Collaborative Spread Creation #3 - Anniversary Spread

rwcarter

NorthernTigress posted this request for an Anniversary spread. I like the idea of a circle to represent a wedding ring. The first question that pops into my mind is should the spread be from the perspective of the Querent or the couple?

From the Querent's perspective, I can see these as starting points for positions:
  • What attracted Querent to Partner
  • What attracted Partner to Querent
  • An issue the couple had to face together
  • Querent's effort that will further the relationship along
  • Something Querent needs/would like from Partner
  • Challenge the couple may have to face in the coming year
  • Something positive that will happen to the couple in the coming year
  • State of the relationship just before the next anniversary

From the couple's perspective, I can see these as starting points for positions:
  • What drew the couple together
  • What keeps them together
  • What tries to separate them
  • What the relationship needs in order to continue or to flourish
  • Challenge the couple may have to face in the coming year
  • Something positive that will happen to the couple in the coming year
  • State of the relationship just before the next anniversary

Rodney
 

NorthernTigress

I hope I can contribute to this spread as well as suggesting it. :D

I think that this spread should be about the couple together, not just one individual.

The positions you mentioned, Carter (I can never remember your first name), are all great. I wouldn't mind also seeing cards on the year just past as well as the year to come.

And how many cards should be in this circle?

4? (not enough information, and not really a circle)
6? (getting better, but hard to make into a circle shape)
8? (a good medium-sized circle)
12? (the classic calendar/clock circle)

Myself, I prefer my spreads to be on the smaller side. I've never used anything more than 12 cards. But if it's a good layout, I might make an exception.
 

rwcarter

NT,

The more the merrier in helping to come up with a spread. That's what the whole collaborative approach is about!

BTW, I'm Rodney. I usually sign that at the end of my posts. :D

The reason I wanted to clarify about Querent vs couple is that some readers don't like doing readings on third parties who aren't present.

8, 10 or 12 cards would prob be best for creating a circle shape. We've got a start with 7-8 cards. I didn't think about the look back over the previous year though. So we can easily create two more positions:
  • Challenge the couple faced in the previous year
  • Something positive that happened to the couple in the previous year

We could also pull these two positions from the Querent-based spread:
  • What attracted Querent to Partner
  • What attracted Partner to Querent

That brings us to 11 positions.

Rodney
 

NorthernTigress

rwcarter said:
NT,

The more the merrier in helping to come up with a spread. That's what the whole collaborative approach is about!

BTW, I'm Rodney. I usually sign that at the end of my posts. :D

The reason I wanted to clarify about Querent vs couple is that some readers don't like doing readings on third parties who aren't present.

8, 10 or 12 cards would prob be best for creating a circle shape. We've got a start with 7-8 cards. I didn't think about the look back over the previous year though. So we can easily create two more positions:
  • Challenge the couple faced in the previous year
  • Something positive that happened to the couple in the previous year

We could also pull these two positions from the Querent-based spread:
  • What attracted Querent to Partner
  • What attracted Partner to Querent

That brings us to 11 positions.

Rodney

Ah, I see. I was assuming that both people would be taking the reading at the same time. Something nice to do together.
 

NorthernTigress

Here's one prototype of the Anniversary Ring

1 What drew the couple together
2 What keeps them together
3 What tries to separate them
4 Challenge the couple faced in the previous year
5 Something positive that happened to the couple in the previous year
6 What attracted Querent to Partner
7 What attracted Partner to Querent
8 What the relationship needs in order to continue or to flourish
9 Challenge the couple may have to face in the coming year
10 What the Couple needs to learn/do to keep their relationship strong
11 Something positive that will happen to the couple in the coming year
12 State of the relationship just before the next anniversary

~~~~~~~~~~1~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~12~~~~~~2~~~~~
~~~~11~~~~~~~~~3~~~
~~~10~~~~~~~~~~~4~
~~~~9~~~~~~~~~~5~~~
~~~~~~8~~~~~~6~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~7~~~~~~~


1 + 7 : Attraction
2 + 8 : Maintenance
3 + 9 : Opposition
4 + 10 : Lessons
5 + 11 : Positivity
6 + 12 : ???

------------------

I kind of like it, but there's something about position 6 and 7 that puts it "off balance".
 

NorthernTigress

Here's another version, with the "duplicate questions" removed.

~~~~~~1~~2~~~
~~~10~~~~~~3~~
~~~9~~~~~~~~4~~
~~~~8~~~~~5~~~
~~~~~7~~6~~~~


1 What drew the couple together
2 What keeps them together
3 What tries to separate them
4 Challenge the couple faced in the previous year
5 Something positive that happened to the couple in the previous year
6 What the relationship needs in order to continue or to flourish
7 Challenge the couple may have to face in the coming year
8 What the Couple needs to learn/do to keep their relationship strong
9 Something positive that will happen to the couple in the coming year
10 State of the relationship just before the next anniversary

Edited to add: Ironically, I probably won't be back on this forum until AFTER my anniversary.
 

rwcarter

NT,

Happy Belated Anniversary! Sorry this wasn't done in time for your anniversary, but much like a birthday/year ahead spread that ideally is done on the particular date, it can be done anytime and still be valid. :D

I like the idea of a two-layered spread where the individual positions are interpreted and then are looked at in pairs. Let me chew on that for a bit. Today's gonna be pretty crazy cause we're having friends over for dinner tonight and I need to start cooking, so I probably won't get back to this until Sunday. I think the 1/7 and 6/12 pairings need work, but that can probably be improved by the order in which the cards are laid out.

Rodney
 

NorthernTigress

rwcarter said:
NT,

Happy Belated Anniversary! Sorry this wasn't done in time for your anniversary, but much like a birthday/year ahead spread that ideally is done on the particular date, it can be done anytime and still be valid. :D

I like the idea of a two-layered spread where the individual positions are interpreted and then are looked at in pairs. Let me chew on that for a bit. Today's gonna be pretty crazy cause we're having friends over for dinner tonight and I need to start cooking, so I probably won't get back to this until Sunday. I think the 1/7 and 6/12 pairings need work, but that can probably be improved by the order in which the cards are laid out.

Rodney


I like doing "card combinations" when I'm working with larger spreads. I'm a little disappointed with some of the pairings, I have to admit. I played around with the position "questions" but I'm still stuck on 6/12.
 

rwcarter

As they always do no matter how long they are, the weekend got away from me. I tried looking it over at lunch yesterday, but I really need to attack it with pencil and paper to juggle things around. I might be able to get to it tonight since it's the one night of the week I don't have to workout so should have some extra time.

Rodney
 

rwcarter

I've played around with both the positions and their layout to achieve a multi-layered spread. I'm mostly happy with it. The diagram's probably going to leave a lot to be desired, but consider it a circle.


......12...3......
..11...........4..
....................
10.....1..2.....5
....................
...9...........6...
.......8....7......

1. What attracted the Querent to the Partner
2. What attracted the Partner to the Querent
3. What drew the couple together
4. What the couple has done to strengthen their relationship
5. A challenge the couple has faced in the previous year
6. Something positive that happened to the couple last year
7. The state of the relationship just before this anniversary
8. What keeps the couple together
9. What the couple needs to learn/do to keep the relationship strong
10. A challenge the couple may face in the coming year
11. Something positive that may happen to the couple in the coming year
12. The state of the relationship just before the next anniversary

1+2 - Initial Attraction
3+8 - Foundation of the Relationship
4+9 - Building the Relationship
5+10 - Challenges to the Relationship
6+11 - Positive Experiences
7+12 - Evolution of the Relationship

I'm not totally happy with the term "Positive Experiences" but I couldn't think of a good antonym for "Challenges"....

Rodney