When to use:
- You’ve become entranced with a pair of opposites and you want to know how they are operating in yourself.
- You're just interested in big, philosophical ideas like “loyalty & disloyalty”, “anger & fear”, “love & repulsion”.
- You
feel a division within yourself, as if you are two people instead of
one, and you are arguing or not seeing each other's point of view.
Shuffle
and Deal: Say the two words you’ve selected to work with out loud. Then
let those words leave your mind completely as you warm up the deck with
a shuffle. Your mind wanders. You hear the sound of the cards riffling
together.
Deal all the cards out face down into two piles as you
say the words, one for each pile. You decide which pile is which. You
don’t have to keep saying the words out loud once you know which pile is
which. You may find once you’ve fallen silent, that the cards want to
be in one pile or the other. You know which is which now, so throw the
cards, one by one, into which ever pile they want.
Straighten the piles and set them next to each other.
Draw the top card from one of the piles and place it face up below (towards you, not underneath) its pile.
Thinking
of the word you’ve assigned this pile, look at the card and ask
yourself, “What do I need to know about [whatever you named the pile]?
You are faced with some aspect of loyalty or anger or love or whatever.
It may surprise you or confuse you. You may know exactly what the card
is referring to and what it has to say about the subject. You may find
the card feels like a rebuke or like praise. All of these emotions you
feel when looking at the card, if you feel any at all, are hooks. They
are the places where you are snagging yourself on the world. They are
gifts and probably the entry into the real reason you are doing this
reading.
Let yourself feel and think whatever you’re going to feel
and think about this card for at least a breath, better two or three.
In that space, allow a question to form in your mind, something further
to learn as indicated by the card. If no question comes, do one of the
following:
- Pick a symbol on the card and say what it
represents to you right now. Ask why you need to pay attention to
whatever it symbolizes.
- If there’s a figure on the card, put
yourself in its pose. Notice and name whatever change you feel when you
take on their posture and gesture. Allow the figure to give you a
question to ask.
- Think of the traditional meanings for the card,
or ever look them up in a book, and turn the meaning that catches your
eye into a question.
Write your question down for later.
Draw
a second card from the bottom of the same pile. Read it as you did the
first card. Write down this card’s question below the first question.
Draw
the top and bottom cards for the other pile in the same way. First the
top card, thinking of the name you’ve given this pile, sitting with the
card, hearing and recording the question that arises from it. Then the
bottom card, placing it next to the top card over on the side of your
table next to the pile it comes from. Write down the questions these
cards raise.
You should now have four cards, one pair to the left
and one pair to the right, and at least four questions. (Some cards may
generate more than one question.)
One thing that can be really
cool here is to lay each pair of cards into crosses. This gives you two
crossed pairs like the opening of the Celtic Cross spread. These
crosses can be read as a conversation between cards pointing out two
different aspects of a situation. They can show conflict, literally
where two aspects clash, but they can also illuminate more subtle
nuances. They may show what you know and don’t know, what your heart and
head are saying, what is stuck and what has movement. There are many
things two crossed cards can tell you. Breathe and see what yours are
saying.
If you feel like you want to draw cards for your new
questions, now is the time to do that. You don’t even have to draw
cards. You’ve asked the questions. They are in your mind and your mind
will work on their answer whether or not you have time to lay the cards
down. But probably, if you are a reader, you’ll want to know what cards
you would have gotten for these questions so go ahead and throw some
cards down.
Draw a card for each question that emerged in the
first part of the reading. In the answer, find peace, and strength, and
understanding, and the desire to do something.