The "Do It Yourself" Outcome Probability Spread

Barleywine

This should get some debate going. Since we spend so much time agonizing over outcome cards and fooling around with clarifiers, often asking the same question until we get the answer we want, I thought we might as well cut right to the chase and just choose the outcome we want or the one that the rest of the spread hints would be the most likely given the question.

But hold on, its not that simple. You will need a grasp of Elemental Dignities to complete this process. After reading the first four cards in the line as "Foundation, Recent Past, Present and Near Future," go through the rest of the pack, keeping the cards in order, and select the outcome card you think is the most likely or the most desirable. Take that card and the two cards on either side of it out of the deck as a 5-card series with the chosen outcome card at the center, and use three sets of Elemental Dignities to determine whether that outcome is strengthened by good dignity and likely to happen, or weakened by ill dignity and unlikely to happen. If it receives mixed dignity, make your own decision on relative probability or flip a coin. Have fun! :)

As suggested, I did a sample reading for this spread, using the World Spirit Tarot with reversals in the initial line.

The question was "How will our early-May trip to northern Florida turn out?"

In the 4-card line, I got 6 of Pentacles as "Foundation," Temperance in "Recent Developments," the Queen of Swords rx as the "Here & Now" and the Hermit as "The Next Step." As you might suppose, I selected the Sun as my desired Outcome.

The 6 of Pentacles is a positive "money" card, and we're in good shape there to pay for the vacation.
Temperance seems to be showing that we're having one of the mildest early Springs on record.
The Queen of Swords rx is the wild card here. My wife's mother is a Libra QoS type, is 90 years old, has Alzheimer's and is in monitored care. Her days are numbered, and it could be any time.
The Hermit suggests either one of us will be going on ahead alone, or we may be kept from going. (We have cancellation insurance - that 6 of Pentacles at work.)

When I did the Elemental Dignities, I found the Sun in the following series: Ace of Cups rx, Judgement rx, Sun, World rx and 5 of Wands. Since I'm not reading the card meanings here, just the elements, reversal doesn't make any difference.

First I looked at the EDs for Judgement - Fire with Water before and Fire after; Ace of Cups and the Sun are elementally unfriendly, which should weaken Judgement; but in the system of weighting I use, two consecutive Fire cards - especially two Major Arcana against an Ace - at the end will "trump" the leading Water card, so I don't see Judgement as being seriously weakened. Maybe the week will be excessively humid.

Next I looked at the World - Earth with Fire before and Fire after; the Sun and the 5 of Wands are elementally friendly, and both are neutral and supportive ("complementary opposites") to the World, which is moderately strengthened.

Finally, the Sun - Fire with Fire before and Earth after; the mildly dignified Judgement and the moderately strengthened World are "complementary opposites" which mean they offer a reasonably balanced input, and both are on decent terms with the Sun. Thus, the Sun is also moderately strengthened.

Overall, this outcome suggests that the trip will be successful if we actually get there, although it may be slightly humid for early May. I've attached some pictures.
 

Attachments

  • Do It Yourself Outcome Spread.pdf
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  • Outcome Probability Spread #1.JPG
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  • Outcome Probability #2.JPG
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earthair

Interesting :livelong:
Personally I'd be more inclined to select the card as the final outcome card of my modified CC Zain yes/no spread and use the 4 preceding it. I'll see if it works...

1)Root/cause of issue - 2)what has happened - 3)current situation -4)what will happen - 5)chosen outcome

Not sure I'd use EDs though, mainly because I don't think of the chosen card as going in the middle?
 

think

Haha, nice one.

So what outcome card do I choose to become a millionaire, living on a private island with turquoise blue seas and a lifetime supply of books, plus a private jet for my insatiable wanderlust. Chuck in a bodyguard, can't be too careful in today's climate.

Also I'd like to be 20lb slimmer, if possible.

Oh, and healthy and blessed with love.

I'll get a grasp of ED to achieve the above. But you have to do that for me first, you hear?
 

Barleywine

Haha, nice one.

So what outcome card do I choose to become a millionaire, living on a private island with turquoise blue seas and a lifetime supply of books, plus a private jet for my insatiable wanderlust. Chuck in a bodyguard, can't be too careful in today's climate.

Also I'd like to be 20lb slimmer, if possible.

Oh, and healthy and blessed with love.

I'll get a grasp of ED to achieve the above. But you have to do that for me first, you hear?

There aren't enough positive cards in the whole deck to do all that. You might have to accept a Devil or a Page of Swords in the mix. :) Maybe two or three decks will do it!
 

Barleywine

Interesting :livelong:
Personally I'd be more inclined to select the card as the final outcome card of my modified CC Zain yes/no spread and use the 4 preceding it. I'll see if it works...

1)Root/cause of issue - 2)what has happened - 3)current situation -4)what will happen - 5)chosen outcome

Not sure I'd use EDs though, mainly because I don't think of the chosen card as going in the middle?

Putting the chosen card in the middle comes from the Opening of the Key spread where you find the significator and pair the cards on either side. In that case you only read them as a story, but EDs work best in triplets with a focus card in the middle too. I could see picking an outcome card from a different spread to apply this; it would make it less "wishful thinking," although that was kind of the point I was trying to make. If you're going to keep asking until you get the answer you want anyway, you might as well just pick the one you want and then test it for validity. It would save a lot of grief.
 

samantha

EDIT : DIY was apt :)
Managed to work it out for myself.
 

Barleywine

EDIT : DIY was apt :)
Managed to work it out for myself.

You raised a good question, though. Typically, I draw subsidiary cards from a second deck in cases where a card has already shown up in the body of the reading. I'll have to look at this spread since I don't recall mentioning that. Also, I'll add an example reading to the original post.
 

Barleywine

I tweaked the spread to address two concerns:

If the outcome card you want was dealt into the spread, that energy is already at work in the matter; choose again. If your card is at the top or bottom of the reserved pack, shuffle the remainder of the cards again and find the outcome card. I will update the pdf attached to the original post.

ETA: I also included a sample reading in the original post.
 

samantha

Thankyou for adding the example spread. You must have been looking at my post just as I was deleting it. Very synchronistic :)

I find the " system of weighting" a bit tricky; this ED business is beginning to feel 3D ! (Layered)

I also got an elemental double in my line of 5 cards (though none of the cards were majors)

I won't detail the cards, but elementally I had : Air - Water - Earth - Earth - Fire

I surmised that the overall energy is neutral - so the central card will manifest to a degree ? (Which was better than nothing as I had chosen a *negative* card for what I believe to be a likely outcome. )

I think this is an interesting spread, but not for ED new comers !
 

Barleywine

Thankyou for adding the example spread. You must have been looking at my post just as I was deleting it. Very synchronistic :)

I find the " system of weighting" a bit tricky; this ED business is beginning to feel 3D ! (Layered)

I also got an elemental double in my line of 5 cards (though none of the cards were majors)

I won't detail the cards, but elementally I had : Air - Water - Earth - Earth - Fire

I surmised that the overall energy is neutral - so the central card will manifest to a degree ? (Which was better than nothing as I had chosen a *negative* card for what I believe to be a likely outcome. )

I think this is an interesting spread, but not for ED new comers !

Yes, there is a "layering" to it, a bit like a two-tiered "cake." I read EDs mainly in "triplets, with a focus card and two modifiers. In a five-card line there are three of these: two "side" cards that I read first to see if they are strengthened or weakened, after which I apply both of these to the central card in the line in a "weighted" manner which is somewhat intuitive rather than strictly mechanical. This is where I got the "humid weather" idea in my example.

In your layout, the Water card is bracketed by two cards that are elementally unfriendly to one another, suggesting a weakening effect. It seems to me the Golden Dawn would have stopped there, but I believe there is more to see: the Air card is neutral to Water and the Earth card is friendly, and the interaction of all three comes across as unremarkable, so I would say "mildly weakened" in keeping with the model.

The second Earth card is bounded by a neutral (although "complementary opposite" is my new favorite description) Fire card and another friendly Earth card; the upshot looks like a "modest strengthening."

So we have the central Earth card modified by a somewhat "watered-down" but friendly Water influence and a rather "empowered" Earth card. On balance, it seems to me the outcome would be more likely than not to meet your expectations. Would I "take it to the bank?" I think I would be inclined to.