Barleywine
I just created this spread because I've been trying for over a year to locate my wife's missing necklace. The other spreads I've seen and horary astrology alone didn't give enough information. This spread blends tarot techniques with the discovery methods of horary astrology to determine the general location, specific placement, relative visability and, in some cases, present condition of misplaced items, thereby enabling their recovery (I hope). The layout provides the tools to locate the item in relational space (nearer, farther, higher, lower, etc.), while the card interpretation attempts to pinpoint the item's "hiding place" in more precise terms.
Note that the layout is just the map; I don't try to make a story out of the cards. The meat of the reading is in determining the significance of the cards that fall in each position. In the center is any card or object that can represent both the querent's present location (for the directional and near/far determinations) and the lost item itself (through a "sympathetic magic" association). For my wife's reading I used the Lenormand "Ring" card from the Gilded Reverie. Reversed cards I consider less likely places to look and keep them for last (although I use them as negative numbers if I decide to do a derived "quint"). I look at Trump card locations first (unless it's a card that gives me a decisive "No!" like Judgement, which tells me "it's gone to meet it's maker." I have a whole list of Trump card meanings for locational purposes, as well as general guidelines for suits and numbers.) If that doesn't work, I look at court cards to see who might know more about it or perhaps have it in their room. Finally I look at the minors to fine-tune the near/far, specific placement, physical condition and search duration variables. Finding nothing by any of these, I'll derive a quint card as a last resort; it doesn't get a position, just gives an overall impression.
I didn't find the necklace in the likely or unlikely places (but did find a couple of other interesting items we never missed), so I did the quint and got the Chariot; I'm going to look in the car next, more thoroughly than before.
Note that the layout is just the map; I don't try to make a story out of the cards. The meat of the reading is in determining the significance of the cards that fall in each position. In the center is any card or object that can represent both the querent's present location (for the directional and near/far determinations) and the lost item itself (through a "sympathetic magic" association). For my wife's reading I used the Lenormand "Ring" card from the Gilded Reverie. Reversed cards I consider less likely places to look and keep them for last (although I use them as negative numbers if I decide to do a derived "quint"). I look at Trump card locations first (unless it's a card that gives me a decisive "No!" like Judgement, which tells me "it's gone to meet it's maker." I have a whole list of Trump card meanings for locational purposes, as well as general guidelines for suits and numbers.) If that doesn't work, I look at court cards to see who might know more about it or perhaps have it in their room. Finally I look at the minors to fine-tune the near/far, specific placement, physical condition and search duration variables. Finding nothing by any of these, I'll derive a quint card as a last resort; it doesn't get a position, just gives an overall impression.
I didn't find the necklace in the likely or unlikely places (but did find a couple of other interesting items we never missed), so I did the quint and got the Chariot; I'm going to look in the car next, more thoroughly than before.