The "Do It Yourself" Outcome Probability Spread

samantha

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.

Has anyone ever thought to quantify the "somewhat" " modest" "mildly" etc into percentages ?! I'm trying to keep a track on them in my mind as they yo yo up and down (or perhaps more like scales)

Thanks for going through this - always good to know the outcome is as bad as you feared ! You were right - I had gone to the pages of tarotelements.com to get my ideas, which does seem to be Golden Dawn inspired. I can't see myself moving beyond that at present - so perhaps the truths I glean will only be partial ones ? Still, got to start somewhere....
 

Barleywine

Has anyone ever thought to quantify the "somewhat" " modest" "mildly" etc into percentages ?! I'm trying to keep a track on them in my mind as they yo yo up and down (or perhaps more like scales)

Thanks for going through this - always good to know the outcome is as bad as you feared ! You were right - I had gone to the pages of tarotelements.com to get my ideas, which does seem to be Golden Dawn inspired. I can't see myself moving beyond that at present - so perhaps the truths I glean will only be partial ones ? Still, got to start somewhere....

Not as far as I know. The only other writer I've seen who even acknowledges that there might be greater subtleties involved beyond the usual well-dignified ("friendly"), ill-dignified ("unfriendly") and "no effect" (neutral, or mixed) is Elizabeth Hazel in The Tarot Decoded (which you should read if you're interested in various kinds of dignities, not just elemental), and she just mentions the possibility of a more involved approach without any specifics. So what I'm doing derives mainly from my personal understanding of and focus on nuances in tarot reading.