Hey Red,
Looks like I posted at the same time as you, and my reply got bumped..! No worries though. Ronia: didn't realise those were practice threads. I think we should definately get a Learning Circle just for the GT in general, and if you're organizing one each month, all the better. Count me in!
Now, Red:
Whenever the querrent falls to the sides like that, especially the right side of the spread, it's been my experience that the querrent is about to undergo some big changes and that it's not the right time to forecast any predictions until the changes have happened. Yes, it probably is all Karmic and your world is changing around you.
With respect to your question on a card falling in its own house (and I'm totally new to Treppner, so this is a stab in the dark for me), I'd be tempted to say that it solidifies its meaning, and doesn't nullify it. Since the path fall in the house of pathes, it's almost like a choice is before you, but you don't yet see the choice. Any path will likely do, right? But there are too many choices and questions that you can't make up your mind. That said, I would normally read the diagonals from the X-road to see what we're talking about instead of resorting to the houses...
So your crossroads is surrounded by the coffin and fish on the one hand (coffin / path / fish) and the anchor and rider on the other. Perhaps you're not being as successful financially as you would like (in fact, hard times given the coffin and fish) and you're undecided whether you should keep at things until you here some good news.
I'm only answering this part because you specifically asked about the path, but given that it doesn't fall in your present or your past (we have no future to read), I would not have gone to read it in the first place.
Above you, as you have noticed are several bad cards. If they haven't happened yet, they're about to. It looks like the end of a job / layoffs or something of the sorts that you're unable to avoid. I think it's sudden unemployment. Let's look at more details...
Directly diagonal to the scythe is the mountain and the unknown. Ok, this looks like you're cutting away at a problem /blockage and that it will end. A tad more positive perhaps?
Directly diagonal to the whip is the garden and book, so this might mean that you'll have some strife within your entourage... people around you fighting and upset at things at the unknown.
Right above you is the ring, diagonally to the ring are the clouds and mountain. Perhaps the commitment / contract isn't all that great, and causing some confusion or anxiety, not to mention it's binding / hindering your progress.
Your question "how do I read it? Up or down?" to me, the answer is the closer something is to the querrent card, the more affected by it the person is. You're more affected by the ring than the scythe... that said, they all influence your present and that means they all affect you greatly.
