General Spread for Partial or Full Transitioning (9)

I've been wanting to do a spread for this topic for a while now, and had the urge to really work on it today. This spread is intended for anyone trans considering a partial or full transition. This is intended to focus more on emotions than anything. The cards will be laid into three columns. Column one represents things relating to the mind, column two to the body, and column three to relationship. Positions four and five may seem a little odd for the body column, but at least to me, those two are very body related reactions, hence my putting them there.

1***4***7
2***5***8
3***6***9

1. General effect on emotions and mental state. Is there a lot of fear building up? Is this person ready for this yet or are their feelings still uncertain?
2. Support/Help. This can refer to any form of support, whether it be professional help, a close group of friends, or a support group. Do they need/want any or not? How will this experience effect the individual? Will it help or make them uneasy? Will their be potential problems with this? i.e. A run in with a very uninformed therapist, friends who are unintentionally making things more difficult, etc.
3. Non-body changes. This could refer to changing names in any sense, choosing a pronoun set, wardrobe changes, etc. How will this effect the individual?
4. Dysphoria. The effect the process has had on gender dysphoria the individual experiences. Will the steps being taken help ease the dysphoria? Is it still a long ways off before the dysphoria eases?
5. Euphoria. The feeling of everything being "right"/satisfaction with the body, a sort of emotional high. When everything is wonderful, sometimes people make choices they wouldn't normally make. The results of this card should be paid particular attention to.
6. Hormone treatment/surgery/other physical alternations. What is the individuals feelings over this? Will they be satisfied or will the results of what they've chosen not be exactly what they wanted? This position could be used to asked about reactions to the process itself, such as feelings over the high prices, potentially trans friendly or un-friendly doctors, etc. This can be split down to suit the individuals choices. More details further.
7. Close bonds. Friends, family, partners, etc. How their reactions will affect the individual emotionally.
8. Other connections. Coworkers/classmates, acquaintances, distant relatives, etc. People who aren't really close to the individual, but are likely to still be involved in the persons life for some reason or another. How these people's reactions will effect the individual.
9. General interactions and feelings regarding presentation. Concerns and feelings in regards to "passing" and representation, acceptance/rejection, etc.

This can be expanded upon. For each position, if you could go further by drawing a specific card for each thing in each position you'd like to ask about. If say, you have three family members in mind that you want to specifically ask about in position 7, overlap three cards for that position. Or asking for several different questions around the same theme, likewise, draw a card for each and layer them. Or, if only one specific thing applies to the individual, the position could focus exclusively on that rather than a generalized version. There is more that could be covered with this topic, but this was meant as a more general spread.

Fascinating spread. I have a feeling this will be useful to a lot of people. It also lends itself well to adaptation by each reader, according to their preferences.

Well done.

Thank you!

Looks like a good spread for that topic to me!

I agree with Chiriku: the spread also seems easily adaptable to specific situations. Depending on where a trans person is in their process, I'd expand certain positions (e.g. I'd definitely treat hormones and surgery separately) or leave others out (e.g. not everyone does therapy or wants surgery etc.). Or I'd zoom in into just one of the aspects (e.g. whatever is up next for them) and look at them in more detail.

Now I'm wanting to create a spread for partners of trans people so they can check as well how any changes might impact them (and I'm also wondering why I never really read on that for myself!). I'll put it up in its own thread but will link it here when I'm done with it (can't do it right now but will get it up within the next week). That spread could then also be adapted for friends, family, and others in the trans person's environment.

Thanks for bringing up the topic of transitioning as something that could use its own spread!

Thank you, and I'd love to see your spread! I see your points, and I was considering those while making the spread. I added the layering the cards option with the does both/only want to do one in mind. Say with the hormone treatment, if someone's not getting surgery the card could just focus on that, or they could use it as a very general position or draw several cards for that position. This is a really general spread, so a spread focusing on these specific topics might be more useful for this though. Ex: if the querent was concerned about something specific after this reading, another spread could be done to look further into that. I think we need more spreads for this topic!

I was iffy about including the therapy position. Under the new revisions (ETA: in the USA anyway--I shouldn't type when I've just rolled out of bed), its not required, and that's something with a mixed reaction. An alternative to that position--it could be used as a general support position. Actually, that might be a better wording overall. I should reword my first post to make it "Support/Help" and change the wording after that to something more like: "Support/help the individual will receive in any form, whether it be from friends, therapists, support groups, or any other form" and that could leave open the discussion of whether or not the querent needs more support emotionally, isn't getting any, if they have well-meaning supporters who are making things more difficult, etc. But IDK if that's a good wording. Any suggestions?

I've reworded the original spread to be even more general, specifically the second position, leaving the spread even more open to whatever the individual's situation is.

As I promised a while ago, I sat down to make a spread for the partners (or family, friends, etc.) of trans people. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Cat* said:

As I promised a while ago, I sat down to make a spread for the partners (or family, friends, etc.) of trans people. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Going to check it out right now!