Base Card in Reading

G6

Hi Folks! I have noticed a few people incorporate a base card for a reading. Is that like the main message/influence or is it a clarification on the previous cards? Do you draw it first or last? Just wondering about that style of reading, thanks!

Barleywine

I'd like to have this answered definitively as well. I've never used clarifying cards of any kind and probably won't start now, although I do sometimes experiment with the quintessence because of its numerological basis.

G6

Barleywine said:
I'd like to have this answered definitively as well. I've never used clarifying cards of any kind and probably won't start now, although I do sometimes experiment with the quintessence because of its numerological basis.

Hi Barleywine! What is the quintessence?

Barleywine

goldenVI said:
Hi Barleywine! What is the quintessence?

It's basically the "essence" of all the cards in a spread, numerologically derived.

You add up the numerical values of all the cards in the spread (some figure in the court cards, counting them as 11, 12, 13 1nd 14, others don't use them.) Some subtract the value of reversed cards, others don't. (Note that, if you don't subtract, you can never get down to zero - the Fool - so some just treat the Fool as Trump #22; also, using subtraction can give you a reversed quintessence card.) If you wind up with a number larger than 21 (or 22 as noted), subtract 9 from the total as many times as necessary to get down within that range. Then select the Trump card associated with that number as the quintessence (or "quint") card. (It's also possible to subtract all the way down to a single-digit number from 1 to 9.)

I've only been using them for a couple of months, so I'll let others with more experience with them describe how they read them. I just see them as kind of a "signature" or "keynote" for the spread that augments the outcome card and maybe gives a broader perspective on how it will manifest. I only use them if the outcome card is ambiguous, and only with smaller spreads.

Madrigal

I sometimes use a base card when I'm feeling the need for some kind of amplification of a reading. It's not really a clarifier. It feels more oblique than that. I pull it after I've read all the other cards if I feel the need and I use it either as foundational, i.e. what the other cards are 'resting on' or as 'hidden/shadow/not totally manifest' influences or material. Which meaning I go with depends on what the question was. I often find the base card extremely helpful at pulling together what sometimes feels like disparate strands.

G6

Barleywine said:
It's basically the "essence" of all the cards in a spread, numerologically derived.

You add up the numerical values of all the cards in the spread (some figure in the court cards, counting them as 11, 12, 13 1nd 14, others don't use them.) Some subtract the value of reversed cards, others don't. (Note that, if you don't subtract, you can never get down to zero - the Fool - so some just treat the Fool as Trump #22; also, using subtraction can give you a reversed quintessence card.) If you wind up with a number larger than 21 (or 22 as noted), subtract 9 from the total as many times as necessary to get down within that range. Then select the Trump card associated with that number as the quintessence (or "quint") card. (It's also possible to subtract all the way down to a single-digit number from 1 to 9.)

I've only been using them for a couple of months, so I'll let others with more experience with them describe how they read them. I just see them as kind of a "signature" or "keynote" for the spread that augments the outcome card and maybe gives a broader perspective on how it will manifest. I only use them if the outcome card is ambiguous, and only with smaller spreads.

Thanks Barleywine for the calculation info. I'm not sure when I would be ready to do all that lol!

Yes, would like to know more though and some folks do a sum too like a base and a sum. I guess the sum would be the conclusion?

G6

Madrigal said:
I sometimes use a base card when I'm feeling the need for some kind of amplification of a reading. It's not really a clarifier. It feels more oblique than that. I pull it after I've read all the other cards if I feel the need and I use it either as foundational, i.e. what the other cards are 'resting on' or as 'hidden/shadow/not totally manifest' influences or material. Which meaning I go with depends on what the question was. I often find the base card extremely helpful at pulling together what sometimes feels like disparate strands.

Thanks Madrigal for the info on why do a base card. That makes sense to me if you need an anchor for cards that seem so disparate. Good to know what people mean by shadow that it is what is hidden. I thought it meant the dark side of things lol!

danieljuk

it can be used for different things. I use it as an overview card. I *always* take a glance at the card on the bottom but I use it just as that. It's the theme of the reading perhaps or an overview but it's not as important as the spread itself. It's like a quick *this is what it's about*. If I do readings for others, this normally tells me the theme about what I am reading about (I seem to do a lot of general readings and it tells me what this is about). I often don't reveal the base card in my write up unless it seems to really be important in the reading.

Some people use it as a "shadow card" and it shows what is not known or the shadow side of the issue. It is confusing because it's not clear what you do with it and you can use it in different ways. If you are going to use the card on the bottom, find how it works best for you

Barleywine

danieljuk said:
it can be used for different things. I use it as an overview card. I *always* take a glance at the card on the bottom but I use it just as that. It's the theme of the reading perhaps or an overview but it's not as important as the spread itself. It's like a quick *this is what it's about*. If I do readings for others, this normally tells me the theme about what I am reading about (I seem to do a lot of general readings and it tells me what this is about). I often don't reveal the base card in my write up unless it seems to really be important in the reading.

Some people use it as a "shadow card" and it shows what is not known or the shadow side of the issue. It is confusing because it's not clear what you do with it and you can use it in different ways. If you are going to use the card on the bottom, find how it works best for you

I think this was how I understood it: the card that's on the bottom of the deck after you finish the shuffle. That's what seems to be meant by "glancing at the bottom card." It's not pulled in a normal fashion from the pack, it's there already. I've read about that practice before but it wasn't called the "base" card, I think it may have been called the "shadow" card. I agree that it's an unnecessary step, much the same as drawing "clarifier" cards when you can't figure out what a particular card in a spread is about. There needs to be a 21st century "tarot terms" dictionary for those of us from the 20th century

G6

Barleywine said:
I think this was how I understood it: the card that's on the bottom of the deck after you finish the shuffle. That's what seems to be meant by "glancing at the bottom card." It's not pulled in a normal fashion from the pack, it's there already. I've read about that practice before but it wasn't called the "base" card, I think it may have been called the "shadow" card. I agree that it's an unnecessary step, much the same as drawing "clarifier" cards when you can't figure out what a particular card in a spread is about. There needs to be a 21st century "tarot terms" dictionary for those of us from the 20th century

On that note is the shadow card from the bottom of the deck what people refer to as the sum?

Base Card in Reading

G6

Barleywine

G6

Barleywine

Madrigal

G6

G6

danieljuk

Barleywine

G6