pick a card, any card- no really, your choice

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Oct 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

nina	22 Oct 2003
Hello, I recently was browsing through a book with different spreads in it and one of them intrigued me but sort of intimidated me as well. The book called it "path to the solution". It's six cards arranged horizontally, but the wierd thing is that you choose which cards. First you pick a card that you think represents your current situation, that goes on the far left Then you choose a card that you think represents your goal, this goes on the far right. You then pick out of the deck, looking at the cards and consciously deciding, what the four card path from here to there is. It seems it might be helpful as a psychological excersize, but it also seems in some way...just wrong to choose the cards consciously. Does anyone here ever read this way? If so, what kind of results did you get? Was it a helpful method you would use again? I'm asking because I can't sem to bring myself to do it. It feels so disrespectful to the cards. I don't even use significators. -nina

wavebreaker	22 Oct 2003
I've never tried this myself, but I can imagine using this method the same way you use affirmations: as something to focus on to reach your goal and to remind you of the path to that goal. I suppose that picking the cards isn't really a problem as long as you're being honest about the situation at hand, and don't pick cards that represent the path and goal that you like best, as opposed to the path and goal that are in your best interest. To prevent that, you may want to use an actual reading as the basis for this method.

Kiama	22 Oct 2003
I don't think I'd use that method for usual readings, but instead as an exercise in 'creating your own future': you pick the cards to say what you WANT your future to be like, then do a 'normal' reading to say what your future's going to be like if you carry on how you're going, and then possibly do another smaller reading to say how you get from the future you're going towards now, to the future you want. Kiama

Inana	24 Oct 2003
I've used this once with three cards to concentrate in an objective, as all you said. And... well... even when doing this, the results are better when you dont chose the cards at all (or maybe I couldnt come with the apropiate cards). I prefer not to pick them conciously. And if I dont like what I see, simply ask "whats the better way to change this?" or "what can I do to improve the situation" whatever that can help and pick a card without knowing wich one is. This way, you come with new ideas, the other way is only you stating the facts you already know or thought about before. But I think this method can be good to use with someone who doesnt knoews nothing about tarot. The cards he/she picks can give you a clear picture about how is he feeling at that particular time, his desires and his self image.

The pick a card, any card- no really, your choice thread was originally posted on 22 Oct 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.