Square of Life Spread

Barleywine

This spread accomplishes two things I've been thinking about for a while. First, I've been trying to come up with a way to do an "astrological" style of spread that isn't so "all over the place" as far as trying to see a logical, consistent situational flow (the traditional astrological house meanings are rather "compartmentalized" and don't always flow well from one to the next in a situational sense). Second, I wanted to come up with a spread that's versatile enough to look at multiple areas of life in whole or in part without having to do several separate spreads or use a huge number of cards. I've kept the use of a Significator as the central point (like the "Earth" in the middle of a natal horoscope) around which the functional "constellations" revolve.

This is a kind of "Swiss Army Knife" spread that can be used to look at the querent's life in several ways, either separately or blended, via four 5-card "mini-spreads:" the individual as a self-contained entity, the individual in relation to family, the individual in relation to friends or partners, and the individual in relation to the public (work, etc.). These sub-sets can be mixed-and-matched any way you like. I haven't decided yet whether the "Last Card" should be a "quint" of all the sub-sets used, whether it should be "one card to rule them all" drawn at the end of the entire pull, or whether a separate "consequences" card should be drawn as the fifth card for each area of life examined. I'm leaning toward the first one, but the last one would produce a small series that could be read as a vignette giving more detail in the outcome position. This is still a "work-in-progress;" I think I have the positional ideas nailed down to my satisfaction but the titles may still be tweaked.

ETA: The position meanings are fairly self-explanatory, but I will probably work up a brief text outline on how to interpret them; I'll add it in a new post when done. Also, I debated whether to suggest using a separate deck for each life-area "mini-spread" so all card options are available in each area, but decided that, if we have "Tower" events going on in more than one major area of our lives, we probably want something more therapeutically robust than tarot.
 

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Barleywine

Brief Thoughts on Interpretation

In the briefest possible terms:

The Significator merely provides a "hub" or anchor for the flow of events around the querent; it isn't read in any way not covered in full by the "consequences" card(s). If you don't want to bother selecting one, leave it out.

All of the "A" cards show the current situation between the involved participants, whether "in conversation with oneself" (1A), engaging in family affairs (2A), handling one-on-one relationship issues (3A), or dealing with more complex public contact scenarios - work, university, professional or government organizations, service providers, etc (4A).

All of the "B" cards suggest near-term developments in each subject area of life.

All of the "C" cards are intended to show what kind of opposition to progress might be encountered along the way.

All of the "D" cards reflect the result of "give-and-take" negotiations or maneuvering in the matter, whether constructive or counter-productive.

The "Last Card" (or cards if using multiples) show(s) the outcome in terms of anticipated consequences for the querent, for "good or ill," as the saying goes. (This could obviously range from "Bravo! Well done" to "It sucks to be you!" :))

The most challenging and interesting part will be in the interpretation of the "Last Card" when rolling more than one subject area together. If a "quint" is used, it will produce a Major Arcanum card showing a higher order of impact on the querent's consciousness and circumstances; if multiple "consequence" cards are drawn (one for each subject area) it will show how the different narrative threads might be "woven" together into a mini-story suggesting a particular developmental path; a single card pulled at the end of all sub-sets as a form of "summary" could be explored for layers of meaning pertinent to each of the input chains.
 

Victoria's Finest

Nice! Headed out the door but will definitely chew on this one and find some time to work with it. Thanks Barleywine :).
 

FLizarraga

A little push to make this easier to find. :)

Oops, wrong spread. Worthy anyway.