Reading for Patty

An Example of Card Counting and Card Pairing

Date: 10/05/2003
Deck Used: Medieval Scapini
Spread Used: 5-Card General Spread (No position meanings)

Question:
Will the police job come through or is there something else out there?

This is actually a two part question and should be broken down into two separate questions but I decided to leave it as is to see what the cards could tell me (us). The question probably should have been reworded as well to do a full reading. Otherwise I should have just done a simple YES/NO queston and answer. For YES/NO questions and answers look under the heading 'Card Reading Tips' in the left hand links.

Cards Drawn:

..... 9 of Wands ............... 2 of Coins ................ The Fool ............. King of Wands ........... The Emperor ..

Note: I talked to Patty and she pointed out that the 9 of Wands (one last obstacle/being on the defensive) and The Emperor (Authority) could indicate the law, law enforcement, the police, and so on. I agree. I also think that the King of Wands (Passion, Power, Authority) could also indicate these things, although the law usually falls under the realm of Swords (imo). Be that as it may I could end the reading right here and just say 'YES' to her question about the job with the police coming through. But why not see what the cards have to say anyway.

Breaking the cards down into a text like format, adding elements, dignities, and card counting values we come up with the following.

Note: ID = Ill-Dignified

See:
Major Arcana Chart Chart for the elemental associations for the Major Arcana.
Card Counting Chart for the card counting values.

Elemental Breakdown

With no Cups/Water then we have two scenario's. Either there is little to no emotion(s) involved in the question, OR the question is so emotional that the cards are being kind enough not to add to them. Plus emotions and feelings do show up in the cards if you know where and how to look for them. The King of Wands alone indicates passion and desire - which often involves work (suit of Wands).

We have 2 Fire elements over the norm. In other words with five cards the optimal elemental breakdown should be 1, 1, 1, 2, and we would have one (1) element that appears twice in the reading. But in the layout we have 3 Fire elemental cards, the 9 of Wands, the King of Wands, and The Emperor. Checking my Elemental Stress Factors Charts I have:

2-Cards Over - Fire/Wands - nervous stress, job (or lack of) related stress (even if the job is in the home, housewife, etc.)

As you can see this goes along with Patty's concern about her job situation and adds some of the missing emotions from not having any Cups/Water cards in the layout.

We have 4 Active elements (Fire & Air) working and one (1) Passive element (Earth). This normally means the seeker will take the bull by the horns and actively seek an outcome.

Possible Focal Points

PCM Breakdown

Having two (2) Majors in five (5) cards is more than enough to let us know that this is an important question for Patty. This is one (1) over what we should have in the layout and once again looking at my Elemental Stress Factors Charts I have written:

1 - Card Over - Majors - spiritual stress

Job stress and spiritual stress go hand in hand so this is not really much of a surpise. It's always easier to be spiritully grounded if you aren't worrying about if you're going to be able to pay the rent or put food on the table. Under adverse situations is when we really need to reach and seek spiritual guidance but seldom do.

The one (1) court in my opinion represents Patty herself even though it's a King. To many times we forget that Kings and Knights can be women and that Pages and Queens can be men. We have two Pips, one of which is ill-aspected (ill-dignified) in the 2 of Coins [ID] which means we can change things with these two cards as well as with the King of Wands. The King of Wands may also be the attributes Patty needs to cultivate in order to see her through (more on this later). The two (2) Majors are going to happen - or at least are very likely to happen so it's better to be prepared than to have them come as a complete surprise.

The Reading

Since I consider this the Air of Fire King the things Patty needs to develop within herself are intellect and motivation, passion and power, be firm and authoritive, and not be afraid to grow.

Looking at the image of the King of Wands (Fire/Active) he's looking straight ahead so we need to find another way to decide what direction he's pointing. I consider this King as moving/pointing to the right for a couple of reasons. But the main reason is I view the Active elements as the conscious elements and that the conscious is right (our right as we look at him), whereas the left is the subconscious/unconscious (Passive elements). The other reason is that by starting the count going right we will end up hitting all the cards in the spread before we land on one we have already hit and stop the card count part of the reading.

Looking at the cards above we see that behind the King, indicating the past or his sub/unconscious, we have The Fool. In Patty's immediate past was 'something new and exciting coming into her life' which she took advantage of by moving to California and a new life. Ahead of the King, or consciously she wants the authority and control to run her own life and to make her own decisions. She also wants order in her life which I believe is of great value to this lady.

Looking at the table above we see that the King has a count of 4. We start this count at/on the King and will count 4 to the right. When we get to the end (The Emperor) we simply jump to the other side of the spread and continue to count from there. So our count of 4 will take us to the 2 of Coins [ID].

3

4

1

2

The Earthy 2 of Coins (Pentacles) is ill-dignified and I read this as 'to many things going on at the same time and that Patty's disorganization and her own uncertainty is causing her difficulties'. To the left we have the neutral element Fire (to Earth) in the 9 of Wands which in this case I read as her 'defensiveness and her lack of trust in people' (this card will change meanings as I go - as will some of the others because that's the way it made sense to me). To the right of the 2 of Coins [ID] we have The Fool (Air) which would be ill-dignified except that's it's picking up strength from the King of Wands/Fire - which is to the right of The Fool/Air (Fire and Air are friendly) making The Fool neutral and in this case I see The Fool as the potential for a 'new beginning - or something new coming into Patty's life if she can overcome her lack of trust and insecurities and become open and receptive to this new beginning'. There's no need to check the table above since the Pip cards 2 through 10 take on their own values when counting cards - in this case 2.

Counting 2 to the right and remembering to start at the 2 of Coins we are only going to move one card to the right and end up on The Fool. Again Patty has the potential of 'being open and receptive to something new coming into her life'. To The Fool's right we have the King of Wands once again telling Patty to 'buck up' and to cultivate her personal power, passion, authority, motivation, and to use her God given intellect to her best advantage.

The card count for The Fool is 3 and counting 3 from The Fool we end up on The Emperor. Once again we have a card of authority and order (and police, law, and order- see the book Power Tarot under The Emperor). We have the recurring theme of the seeker taking control of their life and at the same time the 'possible new begining' of The Fool points (right) toward this card (as well as pointing toward the King). To the left of The Emperor we have the King Of Wands (subconsiously) re-enforcing the authority theme. To The Emperor's right (all the way across the spread) we have the 9 of Wands and here I think is where Patty is shooting herself in the foot. In this case I read this card as - 'she has the conscious expectations of difficulties and changes'. She's expecting the worse and so will probably get it.

The Emperor has a count of 12 and counting right 12 cards we end up on .. the 9 of Wands. Now I change the read here to mean 'one more obstacle or challenge to overcome' and the obstacle may be Patty herself - or it may be that the job she wants has not finished a background check, or possibly she's hit a glitch or pause she just can't seem to overcome. To the left we have The Emperor telling her to take control and stressing authority (possibly dealing with the job she wants with the police). To the right we have the 2 of Coins [ID] and the 'to many irons in the fire and disorganization' and that it's probably showing and that other people are picking up on it.

Reading 9 to the right of the 9 of Wands brings us back to the King of Wands and since we have already hit/read this card we end the card counting part of the reading. As you can plainly see from what I have written above there is the potential for 'something new and exciting coming into Patty's life'. But she must be open and receptive to it or she may miss out on it.

Card Pairing

9 of Wands (Fire - Friendly with The Emperor/Fire) Expectations of difficulties and changes but success after a long struggle if you can find the power and your own sense of self-worth and authority (The Emperor).

With the 2 of Coins [ID] and the King of Wands we have two (2) neutral elements but we have the same theme as the last two cards.

2 of Coins [ID] to many irons in the fire and disorganization causing difficulties and needing self-worth, personal authority, order, and motivation (King of Wands) to see her way through things.

And finally we come to the last card, one of the 'focal point' cards. The Fool is telling us that there will be something new and exciting coming into Patty's life. A new beginning, a new job, a new something. With all the cards that indicate authority and order I'd bet the police job, or another job just as good will be coming her way if she can just hang in there.

So when - you ask, might this be happening? I have never done this before but thought I'd give it a try so if I'm wrong you can slap me Patty. And the time frame may not suit you but remember I just pulled the card. Time-wise I pulled the 8 of Wands. According to one source I have Wands means weeks so you may not hear about the job for another 8 weeks. I know that's a long time but if you can hold body, soul, and mind together the police job or something just as good will be coming your way. This sounds about right for them to do a background check on you anyway. Personally I hope I'm wrong about the time span and that it's a lot less.

The Numerology Spread Total

I'm giving the court card (the king) a value of zero (0) since it has no number on the card. But there are times when I do use a value for the court cards. I hope to be putting the system I use for the court values up on the Tarot Studies site one of these days.

9+2+0+14+4 = 29 (adding all the values of the cards together)
2+9=11
1+1=2

With an 11/2 total we have decisions (Key 11 - Justice) that are at present a mystery and hidden (Key 2 - The High Priestess). But with Justice we have another card indicating the law.

Don S.