Simple Yes/No Oracle Idea

I was only trying to help the original poster in creating the spread the way they wanted. My question marks indicate how THEY would want to interpret this. I'm not introducing the complexity here, OperaPhantom u_u is trying to incorporate all of these factors in their spread, or so I thought.

I'm a very visual person so my spreads usually have a visual plan to them. If you want to maintain the 5-card spread suggested so far then one idea I had was to put the "Yes" position at the top, card 1, and the "No" position at the bottom, card 5. The idea being that the up direction a lot of times is a positive direction and the down direction negative.

Then you could use the triplet of cards between the two to somehow resolve the Yes/No question. Card 1 would then give you the nature of the Yes response and Card 5 would show insight into the No response.

The triplet could be used, since there is an odd number of three, with Elemental indicators to resolve the question. How to do that is still under discussion here in this thread.

augursWell said:

I'm a very visual person so my spreads usually have a visual plan to them. If you want to maintain the 5-card spread suggested so far then one idea I had was to put the "Yes" position at the top, card 1, and the "No" position at the bottom, card 5. The idea being that the up direction a lot of times is a positive direction and the down direction negative.

Click to expand...

That's a very interesting idea augursWell. (BTW, I'm also very visual.) Would you just read the cards in both positions as they stood without worrying about elements or active/passive traits? For example, if the Tower were in position 1 and the 2 Cups in position 5, you wouldn't look at the Tower as Fire or active and you wouldn't look at the 2 Cups as Water or passive? Instead you'd interpret the Tower card as a Yes and the 2 Cups card as a No? And then you'd look at the triplet for more info?

It removes a lot of the complexity (that I admittedly introduced) from the spread. I also like it because it presents both a Yes and a No answer instead of either a Yes or a No. It also brings the spread back to the title of the thread - Simple Yes/No....

augursWell!

Hello there.

I must give thanks for your assistance in this, guys. I really value your contributions and opinions, for they give some more clues so I can put on use some of these. Also, I must ask for you pardon and comprehension, for English is not my birth language and I commit some mistakes from time to time. So, if there’s a thing you can’t understand about my babble, just remember it’s my fault! I’m sorry for that.

Major Cards doesn’t have a suit, but they can be associated with an element according to their standard attributions.

0. Fool: Air Element (Uranus)
1. Magus: Mercury: Air
2. High Priestess: Moon: Water
3. Empress: Venus: Earth
4. Emperor: Aries: Fire
5. Hierophant: Taurus: Earth
6. Lovers: Gemini: Air
7. Chariot: Cancer: Water
8. Justice/Adjustment: Libra: Air
9. Hermit: Virgo: Earth.
10. Wheel/Fortune: Jupiter: Air
11. Strength/Lust: Leo: Fire
12. Hanged Man: Water Element (Neptune)
13. Death: Scorpio: Water
14. Temperance/Art: Sagittarius: Fire
15. Devil: Capricorn: Earth
16. Tower: Mars: Fire
17. Star: Aquarius: Air
18. Moon: Pisces: Water
19. Sun: Sun: Fire
20. Judgment/Eon: Fire Element (Pluto)
21. World/Universe: Saturn: Earth

Attributions vary form one author or system to another, so it could be changed according to personal preference o tarot deck.

I consider Major cards say something very different to those of Minor and Court, but they equally counts for Elemental Dignities.

Also I want to clarify the Thesis/Antithesis mean to me in this case. In OOTK readings are made in triads, one thing that I pretend to introduce in this spread. The cards are fanned in a horseshoe spread and each card is reading according to two techniques: Counting and Pairing. In Counting, certain cards are reading in certain order, and each one of they are read according to Elemental Dignities along with the two that are at each of its sides. The card considered is the main card; the lecture is made from the point of view of it. The other cards tells if the main (central) card is strong, weak, or neutral, well dignified, ill dignified or else. It is told that that two side cards are some kind of forces of a Hegelian type, i.e. Thesis and Antithesis, which are also the two eternal forces of the duality, yin-yang; active, passive, etc. It is supposed to the union of that two produces a third thing: a conclusion, the son of them, and the synthesis.

In the context of Elemental Dignities and the reading of the triads, it is told that the two cards at the sides of the main, in a way, produces, conditions or modify what is central card tells us. Thesis and Antithesis, from this point of view, are not always a yes/no or pro/contra type of reading. Thesis and Antithesis could form a friendly combination, while the main card could be elementally opposite to these two, and that’s the case of a weak central card, so it’s a kind of negation o resting importance to its meaning, kind to say that it’s defeated or it will not be in that way (the main card announces). In that case Thesis and Antithesis work together and not against each other. At least it’s what I understand from this OOTK spread. This example is only one between various possibilities of the triplet combinations.

Regarding the position “1,” which I could explain better to you, that is, the nature of the question or which kind of things (according with the attributions of Qabalistic World and/or Element) is related to.

1. Fire/Wands are Atziluth: Relating with matters of energy, ambition, drive, career, activity, etc.
2. Water/Cups are Briah: Relating with matters of love, pleasure, marriage, feelings, and sometimes deceptions.
3. Air/Swords are Yetzirah: Relating with intellectual problems and issues: study, communication and ideas. Also health and disease, worries, quarrels, conflicts, etc.
4. Earth/Discs are Assiah: Material and practical matters. Also outcomes manifested in the real-tangible world.

Mayor cards, although are not referring an element the way that pips and court do, they are also indicating an elemental background (according to me), and it is indicative the nature of the thing that the triad announces is more relating to a spiritual issue, or archetypical forces that are more beyond of control of all of us. Something like the nature of things compels the things that way (indicated in the nature of the card itself).

I don’t use the card in position “1” to know whether if I must continue the read or not (in case the nature of its element of the card doesn’t fit with the question). What I do, is take heed of what the cards are trying to say to me locating the meaning of the triad in that particular elemental background. For example: why is a particular material issue important in a love issue? It could be money, for example.

Another case is if in the position “1” appears a court card. Instead of conclude that a personality trait or certain person is important in the reading, I use to determine further the nature of the question. According to the GD attributions, court cards are elemental sub-modalities.

1. Guy on a Horse of Wands: Fire of Fire: Fire behaves like Fire.
2. Queen of Wands: Water of Fire: Fire behaving like Water.
3. Guy on a throne of Wands: Air of Fire: Fire behaving like Air.
4. Knave/Princess of Wands: Earth of Fire: Fire behaving like Earth.
5. Guy on a Horse of Cups: Fire of Water: Water behaves like Fire.
6. Queen of Cups: Water of Water: Water behaving like Water.
7. Guy on a throne of Cups: Air of Water: Water behaving like Air.
8. Knave/Princess of Cups: Earth of Water: Water behaving like Earth
9. … etc. I thing you cold figure or already know the attributions of the other court cards. Attributions may vary according the system, deck or personal preferences.

Then, for example, I know that if the Queen of Swords appears in “1” it indicates that the triad below is talking about ideas, communicating, and troubles, and may be worries, but whatever it is, is about relating with others, plots against the Querent, maybe understanding feelings and solve problems in relationships or talk about them.

I know that certain magickal system, Enochian one, there are “Elemental Towers,” and elemental sub-quadrant of that Towers. Determine the nature of the triad is trying to say is the same thing that the use of these Towers and Sub-quadrants in divination and magick (although little I know about the details of how it works in magick).

For all others positions, I read the court cards as usual.

I found this reading of triads in OOTK style very useful and fascinating, and what I’m trying to do is a spread that could incorporate this device, with a Yes/No answer feature which also gives alternatives to make the outcome forecasted could change in to a more suited outcome to the Querent. In other words, if the outcome is not satisfactory for him/her, there can be the “how to make it to change for better.” Or if the result is more likely to favor on him/her, then warn about the things and events that possibly ruins everything for worse.

I hope all it helps to help me. I thank all of you in advance.

O.P.

----

I’d like to insist about the point in which interaction of elements would give a yes/no answer. Allow me to repeat one thing that I read about OOTK. In the Pairing phase of the first stage (that is, read the cards in pairs, beginning with the ones that are at the extremes of the horseshoe fan and continue to the center), I read that some of the users of this spread use Elemental Dignities and some others not. The ones that do use these says sometimes says that a majority of enemy combinations are indicative of troubles, impediments or disempowerment in the life of Querent. GD system of OOTK spread simply rest importance or discard the meanings of the cards of enemy combinations in Pairing.

Now, if the triad is telling about something important concerning the answer (always do, in my experience), the last card in position 5, could not be willing to say that there will be or not problems or obstructions that impede the matter in that the very question is asked for? Relating that card elementally with one of the other cards will say Yes or No, according my original idea. Active and Passive cards, from my view, are not always answer Yes, since if the matter of the asked question is love, for example, and this love appears to be in the context of cards of fire nature (passion), a Fire card would answers “Yes,” while water cards would answers “No.” This is equally true to the rule of Active cards. But if the nature of love is more gentle and passive in nature, according to the cards, being, for example, in the nature of cups (pleasure, dreaminess), Fire would says about some disturbance in the course of events and say that probably it cannot be. All this is about the energies that the cards represent and the relationship and interactions between those cards, I think. A “Yes” could be a “No” from a certain point of view, and the cards can shows us that point of view.

This is my particular idea. What do you think about it?

Regards,
O.P.

OP,

I only got to glance at what you wrote yesterday and have just read it all the way through now. I'm going to try to summarize what I got from that.

Each of the Major Arcana have an elemental association. And the ones you listed in your post appear to jibe with the ones I use. I also look at Thesis/Antithesis as you do - modifiers of the central card (Synthesis). I don't see them as Yes/No indicators for the reasons I listed earlier.

For position 1, is the assumption that the querent has told you the question and position 1 provides additional info about/the true basis of the question? Or is the assumption that the querent has not told you the question? If I'm reading your example correctly, the querent has asked a question about their relationship and the card in position 1 is an Earth card, suggesting that there's a material or financial basis to the question about the relationship.

A pip or Major in position 1 is looked at solely based on it's elemental correspondence. But because the Court Cards have dual correspondences (element of element), you interpret those cards slightly differently in position 1 than you would a pip or Major.

So then the triad of 324 gives information about the question in relation to the basis shown by card 1. I don't understand your explanation of the use of the card in position 5 though. "Relating that card elementally with one of the other cards will say Yes or No, according my original idea." is where I'm confused. If you can relate the card in position 5 to any of the other 4 cards in the spread to get your Yes/No answer, that answer can change depending on which card you compare card 5 to. Let's say you have one of each element in positions 1-4. So regardless of which element is in position 5, two comparisons will yield a yes (the two friendly interactions), 1 comparison will yield a maybe (the neutral interaction if you leave it neutral; otherwise it's a yes) and 1 interaction will yield a no (the unfriendly interaction). If you specifically say though that card 5 is elementally compared to card 1 for a Yes/No/Maybe answer, then that concern disappears.

I understand your example of if the matter of the asked question is love, for example, and this love appears to be in the context of cards of fire nature (passion), a Fire card would answers “Yes,” while water cards would answers “No.”, but I don't know that I would use the cards that way (and there's nothing that says that we have to agree on how to interpret the positions). A love question (I'm assuming told to you by the querent) with a Fire basis (card 1) would yield a Yes answer if card 5 were Wands or Swords, a Maybe answer if it were Earth, and a No answer if it were Water. You're effectively using card 1 as an elemental base and comparing card 5 to that base to get the Yes/No/Maybe. In that case, I would rearrange the spread to look like

....5.....
3...2...4
....1.....

so that card 1 actually forms the base of the question. (I probably would even lay card 1 on its side to emphasize that it's the base for the three cards above it).

OperaPhantom u_u said:

I found this reading of triads in OOTK style very useful and fascinating, and what I’m trying to do is a spread that could incorporate this device, with a Yes/No answer feature which also gives alternatives to make the outcome forecasted could change in to a more suited outcome to the Querent. In other words, if the outcome is not satisfactory for him/her, there can be the “how to make it to change for better.” Or if the result is more likely to favor on him/her, then warn about the things and events that possibly ruins everything for worse.

Click to expand...

Finally, to use the same cards to look at an alternative interpretation, you could very easily either make 5 the base and 1 the Yes/No/Maybe or flip the whole spread clockwise and/or counterclockwise:

....3.....
1...2...5
....4..... or

....4.....
5...2...1
....3.....

so that 3/4 form the base and Y/N/M and 1/5 form the triad with 2, which stays as the central card in the reading. Depending on how comprehensive you want to be with the spread, you could do all three rotations such that the original spread gives the Y/N/M and the three rotations give three other possibilities for the querent to consider if they so desire.

The above logically makes sense to me, so I'll take back what I said about not using the cards this way. The method I was leaning towards earlier (125 as combinations of Active/Passive cards to get Y/N/M answer and 324 as the reason why) can be a second method of using elemental interactions with a five card spread. There's nothing that says the method has to be one way or the other. And in this second method, an alternative interpretation can be given using 324 to get the Y/N/M and 125 as the reason why.

Rodney

Hi Rodney

I’ve just finished reading your post. You really get the picture of what I’m trying to imply with this spread. I will try to make this even clearer and give some examples of it.

Firstly, I must say that I’ve been conceiving the idea of this spread lately, almost the moment I posted in and in these days from that date I’ve come with few more but helpful ideas of how this spread would work. Let me tell you what this idea is:

The Position 1 is a helpful source of information whether the Querent gives info or not, or ask a question or not. If we are trying to figure out what the client is coming for, the Position 5 would be of no use at all, since we don’t been asked any question yet, neither a yes/no nor any other type. (On the other hand, 5 could be represent how the Querent sees the situation at 1,2,3 and 4, since 5 answer yes/no questions and we could assume that something is making feel her/him uneasy, for he/she has come to us for a Tarot reading, then 5 could represent the Querent sees whether if the suggested situation good for her/him or not)

Let’s make the assumption that a client comes to us and she or he doesn’t want to ask a question at the moment, but to hear from us whatever we would say to her/him. 5 of Discs in 1 position makes clear that client have come to know more about his/her financial situation or about worries concerning domestic matters. The 3-2-4 triad would be, main/central: 7 of wands; modifiers can be in this example 10 of Discs and Ace of Wands. It is very apparent for this cards that is probable that the mind of the Querent is filled with concerns and worries from a perhaps recent risky operation in business or one he or she is going to make (Ace of Wands). The general picture is one of he or she is going to make some hard decisions about money or properties. Or at least that is the interpretation I would give. So, that is the way will work in this case: a simple Triplet with an elemental base or background.

In the other side, the Querent would immediately start to make questions about whatsoever he/she concerns about. Then we can see 5 to be more useful here. Let me give an example of how the 5 position would work here.

A young woman has come recently to me to ask about the situation of one message she sends to a young male friend of hers. She appear to be in a stressful mind state about all this because she is in love with that lad, and the message she sends contains some words insinuates that precisely. It is also significant the time they don’t see each other – two years and there were almost no communication at all between them. The Querent wants to know if he has currently received the message.

If I am to allocate the question to an elemental background or elemental base according to its nature, I would say that it is in the Air/Yetzirah area, Water subquadrant: Issues relating friends and significant communications in early relationships or in the beginning of these. Yet, the card at the position 1 it is no Queen of Swords, nor Air card, nor even water card. It is 5 of Discs like in the earlier example. Instead of discard the reading (like often is suggested in OOTK to do), I see what the cads are trying to say with this card. It refers to a material subject instead. Then the rest of the cards in the triplet: Main/Central/2: 7 of Disks. Modifiers are 4 of Swords and Knave/Princess of Wands. 5 card is Knave/Princess of Swords.

The Triplet is mainly active, with two cards of that nature: the Modifiers. The card at 5 is also active, and that alone is giving a favorable answer to the client. Since 2 (7 of Disks) is the main card in the triplet and the whole spread (maybe along 1) the card at 5 must be paired with 2, accordingly as I think. So, the definitive answer is a “No,” because they two are enemies according to EDs. So, he hasn’t received that yet. At the time of the reading, I also say to her that that will not be a permanent problem, and is expected that very soon he would get it for sure (or almost sure).

The card at 1 and the triplet refers to something important to the answer, since later she finds out that their beloved could not ‘materially’ be able to receive the letter because he has been very busy (7of Discs) at that time with all his school and work duties and therefore he hasn’t been in the only place the letter could be delivered to him.
5 and 7 of discs can be about a lot of work, but 7 of Disks, the main card, is substantially weakened because the two other cards. Princess in this reading are foretelling the massage eventually will come at him and make an important effect, but it is somewhat matter of time. Cards 2 and 5 are saying “No,” but since 5 is friendly to the other two, pressing to the main card, the “failure” in the plans at that moment to the point it to be very instable and prone to change. So, it is a definitely “No” answer with something more to say than this alone.

So, depending of what we want to know, the cards at 1 and the triplet says something about the nature of thing being questioned or something else that is important to the Querent to know although can’t be seen at the first glance how is this important and the way or how it’s related to the question itself.

Sometimes, I also consider the Modifiers (besides that they are precisely modifying the main card) as alternatives to the answer if it is unsatisfactory, like in the later example. Is somewhat like the card at 5 were an ambassador asking for audience before a king and his royal court. Then, if the king (main card at 1) does not accede or agree to the petitions as the ambassador request (enemy combination between 1 and 5), he may find that the court surround the king is conspiring secretly against the king itself, resulting casually to make the things more accordingly to the interest the ambassador represent (my apologies if all that sounds very confusing. I find somewhat difficult to properly communicate my ideas in English).

In this way, besides the Yes-No-Maybe-Maybe Not answers, the cards together give different tints of the same color, to so speak. So, this is the way I “relate cards elementally” with position 5 (again, I feel it’s my fault to be so unintelligible at times in my writing for the given reasons aforementioned, yet this idea as appear in this form I’m describing now is very recent, and that may be the cause I can’t satisfactory explain all this).

You’re also right about the given answer can change depending of which card is relate, but that’s really what I want to from the beginning of the idea. (Perhaps this spread shouldn’t be called “Simple Yes/No Oracle,” but “Not So Simple at All Yes/No Oracle” ) Using the last example, the overall answer is that “the letter has definitely not delivered yet.” This is given by 5 and 2. But 5 and 1 announces changes and unrest in the normally dull and secure elemental level of Earth. The 5 position along these of 3 and 4, is where we suppose to find the chances, potentials, alternatives, maybe side effects, etc. (according to the divinatory meanings of the cards), to the main answer. If these Modifiers are friendly to 5, then it can be the circumstances can be favorable for a Yes answer as time passes by. If 3 and 4 are of the same element and the central card of the triplet is of the opposite, it could be interpret as a mostly “Yes” answer with few but important details still to be resolved. Again, final meanings and judgments would be all according to the divinatory meanings of the cards.

O.P.

All the previous is a complete idea. Although, it’s true what you say about my example,

“if the matter of the asked question is love, for example, and this love appears to be in the context of cards of fire nature (passion), a Fire card would answers ‘Yes,’ while water cards would answer ‘No.’”

Indeed, position 1 is the elemental base, and it could be that 5 and 1 give a main answer instead 2 and 5, that’s another idea I take into account, but I was thinking that love of fire nature would be, for instance,

- Position 1: 2 of Cups
- Position 2: Strength/Lust

Or perhaps

Position 1: Guy on a Horse of Cups (Fire of Water, as I use it).
Position 2: 4 of Wands

In any of these cases, a Fire card in 5 will answer “Yes.”

If the question asked is about love affairs but Strength/Lust (Fire/Atziluth) appears in position 1, it would say to me something more like life force, energy or vitality that could be gentler and passive in nature if Water cards appears in 2 or the others positions. Maybe with water cards it could be joy, dreams come true, art, entertainment, etc. Too many Water cards in the other positions will say to me something like hedonism, exhibitionism, jealousy, laziness, etc.; though this is the way I interpret according what I’ve learn about and the way I conceive this spread. You may disagree with that, since Strength/Lust could be easily related with love affairs after all. Even, according to me, Strength/Lust in the same situation could be referring to love affair, but in the light of the viewpoint of conquest and victory in obtaining that is desired.

Now, the idea of rotate the entire spread so it can give the other alternative answers Yes-No-Maybe-Maybe Not stills renders as a little confusing to me, because I don’t know if you’re considering in the original layout of the spread,

....1.....
3...2...4
....5.....

1 as 5 or else? Whatever it does, it sounds like a very good idea. Let me think about it: In the first example, with

1: 5 of Disks
2: 7 of Wands
3: 10 of Disks
4: Ace of Wands

Let’s suppose the Querent ask if the decision he/she is thinking to make is going to have a favorable outcome, so, for instance, in 5 appears an Air card:

5: Star

That responds accordingly “probably yes” if we compare with the central card, since the 7 of wands and the Star make friendly combination, although it seems it will not be completely secure decision an the risk is still significant to take this potential change too seriously (Star has only two friendly cards, but is opposed to one modifier and the combination with the 1 is telling me that the Querent is prone to make some mistakes in the way of the process once he/she make the decision: there is medium probability that our Star becomes a Bad Star)

If we rotate clockwise the entire spread, it would give 10 of Disks as Elemental Background. All now it’s from the point of view of the material resources the Querent has to make his/her hopes real or maybe the total of capital he/she can invest, and a triplet Main: 7 of Wands, Modifiers 5 of Disks and Star. Ace of Wands would answer “definitively yes.” And it is better pairing with the top card that is 10 of Disks. To me it is answering that if Querent wants to have a better chance of succeeding, she or he must leave behind certain attitude of daydreaming or unreal perceptions, and focus more on the detail that he/she could need to invest more funds than actually thinks, since 5 of Disks and the Star are enemies in EDs. If the Querent can attain a better sum of money, he/she can surely do it great.

The original layout, if rotated counterclockwise would give the Ace of Wands in the top as a general indicator: It is from the point of view of actions and personal effort. Maybe it tells that his/her effort after all, and from the viewpoint of his/her general welfare, is not going to worth Querent’s while. Surely it is going to be an exhaustive and maybe distressing process.

Turning the spread upside down will make the Air and the Star the boss. It represents properly the thoughts and hopes of the Querent. The triplet is then rather stronger than before, or like in the original arrangement. It appears to suggest that wishes are, in the end, difficult to realize as the client hopes. It can be concluded that as its best, the Querent may get the required resources to make it happens with some success.

What do you all really think? Is all this a good concept or I must cease having “Not so Simple” ideas for Tarot Oracles? LOL

I’d like to add some other thoughts I have concerning the later chat here about elements, the active passive trait and the nature of the answers they could give.

I know it is a common use that active cards generally could give a Yes answer and passive gives a No. As I say previously, I think that it could be all the contrary if the nature of cards say so.

I feel that Fire element in position 5 would give a “Yes” answer with a flavor of success, change and immediateness to so speak, while gives a “No” with a tone of conflict or direct opposition.

Likewise, Water element gives a “Yes” answer with a general tone of satisfaction and pleasure, or a Yes that eventually or gradually will come true, since it is a passive card. Also it could be that it was a “Yes” for some time and there will be few changes in the future. “No” answers implies passiveness, laziness or lack of initiative or energy.

An Air “Yes” in 5 position is about change and direction, to handle properly the problems, to communicate of the will and intelligence. “No” answer is about indecisiveness, too much problems, too much risks, quarrels, weakness, and lack of practical sense.

Earth answering “Yes” is something is going to happen for sure (or almost), conditions offering support for that “Yes,” or a Yes that it was there for some time, or a long lasting “Yes.” The “No” answer then, accordingly, is about inertia, inactivity, heaviness, dullness, not to hear reasons.

O.P.

OP,

There's a lot there to digest....

RE comparing 5 to 2 or 5 to 1, it's true that 2 is the central card to the spread, but 1 is the elemental base to which 3, 2, and 4 are all compared. As the central card, 2 is more important, but I think that 1 is stronger than 2 because it determines the strength of three other cards (four if you compare 5 to it) while two other cards determine the strength of 2 (three if you compare 5 to it). So I would compare 5 to 1. But I can understand comparing 5 to 2.

Your examples mostly make sense.

OperaPhantom u_u said:

Sometimes, I also consider the Modifiers (besides that they are precisely modifying the main card) as alternatives to the answer if it is unsatisfactory

Click to expand...

I wouldn't look at the modifiers as individual cards as alternatives to the primary answer. But one could move the cards in the triad around to get alternate answers. So 3-2-4 is the primary answer and 2-4-3 and 4-3-2 would be alternate answers.

Technically, when you compare 2 cards, you really only get Y/N/M answers. There's really no way (at least not that I can see) of differentiating a Maybe Yes from a Maybe No when comparing two cards. It takes an odd number of cards to be able to tease that additional info out.

And yeah, I think "Simple" needs to be removed from the title. (If you decide to do that, you'll have to PM the forum moderator to do it for you.)

I still don't know that I'd compare 5 to 3 and 4, although I can see that being done as 5/2 = the primary answer as in "Y/N because..." and then 5/3 and 5/4 being more like, "... but you need to also take into consideration...." That probably doesn't make sense, so let me put it this way, "Y/N because (explanation of 5/2 comparison), but you should also keep in mind (explanation of 5/3 comparison) and (explanation of 5/4 comparison)."

I was considering the layout of the spread to be:

....5.....
3...2...4
....1.....

with 1 as the elemental base at the bottom of the spread. And what I was suggesting for rotating the spread to look at alternative scenarios is when you rotate the spread clockwise one position, you'll get:

....3.....
1...2...5
....4.....

with 4 as the new elemental base, 125 as the primary triad and 3 as the card that's compared to 3 (or 2) to get the Y/N/M.

Rotating clockwise one position again, you'll get:

....1.....
4...2...3
....5.....

with 5 as the elemental base, 423 as the triad and 1 as the comparison card. I think you can then see how the last rotation would work....

I see where you're coming from with the element of 5 being a Yes or a No depending on the question, but I have to agree to disagree with you on using it that way. I like the way this Not-So-Simple Yes/No Idea is shaping up, but I think I will end up determining the Y/N/M in a different manner than you do. And that's perfectly fine.

Rodney

I don't use Reversals, so I just made up my own.

Since half the deck is even numbers and the other half is odd, I use even = yes and odd = no.

I draw three cards, the middle counting as a double.
So, let's say I drew...

King of Pentacles, 3 of Swords, 4 of Wands

King of Pentacles is 14 = even. 3 = odd, but counts as if it shows up twice. 4 of Wands is 4 = even.

evendd, 2:2 thus it's a maybe.
Then I'd draw another card to explain the situation.




edit
I was talking to one of my friends. He was telling me a story of what had recently occurred. I was wary of it, and used my Yes/No spread.
No, No, Yes

I just found out that the story was indeed a fabrication. :3