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Video: Love Unwanted But Desired (Example Reading)
Tag Archives: cross spread
My First YT Video: Cross Spread Tutorial
I finally decided that there was no point in learning the theory of how to make videos. Much better to make crappy ones until something goes right. So yea, here’s the first video on my channel.
Please be patient, I am a very special kid.
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The Main Problem (Cross Spread Example Reading)
Those who read my Sibilla and Playing Cards sections are probably familiar with the cross spread I use with those decks. Turns out, the same spread can be used with the Bolognese tarot.
This querent is the same I read for here and had a crush on a colleague. The cross spread I present here is a prequel to that spread.
The cross spread may be used to look at a person’s life in general or to answer general questions (“tell me about my career”). In this case it was general. I’ll keep it short:
- Above the head position (what the querent would like or is thinking about): King of Cups, Juggler/Magician, Ace of Cups. This screams “pucture perfect family” with a husband (King), children (Juggler) and a hearth (Ace of Cups)
- Under her feet (what she doesn’t want or what she has trouble with): Love, Ace of Wands and Eight of Wands. Love and Ace of Wands together represent a relationship, and the Eight of Wands is a road or path, so it could indicate a love life. Note that this position could indicate that she doesn’t want a relationship, but considering what the cards on her head are saying, it is more plausible that she wants a relationship but has trouble obtaining it.
- To her left (past or present): Star, King of Coins, Death. This position talks about work. After checking with her, I discovered she had lost her job in the months prior to the reading and had found a new one.
- To her right (near future): Page of Swords, Fool, Seven of Cups. This speaks generically about confusing messages concerning the home.
- Center (in her heart): Angel/Judgement, Devil and King of Wands. Well, Angel and Devil together represent, traditionally, great satisfaction, connected to a man. This seems to be the cards’ polite way of saying she’s turned on by him.
- To the side (for her): Ace of Swords, Knight of Coins, Ace of Coins. Speedy positive news about money. Probably connected to the near future position, but we didn’t look further into it.
And the reason we didn’t look further into it is that the most important cards (those comprising the central column, i.e., above, heart and below) are all connected with love. This is how the spread about the colleague was born. Note, however, that this spread, when done in general, can give us brief messages about the most disparate fields of life, and it is up to us then to expand on them by either adding cards or doing other spreads.
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A Career Cross Spread (Example Reading)
When I was taught to read playing cards, the cross spread was presented to me as a general spread. However, over time I discovered that it can also be used to answer specific questions of a general nature, or simply to explore certain compartments of the querent’s life. Here is a recent spread on a male querent asking about his career:
To summarise the main meanings of the various fans:
- Left: past-present
- Center: in the heart, sometimes present
- Right: present-future
- Above: thoughts, would like
- Below: dislikes, problem
- To the side: future/answer
The cool thing about larger spreads is that sometimes we can just identify a single spot that answers the question clearly, and everything else gives details that may or may not interest the querent. Here, the clear answer occurs in the right spot: 9♣️ 8♣️ 8♠️, which translates as “for a long time the job will give the querent tears”.
Now that we have identified a clear sentence, let’s fill out the details. Since the sentence is quite negative, let’s look at other negative spots. In his heart, the querent has the 3♠️ which brings difficulties, complications etc. But it is followed by cards that bring hopes of a solution (the two Hearts). Clearly there has been something that caused the querent to start hoping.
Now look at the fan above: he would like a contract (3♣️) that gives him happiness (10♥️). Between these two cards we find the sickness card (6♠️). This could indicate that it is a vain hope or a sick hope, one that is not grounded in reality. On the left we see that he has a small income (3♦️) but works hard (5♣️ J♣️) so it’s not that he doesn’t deserve job security. Below we see a difficult situation with a man that might be his boss or a superior. Clearly he is not the teacher’s pet (the Q♣️ simply shows that the querent’s troubles reflect badly on his love life).
The final fan unfortunately robs the querent of all hope, although it argues that there will be help from a man. To dig deeper I should have done another spread. As it stands, the detail is quite vague.
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What Do I Need to Hear Right Now? Example Reading
Occasionally, people throw questions at you that clearly they’ve been trained to ask by other readers. One of these questions is “what do I need to hear right now?”
The question is tricky, because, strictly speaking, we never ‘need’ to hear anything. To suggest otherwise is to imply that the universe is some kind of paternalistic (or maternalistic) minister of welfare with a moral compass that somehow overlaps with that of modern coastal elites.
However, this is not to say that the question is unanswerable. The cards describe situations, and we can, using common sense, derive healthy tips for our querents from them. We can also make the following assumptions about the querent, when we hear something like this:
- The querent is not necessarily looking for a prediction.
- They are more or less lost and in need of some guidance.
- Even if they aren’t lost, they are missing something or something isn’t clicking into place in their life.
- (more rarely, they are missing nothing, but they still want to invite an element of supernatural guidance into their life. This still implies a level of dissatisfaction.)
- The answer they prefer is probably formulated in terms of ‘oracular advice’ similar to the one heroes get by the Gandalf figure of their story (for instance, in the theory of the monomyth)
Assumptions can be deadly, but we need to start somewhere. So here’s the spread I got when I got asked the “What do I need to hear right now?” question by a querent:
To refresh people’s memory, the meaning of the positions is:
- Up: What’s on his/her mind
- Down: what the querent treads on (they don’t like, causes trouble)
- Left: leaving behind
- Right: going toward
- Center: in his/her heart
- To the side: for him/her
Since we have nothing to start our analysis from given the vague question, let’s take a quick note of something obvious: except the cards the querent is leaving behind, all other packs end with a Spade, signifying trouble (the cards she treads on end with a Heart, but the position itself is one of trouble).
The fact that the querent is leaving behind the only good thing in her life is not encouraging. These cards speak of a happy family. Clearly this is no longer the case, at least for her. And look at what’s on her mind! Double Spade! She is not in a good place mentally at the moment. She feels isolated and impeded at every turn.
There’s desire in her heart (the Nine of Hearts) but she cannot express it (Spade on the Four of Clubs, the card of words).
The two little fans regarding the future talk about various problems, both economic and marital, but we need not delve too deeply into them. As far as the cards below her are concerned, it turned out during the reading that her dad has lost much of his mobility and is in need of assistance.
Clearly, this is the spread of a frustrated, borderline depressed woman. it could be a very good jumping-off point for more spreads, each one analyzing the various situations going on in her life. But that is not the point. The querent doesn’t want to know about each of them separately (notice how the cards seem to talk about various themes in a very cursory manner). She wants to know what she needs to know at the moment.
So, what do we tell her? First, we remind her that life is made of ups and downs, and that she doesn’t need to despair; Second, in times of hardship she must not let go of the few things that she derives (or derived) joy from; Third, there is no shame in asking for help, including professional help, and she must not exaggerate with the self-abnegation, or she’ll run herself into the ground; Fourth, she must try to make space in her life for what she desires (hobbies, passions, etc.) no matter how little time she can dedicate to it, because it will keep her sane, and when the situation improves, she’ll be glad she has planted those seeds.
MQS
A Money Spread – With a Mistake
Not even the best card readers are 100% correct, and I’m far from being the best card reader. This is an example from some time ago. The querent was a woman she asked me, generally, about her finances.
Looking at the spread as a whole, it is clear that it’s about money. In the upper position there are money issues highlighted, particularly a sudden (Seven of Spades) expense. The position below, which often needs to be connected to the one above, indicates issues connected with authority, possibly a bank or other financial institution (the King of Spades and King of Diamonds). In the past position we have a situation of slowness and difficulties for a long time, while in the heart position there are difficulties, possibly either obtaining something or getting it back (the Six of Hearts can mean that) or just simply difficulties finding one’s footing.
I ask the querent and she tells me that she’s a small business owner and business has been slow, and she’s been having trouble applying for financial help in the form of loans to renovate her business (note the Six of Hearts) and make it more appealing.
Encouraged by how responsive the spread seems to be, a look at the future positions. This is where I got everything wrong. I tell her that, although there is trouble (Six of Spades) she will get a positive answer (the last fan with the Three of Clubs and the Jack of Hearts). Looking back it is quite obvious the cards were saying something else.
She didn’t get the loan. The fan with the Six of Spades is not positive at all, even though I had decided to interpret it positively: it merely shows she will be quickly (Two of Hearts) refused the loan, possibly because she is not deemed to have her finances in order.
However, she later did end up partnering (Three of Clubs) with another woman (Queen of Diamonds) to start something new (Jack of Hearts).
A Cross Spread with Playing Cards
The cross spread I use is often used to get a general picture of the querent before them asking questions. It is useful because people don’t always know what’s really important in their life: they may come to you with a pressing issue which ends up being of no consequence: you can’t find a job, but the cards say it doesn’t even matter because you’ll inherit from an unknown uncle tomorrow. The bottom line is: our perspective on our own life is always limited. The chief use of divination is to give us a wider bird-eye view of our life.
This is a spread I did for a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in a while (note that it is possible to take out the significator of the person, as I did here, but it is not necessary)
The first thing I noticed, which ended up not having anything to do with the rest of the reading, is the past position, with the Ten of Clubs, the Ten of Hearts and the Two of Hearts. Upon asking if she’d traveled with family (the Two of Hearts) she said she’d been to Japan with her brother. Clearly this was a journey she’d wanted to go on for a while because the Ten of Hearts is a card of great fulfillment.
The cards over the head and those under the feet are often to be connected (though this isn’t a hard rule). In this case she’s thinking about a woman from her family (Queen of Hearts with Ace of Hearts) in a surprising way. This is not very easy to interpret, so we look under her feet and we find the Three of Spades, the Nine of Clubs and the Nine of Hearts. She’s not happy (Nine of Hearts below) about their interaction, she feels like taking some distance from her.
Upon asking my friend, she said she’s been very disappointed in realizing her mother is starting to have occasional senile moments, which she has reacted to by cutting off contact, not because she doesn’t love her, but because she doesn’t know how to deal with the stress of her realization. I explained to her that the cards in her head still show a great deal of love (three heart cards) so the best course of action is to talk openly about it.
As I was saying this to her, the cards in the center or heart position suddenly made sense to me (I had skipped over them initially because I didn’t know how to interpret them). Contact (Two of Diamonds, Four of Clubs) is going to resume (Six of Hearts) quickly (it’s in the center)
As for the two future positions, they talk about financial/work issues. The right fan (what’s coming to the querent) shows something that should be given to her by an authority figure but there are issues. Looking at the other fan I ventured a guess that it’s money. My friend said she’s waiting for a loan to be approved to refurbish the store she owns. This will be hard and long and she’s probably going to have to jump through absurd hoops (Nine of Spades, Jack of Spades) but the money should come (Seven of Diamonds closing).
MQS
General Cross Spread / Cartomancy with Playing Cards
In the Sibilla section of this site I posted some spreads that may also be used with playing cards. One type of spreads is generally used for broad readings without a specific focus. I must confess I don’t often use these spreads myself when reading for others (especially the 21 card spread which I will cover in another post), although I have found them invaluable for a quick glance into my own future.
A typical general spread is the cross spread. The disposition of the cards, after shuffling and having the deck cut by the querent, is as follows:
| 4 – 9 – 14 | ||
| 2 – 7 – 12 | 1 – 6 – 11 | 3 – 8 – 13 |
| 5 – 10 – 15 |
The center of the spread (cards 1, 6, 11) indicates the querent’s present situation, or something that is happening that is very important to them. To the querent’s left (2, 7, 12) is his or her recent past. To the querent’s right (3, 8, 13) is his or her future in the next month or so. Above the querent (4, 9, 14) are his or her thoughts or something they are aware of, while underneath (5, 10, 15) shows something the querent doesn’t like or doesn’t know.
This spread is general, but I am sure it can be adapted to answer broad questions (“Tell me about my career”). It can also be used to investigate a person the querent is interest in knowing about (“My friend’s been behaving strangely lately…”)
One variation of this spread consist in shuffling the remaining cards again and dealing out an additional three cards for the further future or for the “answer”.
Here’s an example. I asked a friend of mine if we could do a spread for her as a demonstration and she graciously accepted. Here’s what came out.
| 3♣ – 3♥ – 9♣ | ||
| J♥ – A♦ – 4♠ | 8♥ – 6♠ – 8♠ | K♠ – 6♦ – A♥ |
| 7♠ – J♠ – 7♦ |
It is never a good idea to start talking immediately, especially when the spread is general. It is always better to simply let your eyes absorb the cards as a whole.
Still, it is quite evident that the central heap is rather problematic, as it shows illness. This is not the querent’s own illness, but that of a relative (Eight of Hearts). This is confirmed by the future cards, where there is worry in the house, with the King of Spades in this case as the doctor. The querent’s grandma needs some minor surgery, it turns out, but given her age, her family is understandably concerned. Fortunately there is no indication of great difficulties, let alone bereavement.
The querent’s thoughts, however, are occupied by the desire for a lasting love union (upper fan), which however she doesn’t have, considering the past fan (blocked news concerning romance).
The bottom fan is difficult to interpret, as it doesn’t appear to link up with the others. It is very possible that, in her life in general, the querent doesn’t feel seen or appreciated (the Seven of Diamonds is money, but also rewards, broadly construed) and she feels unlucky.
This spread, as can be seen, is short and quick, and should ideally only be used as an “opener” to break the ice, before moving on to specific spreads.
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