Tarot Twist

by Marcus Katz

  This method works well for highly personal questions or when reading for oneself. Shuffle the deck and take out nine cards. Place them in three stacks, face-down. These are the three monkey piles.

  SEE NO EVIL HEAR NO EVIL SPEAK NO EVIL

  Then ask yourself (or your Querent) when you consider your situation or question, is it something you see in your mind, in visualization? Is it something you hear, the sounds of someone’s voice for example, or music? Or is it something you describe to yourself in words as an internal dialogue?

  Whichever of those internal representations is foremost dictates which Monkey pile you pick. For visualized situations, pick See No Evil, for auditory situations, pick Hear No Evil, and for internal dialogue, pick Speak No Evil.

  Then read the three cards as what you or your Querent is NOT seeing, hearing or telling yourself – and which you need to see, hear or be told.

  Pit and Pendulum Method

  Perfect for prediction of passage from peril and predicament.

  In this method, mayhaps considered a parody of Poe, we look at a way of reading cards for when the Querent or oneself feels assailed by enemies and generally up against the wall.

  Take your dire situation, particularly one with a deadline approaching.

  Take out a Significator. Place it in the centre of the table.

  Shuffle the deck. Split it into two, face-down.

  Take one card from the bottom of both piles and place the two cards in the centre of the table next to each other, either side of the Significator. These are the RATS.

  Now take another card from the top of both piles. Lay these out face-down at the top-end of your table furthest away from you. These are the PIT cards.

  Now take the two piles and spread them out in two lines left and right of you. Begin to slide them in towards your Significator. These are the RED HOT WALLS.

  When you feel that the situation is totally messed up on the table, with cards all over the place, take out the PIT cards and the RATS cards.

  Read the PIT cards as divining the situation which is only feared but not really present and the RATS cards as an element in the situation you can use to escape, even if it means facing a fear.

  The cards of the two walls are merely for dramatic effect.

  This method can also benefit from the use of a pendulum.

  In Two Minds Spread

  A Method for performing a spread when you are in two minds about a situation.

  In this split-spread, we use only the 14 cards of the Swords suit and the 22 Major Arcana. This gives you 36 cards.

  Shuffle and decide on two positions, left and right, for the two sides of your decision, i.e. Stay or Go, Fred or Bill, Sell or Keep …

  Lay out 6 cards in each “mind”.

  The cards indicate the nature of each situation as it will transpire.

  The Majors in either row are the deciding factors and should be given due attention to the overall reading.

  Second Opinion Method

  A trick to get a second-opinion on your reading for yourself.

  When you are reading for yourself, it can be difficult to perform a critical interpretation. One method is to place the cards down on a table as if you were reading for someone on the other side, then go and sit on the other side of the table and read them from that position, using the second-person language “You …” and speaking out loud.

  Another interesting way of getting a second-opinion, at a set financial cost to yourself (other than asking another reader to do it) is to simply take a clear photo of the cards and place them up as an advertisement in a shop some distance from you, with just your telephone number on the advert.

  The advert should read, say for example, if you have a $50 budget for the reading:

  REWARD! Can someone tell me what these are, and what they might mean? I think they are Tarot. Phone xxx-xxxx-xxxx and let me know what they mean if you know. Possible $50 reward for first helpful answer.

  G olden Dawn Temple Spread

  A spread to divine where healing may be found in the midst of sickness or suffering.

  I come in the power of the light,

  I come in the light of wisdom,

  I come in the Mercy of the Light

  The Light hath healing in its wings

  Neophyte Ritual, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

  In this spread, we take the layout and structure of the Neophyte ritual of the Golden Dawn, itself laid out to a synthetic groundplan of Kabbalistic, Astrological and Tarot associations.

  This spread is particularly suitable to devise a healing ritual upon, as the positions of the cards relate to so many equilibrated forces. The twist is that you can take the cards and place them around you or your sleeping area in the same positions (you in centre of two triangles) for a short time to equilibrate your own environment.

  These positions have the following signification:

   Hierophant: What is being revealed by this suffering.

   Hierus: “I am called fortitude by the unhappy” – where rest can be found.

   Hegemon: The reconciler between light and darkness – how this disease will be reconciled with life.

   Stolistes: The Water of the suffering – what is being emotionally refined within the sickness and pain.

   Dadouchos: The Fire of the suffering – what is being consecrated and refined through this time.

   Kerux: The Guide – where this pain will lead.

  Illus. Golden Dawn Temple Spread.

  Rose Cross Spread

  A simple Rosicrucian Spread for spiritual wisdom.

  This simple spread uses the word ROSA meaning Rose as an Acronym for the Spread meanings. This is a great way to design many spreads. It uses four cards which should be laid out in a circle.

  Illus. Dat Rosa Mel Apibus.

  Rose: What is unfolding in my spiritual life?

  Occult: What is the secret of my hidden life?

  Spirit: What is the spiritual path for me?

  Action: What action will further my spiritual path?

  Tao Tarot Method

  A contemplative arrangement of the cards to reflect the Way of Water.

  Take the Tarot deck and spread it out before you face-up. Begin to swirl the cards about with your hands, watching how certain cards move about, noticing how your eyes are brought to certain cards and colors. Notice how patterns form between the cards, but do not linger too long before they disappear again into the ever-present flow of movement.

  Remember this swirling feeling when you next look at a flat still spread.

  Your Spread

  A challenge to you the dear reader.

  When you read this page think of your own spread, from those inspired herein or the methods we have suggested at the end of this book. Have a look around you, see what inspires a spread, method or new pattern – a new way of using your Tarot.

  This is the true purpose of this book, to ensure that you are free to develop your own approach to Tarot with your own distinct voice. Enjoy!

  Toppling Pennies Spread (Push Method)

  A Method for discovering where you can make a difference and divine the tipping point.

  Malcolm Gladwell detailed much about the Tipping Point – the small things that make a difference, in his book of the same name. In NLP, we speak of the “difference that makes a difference”. In Quantum Physics, there is a Catastrophe Theory which has also been utilized in Chaos Magick. In our lives at any given moment are threshold or liminal points where just one change can make a huge difference.

  In this method we model how a threshold is created by a rather simple play on our cards, to divine where in our lives we should concentrate to make the biggest difference.

  You need a large tabletop or similar raised smooth surface with an edge. Ensure that below the edge is nothing that will damage your Tarot cards other than a small drop. You can place something below the edge to catch your cards, or simply use a rugged deck.

  Take you
r deck and consider all the opportunities you have, all the decisions you have made until this point. Consider how they tumble and fall into each other, like pushing the grains of sand across a vast beach of time … now take your deck and face-down smooth it out across the table, mix it around, into a big circle of cards.

  Then very gradually start to think about your future and push the cards as a mass towards the edge of the table. Think carefully about all the mistakes you have ever made, all the things that turned out differently than you expected. Allow some cards to start to fall off the edge of the table.

  Then when you are content you have pushed the cards enough to represent your life thus far, select only those cards that are over the edge of the table but still hanging on in there – these are the tipping point cards and their interpretation will indicate where you can make differences in your life with most immediate effect.

  For example, if my several tipping point cards were 2 of Cups, Devil, 3 of Pentacles and 3 of Swords, it would indicate a huge difference in my life would be created by working with somebody else in an exclusive manner.

  Light /Dark Spread

  A simple method to throw more light by less light on a reading.

  Take a number of candles, with appropriate care and perform a standard spread with them lit and no other light source.

  Extinguish one of the candles and notice how the images of the cards change, if at all, how colors become more significant, certain features become more or less prominent.

  Extinguish another candle and repeat.

  When all candles have been extinguished, spend 5 minutes in darkness seeing what you now notice about the spread in your mind.

  The Night Train

  A Visualization challenge when learning the Tarot or a new deck.

  It should be possible for you to go to sleep whilst working through all the deck in your imagination.

  Spend the time before sleep going through the Major Arcana in your mind’s eye, seeing what you recall about each, and ensuring you can easily bring them to mind in the correct sequence.

  Then see if you can work through each Suit, from Ace to Ten and then the Page to King in the Court cards. Perhaps practice with one suit for a week before moving onto the next suit.

  You should be able to easily run through the entire deck in your mind in about ten minutes before sleep. This is a great experience to practice with a new deck and you will learn something new every night and every morning when you look at the deck again!

  Sherlock Holmes Spread (Investigative Spread)

  By eliminating the impossible in this method, we discover the improbable truth.

  "You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. When, then, did he come?"

  Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four (1890)

  More often than not, Tarot readings are presented within a positive frame, that is to say, as a prediction of what will (or is, or was) happening. Here we twist that into a “not” frame, that is to say, what is not happening or likely to happen. We start at the absolutely not, and work inwards, so that whatever is not said, whatever remains, not matter however improbable, must be the truth.

  In this method, we lay-out all cards face-down and then turn them all up at the same time, as in a dénouement at the end of a murder mystery. You will see throughout twist that sometimes cards are laid face-up, one at a time, or at the same time, sometimes laid face-down, and turned up one at a time. There are interesting differences in the way you go about reading in these various styles and it is worth investigating.

   Take your deck and shuffle.

   Consider the situation.

   Select one card. Lay it out face-down and say “This is not happening”.

   Lay out two cards beneath and say “This is very unlikely the case”.

   Lay out three cards beneath and say “This is unlikely the case”.

   Lay out four cards beneath and say “This is probably not the case”.

   Turn all seven cards up and investigate the matter.

  Spread of the Ninth Arch (Typhonian Spread)

  A dark grimoire spread to disperse nightmares of the nightside of the Tree of Life.

  They say that Choronzon disperse; Set confuses; Chozzar dissolves; Yuggoth forgets …

  (The Book of the Spider: 8)[8]

  The typhonian works of Kenneth Grant dwell upon the distinct differences between the rational conscious mind and the swirling voracious depths of the unconscious. When we have nightmares, this distinction is overwhelmed and the fears can play out in everyday life. If you are troubled by a particular concern, we can work with the dualistic “energies of the conscious mind”, Choronzon, Set, Chozzar and Yuggoth, to absorb this fear.

  This working is best done by candle-light and with a deck whose images disturb or challenge your sensibilities. The twist is that this is a spread that uses only reversed cards. Take your fear in your mind and heart and shuffle the deck.

   Choronzon: Lay out five cards face down. Turn them over with the words “This is what disperses my fear into the Abyss”. Remove any upright cards. If all cards are upright, the reading is complete. Read any remaining reversed cards as advisory to the dispersion of your fear.

   Set: Lay out another five cards similarly, with the words, “This is what consigns my fear to darkness.” Again, only read reversed cards. If all cards are upright, the reading is complete.

   Chozzar: Lay out five cards again, with the words, “This is how my fear is eaten”. The same instructions as before apply.

   Yuggoth: Finally lay out five final cards, with the words, “This is how my fear will be forgotten”. Here also, only reversed cards are read.

  Dream Spread

  Working with a Dream through Tarot.

  In our Tarot workshops, we tend to teach a Jungian approach to dreams, with a reasonably standard interpretation of the environments, symbols, characters and events taking place within dreaming. As Tarot is based on images of the same archetypal energies as contacted within dreams, it is sensible to create a living dialogue through Tarot which teaches our mind to use this expressive language.

  Take THE MOON Tarot card and look over it before sleep.

  Imagine it in your mind as you go to sleep. You may find it helpful to imagine it moving slightly towards you when breathing in, and slightly away each time you breath out, so it gently floats in and out of your awareness. As you fall asleep, as best you can, feel as if you are falling into the card – make it bigger as it comes towards you until it surrounds you.

  Record any dreams in the morning. You may continue this exercise with the same card until you have one or two dreams.

  When you have a dream, consider it to be the basis of a situation about which you are performing a divination with your Tarot. We use a split-spread, so divide your deck into Majors, Minors and Court Cards.

  The recognizable lead characters in the dream are known aspects of your conscious mind – for each of the characters in the dream pull one Court Card to divine its nature.

  Any strangers in your dream are unknown parts of your self – for each pull one Court Card to divine its message to you.

  The environment (house, playground, ocean, etc.) of the dream is your representation of your own character – pull three Major cards to divine its message.

  The events in the dream are representations of unconscious processes and patterns – pull four cards from the forty Minors only to divine the message of these processes to you at this time.

  ABRAHADABRA Method/Spread

  A magical Tarot Triangle spread for removing oneself from an unwanted situation.

  The magical phrase Abracadabra is written into our conscious
ness from an early age, particularly those of us who attended British pantomimes or have watched children’s stage magicians.

  The word of power is particularly useful as a means of ridding oneself of an unwanted situation, particularly where you wish someone would simply swallow their own words. By using Tarot, we can define, divine, and disassociate ourselves from the situation in one combined method.

  Take consideration of the situation, shuffle the deck and lay out 11 cards in a straight line from left to right. These divine the situation as it presently exists. Leave the cards out for a day and night. On the second day, remove the last card from the right-hand side of the line. This now shows the situation being open to change.

  Illus. ABRAHADABRA.

  On the third day, remove the next card, and so forth for a period of ten days until you are left with only one card, the card which was on the left of the whole spread. This is the card which frees you from the situation.

  Remove that card and return it to the deck. If the magick works, the situation will resolve – at the very least, you will have gained more insight into the situation itself over the eleven days.