Shuffle and cut as usual, then lay out cards 1 through 3, and 5 through 7: these are the branches of the Tree, showing how you touch others and how they touch you.
Lay out numbers 8 and 9, then read 4, 8, and 9: this is the trunk of the Tree, showing what supports you and how you stand.
Lay out numbers 10 through 14; these are the roots of the Tree, showing what feeds you--the energies and influences you take within.
Lay out number 15: this is the heart of the Tree, showing the major influence or concern affecting your growth and life.
Shuffle the deck, then cut into three portions and restack as usual.
Now cut the deck into two stacks.
Use the stack on the right for the cards on the right side of the pairs and the stack on the left for the cards on the left side of the stack.
The right card shows the major event of the month, while the left card shows the major influence.
Shuffle and cut as usual, then lay out the cards:
1 = What to let go;
2 = What to embrace;
3 = Obstacles or negative influences;
4 = Assistance or positive influences;
5 = Where to look for direction or assistance.
This is good for when something is bothering you, but you cannot quite put your finger on just what it is.
The revelation comes in the 4th card.
Shuffle and cut as usual, then lay out the cards.
1st Card - The Past
Reveals sometheing specific in the Querent's past relating to the presnet problem.
Suggests referral to past experiences to avoid repeating past mistakes or to employ previously successful tactics once more.
2nd Card - The Present
May elucidate the Querent's problem.
Compare with cards 1 and 3 to see whether circumstances improve or deteriorate.
3rd Card - The Future
Shows the result of the course of action the Querent takes (see Card 7).
4th Card - Best Course of Action
Indicates what should be done to resolve the Querent's problem.
Compare with cards 3 and 7 to see whether this advice is going to be followed.
5th Card - Other People
Shows how other people feature in the Querent's problem.
Can indicate how others around the Querent are behaving or feel about what is happening.
If other people are the problem, this card may indicate something about their role.
6th Card - Obstacles
Reveals obstacles to resolving the problem, in some cases not always negative elements; positive behaviour or feeling may not always be appropriate when resolving the problem.
7th Card - The Outcome
Shows the course of action the Querent is likely to take and their feelings.
For this spread, shuffle and cut as usual.
Draw the first 5 cards, laying them down at the 5 positions face-down.
Draw the next 5 cards, laying them down face-up on top of the first 5.
The face-up cards show the Elemental energies.
Read these, then move them aside and turn over the face-down cards beneath them to see what the hidden influences are behind these energies.
1 = Earth;
2 = Air;
3 = Fire;
4 = Water;
5 = Spirit.
This spread is called the Astrological Spread because it utilizes 12 cards around the significator, which correspond to the signs or houses of astrology.
The starting point of this spread is the card to the left, the Ascendant, where the sun rises in the morning in the east.
From the Ascendant you proceed in a counter-clockwise direction around the circle.
The great virtue of this spread is that you can apply it to virtually any time period and therefore interpret a process that will take place or has taken place.
Each card around the circle can signify a perod of time.
If each card represents one month, the spread can describe one year of 12 months.
It can also describe 12 hours, 24 hours (2 hours each), 12 days, 12 weeks, 2 years (2 months each), etc.
It is obviously easier if the time period is divisible by 12, although any time period could be used.
The implication is that the spread shows a development of the question or individual through a particular time period.
The spread can be used as feedback for the process of psychological or spiritual development, as a predictive tool or as a matrix for answering particular concerns of the querent.
The positions in the Astrological Spread are as follows:
1st House - Ascendant - Aries.
The personality and its issues; physical appearances; self-assertion; the ability to bond with oneself or others.
2nd House - Taurus.
Self-valuation; acceptance of the tangible world; physical reality and the body; money and possessions.
3rd House - Gemini.
Communication; the instinctive and unconscious mind; initial education; self-expression and variety; flexibility; short journeys; relationships with brothers and sisters.
4th House - Cancer.
The family system and environment; parents and their emotional values; early environment; wants and needs; feelings of kinship and belonging; identity and roots.
5th House - Leo.
Exteriorizing the self; primary education; relationships with teachers; games and game playing; acting; the arts, leisure and sport; consciousness of self.
6th House - Virgo.
Practical service; the health; puberty and early relationships; discrimination and distillation of experience; work attitudes and relations; making life choices.
7th House - Libra.
Relationships; sublimating the self in others or the world; needs and fuctions of relationships; emotional, business and marital relationships; relations with the world; diplomacy.
8th House - Scorpio.
The process of life and death; sexuality and conception; the metaphysical; reincarnation and past lives; others' money, feelings, ideas and energies; business affairs; magick.
9th House - Sagittarius.
Religion, psychology and philosophy of life; higher union and mind; beliefs; foreign journeys; legal matters and the law; athletics.
10th House - Capricorn.
Ego consciousness; indentification with goals and objectives in life; higher aspirations; career and occupation; parents; selfishness; pragmatism and practicality.
11th House - Aquarius.
Selfless love; integration with groups or organizations; New Age concepts sense of community; creativity and communication of ideas; social ambitions and aims; politics.
12th House - Pisces.
Dissolution and inner perception; isolation and loneliness; spiritual service and sacrifice; seclusion and privacy; institutions and large organizations; secrets.
In using the Astrological Spread, it is possible to use selectively certain houses/signs that refer to specific questions or issues raised, or to describe an entire sequence of influences.
The Major Arcana cards will identify areas of primary importance and archetypal activity; the court cards will show particular individuals who will affect or bring certain personality issues to the fore; and the Minor Arcana cards will describe more mundane events that happen in specific areas or at certain times.
The combination of cards yields a rich tapestry that can be interpreted psychologically or as a fund of information.
The Astrological Spread can also be done with the first six cards of the Celtic Cross Spread within its centre, allowing the combination of a time period with general concerns about one's spiritual orientation within it.
The Celtic Cross is a classic spread, known to have been used since the Middle Ages.
Its function is to show a range of possibilities at a given moment, although a more modern way of interpreting the spread is to discover the level of awareness and the conditions acting upon a querent.
The spread utilizes the cross shape and also four futher cards in a vertical line.
The traditonal Celtic Cross spread is often done with Major Arcana cards only.
Therefore, separate out the 21 Major Arcana cards and place them in numerical order on the table before the querent.
Have the querent shuffle the cards while thinking about the question, and then state the question.
Upon stating the question, have the querent place the cards down in the following sequence:
1st - Present Position - in the middle.
Represents the present situation and circumstances of the querent.
2nd - Immediate Influences - crosses the first card.
Shows the domain of the question and the blockages and obstacles to be anticipated.
3rd - Destiny - above the first card.
The goals and ultimate destiny.
4th - Foundation - to the right of the first card.
Basic influences that existed in the past as a foundation of the question.
5th - Recent Past - below the first card.
Influences that are passing or have just passed through the life of the querent.
6th - Future - to the left of the first card.
Where the question will lead the querent.
Then in a vertical line.
7th - at the bottom.
Present situation and presenting issues of the querent.
8th - Environment - second up.
The influence of the querent on others and their influence upon the querent.
9th - Inner Feelings - third up.
The hopes, fears and inner feelings as well as secrets of the querent.
10th - Outcome - at the top.
The outcome that results from the previous nine cards.
In the interpretation, the reader will discover relationships between cards or positions that allow the querent to make connections that may not be obvious to him or her.
Some cards will be particularly interesting to the querent, and not others.
This may indicate areas in which the querent would be well advised to study his or her actions and implications more fully.
There may, for example, be a connection between the immediate influences and the recent past.
Cards in the spread that are revered will indicate areas in which the querent is likely to be unaware or unconscious of his or her actions and need further attention.
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