, dealing with bullies, drawing on our own inner resources. I don't think there is a job where you feel no stress or pressures of some kind, though. Unless I win the lottery, the Seven of Wands is going to be a part of my life. I don't see how I can leave it behind entirely. (And in fact, if I were to win the lottery, it would probably become an even bigger part of my life!)  It's also the card of proving oneself, striving to achieve and have those achievements recognized. That's something we can't really get away from in the world of work. Perhaps it's suggesting leaving behind defensiveness about my choices...or lack of them.

Line Two: Hobbies and Talents

Line Two Hobbies and Talents
Heart of the Situation - The Sun
What to Leave in the Past - Seven of Cups
Others - Judgement
Advice - Four of Cups

The Hobbies and Talents card in the Deck of 1000 Spreads says, 'Addresses the current state of your creative energies. When not used as the topic of the spread, it can advise on creative endeavors.' So this is the 'Creative Energies' card.

So according to this draw, where do my creative energies lie? The Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot book gives an interesting perspective on the Sun card, which in fortune-telling/divination is often taken to be the 'everything is just peachy' card. The Sun is the first path of the Astral Triangle (the Personality Triad), a path which leads from Yesod, the Astral foundation of material forms, to Hod, the seat of intellect. 'Thus on this path, the initiate begins to perceive the Higher factors which have formed his/her own personality.' This makes me think of the sort of work I do with tarot and oracles in order to help people. I try to help them see the bigger picture of their lives so that they can gain clarity. I suppose that is a version of 'perceiving the Higher factors which have formed personality.'  This is not an interpretation of The Sun card I've ever known of or considered before. My talents lie in making intuitive connections. Or, if you will, shedding light on situations. Wow, that's cool. I wonder what other talents this Sun card might point to.

Line One: Spirit

Line One Spirit
Heart of the Situation-Princess of Swords
What to Leave in the Past - Nine of Cups
Others - Death
Advice- The Hermit

The Princess of Swords is Earth of Air. 'She is the stabilizing factor in the most erratic of elements. It is she who brings into materialization the thoughts and ideas of the Royal Air cards [the other Sword courts]. She has many of the same harsh characteristics of the Queen and the Prince, but her endurance and severity are even greater because they can be put into action on the physical plane. She is more direct and decisive than her brother the Prince, and her temper is inherited from her Mother. Avenging the wrath of the gods is one of her functions' (Golden Dawn Magical Tarot). Wow. She's not much like the Page of Swords in RWS then, who in my mind is something of a scholar who likes to argue both sides for the heck of it, latch on to a cause, make big speeches about injustice (Lisa Simpson, basically). This one's a bit of a Fury! But oh ho! Listen to this: 'The Princess of Swords lives by her ideas and principles. She is a stirrer-upper, an iconoclast. ... If dumb complacency sets in, the Princess will be the one to uproot it' (Cosmic Tarot book). The heart of the situation where my spirituality is concerned is the need to uproot dumb complacency.

Playing around with Deck of 1000 Spreads

Cosmic Tarot with Deck of 1000 Spreads

Here's one of the really cool things you can do with Deck of 1000 Spreads, a chart formation. Sometimes, especially when you're doing a Year in Review or Year in Preview, or Next Six Months Reading, etc, you like to draw a lot of cards. Here the cards are laid out in a grid pattern, with the cards slipped under like tab markers. Now that is really useful! Here I've drawn cards for Spirit, Hobbies, Career, and Finances, and want to explore each topic in four areas: Heart of the Situation, What to Leave in the Past, Others, and Advice. You may notice I have some reversed cards here. That's because despite my usual diligence when riffle shuffling, some of the cards came out reversed. When this happens, I leave them reversed. I didn't do it on purpose, it happened anyway, so I just leave them that way.

I will examine each of these topics in turn over the course of this week.

(My mantra for this week is: Gayatri Mantra. I will be chanting it each morning.)

[By the way, my ideas about Deck of 1000 Spreads have been featured on the deck creator's website! Look: Deck of 1000 Spreads Tips and Ideas]