ajetron
I was reacquainting myself with the Golden Dawn system of Tarot divination and whilst reading through McGregor Mathers' The Tarot I noticed a spread I hadn't run across before, I was wondering if anyone has tried it before (it's becoming one of my favorites)? It has a really good meditative quality to it.
After the cards have been shuffled and cut (I suppose by a preferred method since one isn't given) deal the top card, which is called "B", and a second called "A" (I put these in alphabetical order, but I suppose one doesn't have to); deal the third and fourth cards to (what will be) pack "B" and deal the fifth to pack "A". This process is repeated until all cards are dealt, leaving "A" with twenty six and "B" fifty two, then taking up "B" deal the top card designating a new pack, which is called "D" and a second card called "C". Then the process repeats, two cards are dealt to "D", while one card is dealt to "C". This will leave pack "C" containing seventeen and "D" thirty five. The process is then repeated again by taking "D" and doing the same; creating packs "F" and "E" dealing two cards to "F" and one to "E". The end result is "A" twenty six, "C" seventeen, "E" eleven, and "F" twenty four. Pack "F" is put aide, and has no bearing on the reading.
Pack "A" is arranged from right to left, so that they form a horseshoe (top card being the lowest right-hand corner, and the twenty sixth card being in the lower left-hand. Cards are read from right to left; after having done this Mathers' say to make a "connected answer", by combining the meaning of the first and twenty sixth, then it continues until all cards have been paired and a meaning devised. This is repeated the same with "C" and "E".
Apparently a "very ancient mode of reading Tarot..." It takes up a good portion of time, but it is very thorough; I did run across a problem while using this spread. While creating new packs I found I would have one too many cards in pack “E” and one too few in pack “F”. Initially I thought it was just me not paying enough attention to what I was doing and accidentally by adding an extra card to the wrong pile or I misread the instructions, though it does say, “These will form a commencement of two heaps…in which the whole pack is to be dealt”. Evidently not after the third and fourth try, so I altered the spread by not lying down cards to designate the pack, which would be created, and problem was solved. Though it thought it odd I only had trouble with packs “E” and “F” and not “A”, “B”, or “C”.
After the cards have been shuffled and cut (I suppose by a preferred method since one isn't given) deal the top card, which is called "B", and a second called "A" (I put these in alphabetical order, but I suppose one doesn't have to); deal the third and fourth cards to (what will be) pack "B" and deal the fifth to pack "A". This process is repeated until all cards are dealt, leaving "A" with twenty six and "B" fifty two, then taking up "B" deal the top card designating a new pack, which is called "D" and a second card called "C". Then the process repeats, two cards are dealt to "D", while one card is dealt to "C". This will leave pack "C" containing seventeen and "D" thirty five. The process is then repeated again by taking "D" and doing the same; creating packs "F" and "E" dealing two cards to "F" and one to "E". The end result is "A" twenty six, "C" seventeen, "E" eleven, and "F" twenty four. Pack "F" is put aide, and has no bearing on the reading.
Pack "A" is arranged from right to left, so that they form a horseshoe (top card being the lowest right-hand corner, and the twenty sixth card being in the lower left-hand. Cards are read from right to left; after having done this Mathers' say to make a "connected answer", by combining the meaning of the first and twenty sixth, then it continues until all cards have been paired and a meaning devised. This is repeated the same with "C" and "E".
Apparently a "very ancient mode of reading Tarot..." It takes up a good portion of time, but it is very thorough; I did run across a problem while using this spread. While creating new packs I found I would have one too many cards in pack “E” and one too few in pack “F”. Initially I thought it was just me not paying enough attention to what I was doing and accidentally by adding an extra card to the wrong pile or I misread the instructions, though it does say, “These will form a commencement of two heaps…in which the whole pack is to be dealt”. Evidently not after the third and fourth try, so I altered the spread by not lying down cards to designate the pack, which would be created, and problem was solved. Though it thought it odd I only had trouble with packs “E” and “F” and not “A”, “B”, or “C”.
