Outcome Card

[goddess of spring]

At what point are the tarot cards indicating my present attitude toward approaching a problem and at what point are they telling me the future? I usually use a tarot spread where I put a significator in the middle and then lay 12 cards around, which have various places to correspond to work, money, family etc. I use the Revelations Tarot deck. I'm aware that a lot of people use the Celtic spread, where they lay 10 cards down with the last one as the outcome. How does that work out for you as far as your attitude and changes you make to affect the outcome?

 

[Thirteen]

Big spreads are like road maps

I'm aware that a lot of people use the Celtic spread, where they lay 10 cards down with the last one as the outcome. How does that work out for you as far as your attitude and changes you make to affect the outcome?

The CC used appear (maybe still does) in the little white books that came with tarot decks. So a lot of new readers learned it. The problem is that the CC is not the best spread for every question. Big spreads like the CC really require a "big" question. Like "What will happen if I leave my job and travel?" not "What will happen if I have lunch at a new place tomorrow?" Small questions are better served by small spreads—like 3 card spreads or 5 card spreads.

Now, that said, the whole idea of larger spreads, including the one you do, is this: when you're very deep in a situation you lose all perspective. Kinda like you're in the middle of a traffic jam. You can's see up ahead, or behind, and you don't know whether you should get off the road or go back or what. A big spread's job is to raise you up and give you a bird's eye view. Now you can see where you came from (past), where you are (present) (just to remind you how you got there), where you're going to end up next (immediate future), and where you will ultimately end up if you don't turn off this road but keep creeping along (outcome).

More importantly, this spread gives a *reader* all this info on their sitter. A reader, after all, is like someone getting a phone call from someone in that traffic jam. Where are they now (present), what street did they take to get there (past), where will they be in the next few minutes (future). You look this all up on your map, so you can tell your sitter whether the jam is going to clear up in the end, or if it would be better to take a side street.

The outcome is rarely inevitable. What would be the point of doing such a spread otherwise? The job of any such spread is to tell you what you can expect if you stay on that road. Where will you end up? And if it's not where you want to go, what might you do to get off it and get on the right road. The CC is not for every question, nor every reader. I've never liked it myself and I don't use it. But it can and does get the job done for those who do like it. Does that answer your question?

 

[Etene]

... with the last one as the outcome. How does that work out for you as far as your attitude and changes you make to affect the outcome?

I guess you mean the difference between using a spread with and a spread without an outcome card?

I think the difference in attitude would determine which of those kinds of spreads you would choose. If you're asking about something you don't control, then a small spread with a focus on outcome, like past-present-future makes sense. If you anticipate a problem, CC tells you all about what's up and you can choose to meddle if you want. A big spread without outcomes, like an astrology house model, is fitting if you wanted to investigate a stranger's lifestyle or personality but don't have any question to ask (yet).

If having or not having an outcome card in the spread you cast affects your mindset about it which can only lower the quality of your reading then doesn't that mean you chose the wrong spread?

 

[magicjack]

You are using the Horoscope spread (I think). It doesn't really have an outcome position. The outcome is the culmination of all the cards. Finding the strengths and weaknesses and pulling it all together. Sometimes it helps to write the question down so you don't get off track when doing a larger spread.

 

[gregory]

Unless I define a card as the outcome card - I don't see an "outcome." What I do tend to see is advice. But I don't like to use tarot as a prediction tool anyway - I don't believe in predestination, so...

I NEVER use the CC. It confuses. Some of the positions are ALWAYS irrelevant to my question/situation. And so on. I do wish kits didn't so often suggest it is the only way to do.

 

[Etene]

Some of the positions are ALWAYS irrelevant to my question/situation.

Is that a problem? Do irrelevant cards damage the rest of the spread, or is the problem the reader thinking of them as distractions?

My opinion is that there are no irrelevant cards, but I'm not always wise enough to realize how their relevance will emerge.

 

[goddess of spring]

Thanks

Thanks all of you for your wisdom on which spread to use. I often use a three card spread for past, present and future as well as larger spreads. It's great to tap into the knowledge in this community as I often read for myself.

 

[gregory]

Is that a problem? Do irrelevant cards damage the rest of the spread, or is the problem the reader thinking of them as distractions?

My opinion is that there are no irrelevant cards, but I'm not always wise enough to realize how their relevance will emerge.

Well - yeah but no but yeah....

Take a sitter asking what their future partner will look like (I need to be frivolous here so as not to muddy the issue. But several people here have been posing that question lately - with more sensible spreads, I agree !!!)

But draw a CC for that. As a depressing number of LWBs in kits, as well as beginner books, recommend as the Best Spread In The World....

Then take a fairly common list of positions I pulled down off line:

Card 1: The present.
Card 2: The challenge.
Card 3: The past.
Card 4: The future.
Card 5: Above.
Card 6: Below
Card 7: Advice
Card 8: External influences.
Card 9: Hopes and/or fears.
Card 10: Outcome.

Tell me how most of those position names can POSSIBLY relate to such a question.

I would particularly suggest that "advice" and "challenge" were - fairly irrelevant ?

 

[Etene]

To be as direct as the question is, Outcome tells it. Working backward, H&F would reveal the querent's taste (and superficiality), External the kind of fashion or circumstance that explains the appearance, and Advice the attitude that will make recognizing this partner as such a person easier. The six situation cards would mostly be confirmation, signifying the querent's situation and showing if there is a future partner to investigate.

The immediate problem I had with this question (as I read it in your post it irked me) and why I would not regard it as frivolous but invalid is that it assumes that there is a future partner. That could be asked to explore a spread that indicated one, but some people don't get (or want) partners. This challenges Tarot to find a way to communicate "no such person" with one card in the outcome position. "Irrelevant" cards may be quite relevant if they show a flaw in the premise of the question.

 

[gregory]

Oh I TOTALLY agree with you there. I get very fed up when I see "When will I meet my husband" or "How will the man I fancy approach me" or "Why will he not tell me he loves me" (when it is painfully obvious that - there is nothing to tell !)

I was just trying to pick a question that could not POSSIBLY hurt anyone's feelings