Spreads #4: New Year&#39s FIELD TEST! (aka: Calendar Spread)

Thirteen

Yes, that's right time for a TEST! Here's what you'll need:

1) Tarot Deck, ready to travel.
Pick one small enough to carry around with you--if you have a wide range of choices, pick one with images that symbolize to you the start of a new year. Make sure your deck is safely bagged, wrapped in a scarf or boxed for travel purposes.

2) A small notebook and pen
So you can jot down the spreads you get and tell us what happened! Just write down the spread--quickly and in short-hand (like 1 = hps for Card #1 is High Priestess), you'll remember what you said when you see it again.

Sometime between now and January 3rd, take your cards with you to a gathering or party or lunch or just to visit a friend and do the following spread for, yes, a real, live person--warning, if you do this at a party, in full view of all party goers, others may ask you to do them as well :)

This is a Calendar spread. It's very easy to lay out, and should be done for a person's Birthday or for someone's cultural New Year (Next month we'll be having the Chinese New Year, for example). Do this spread for a least one person, and yourself as well, as it's a spread that may be easier to read for yourself than some.

You lay out the cards bottom to top, RIGHT to left. So they look like this:

.....13.....
...12.11....
..10.9.8.7..
6.5.4.3.2.1.

Each card, surprise surprise, stands for a month. And the easy thing here is that as you will start with January, the numbering follows the calendar year exactly. #1 is January, #2 Feb, #3 March, etc. So you get an idea of what each month in the year ahead will be like.

#13 is an overview of the year as a whole. So if you got, say, The Fool, you'd say, "On the whole, this is going to be a year of new beginnings." Or something like that. Of course, as you read up from 1-13, you'll get an idea of the year 13 is summing up--and vice versa. If, for example, the other twelve cards indicate certain problems, 7 of swords (deception), 5 of swords (loss in fights), the Tower (lies coming down), etc, then the Fool at the top more likely indicates a year of being too optimistic, too foolish, naive. And you might warn the person to be more on their guard, more savvy.

If, on the other hand, the other cards are things like the Chariot, 8 of cups, Page of Wands, then the Fool card at the top likely indicates a year of travel, of packing up and going new places.

Likewise, the card at the top can help you if you're unsure about the meaning of one of the 12 cards below. If you have an 8 of cups for, say, April, and there is a Fool card at the top, then you might read that 8 of Cups as a literal move in April. You might say, "In April, you will end your old life, and follow a new dream; others will see it as foolish, but it's worth going for."

But if the card at the top is The Moon, then you might tell the person that in April, they're going to be lured away from family by a powerful illusion, or an almost irresistable, addictive desire. That they should be very careful that what they're going after is real and not a kind of maddness. It might lead to poetry and painting, but it could also be emotionally damaging.

You get the idea.

Don't forget to shuffle and cleanse the deck before laying your cards out. Especially for this spread, you want your deck very clear and ready to go each time you do this spread. And for this Field test, I'm laying down the law just to make things easy on you. No matter how people plead and ask, do only *THIS* spread.

First, because we don't want you spending your New Year's eve/day party doing tarot readings, second, because this spread should be particularly powerful right now. No need to confuse or weaken it by doing others.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures out in the Field! HAVE FUN! And a very, very HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 

bec

hehe Thirteen, this is so funny, I did this spread for my mother in the holiday´s, she wanted a year spread - I can´t remember the cards, but they did make perfect sence to her and did also follow what she knew was going to happen during the year. It´s a great spread.
 

Thirteen

Spreads #4: New Year&#39 FIELD TEST! (aka: Calendar Spread)

bec (28 Dec, 2001 08:14):
hehe Thirteen, this is so funny, I did this spread for my mother in the holiday´s, she wanted a year spread - I can´t remember the cards, but they did make perfect sence to her and did also follow what she knew was going to happen during the year. It´s a great spread.

Don't think this gets you out of doing your homework, young lady! Reading for your mother doesn' count ;)

An addendum to the spread by the way. If you're doing it for someone's birthday, make sure you do the reading near the beginning or end of the month. If near the beginning, then #1 is that month (so if you do it on the 6th of July, #1 is July), if at the end--say July 28th--then #1 is the next month--August.

Don't do this spread in the middle of the month. You can see why that'd be a waste :)
 

fairyhedgehog

Okay, Thirteen, here's the thing:

I don't do readings for other people because they all disapprove of Tarot.

And I don't personally believe that Tarot cards tell the future, but that they are a way of examining the present.

So why am I even bothering to post in this thread? I think I want to be convinced :)

All the best,

FH
 

Thirteen

Spreads #4: New Year&#39 FIELD TEST! (aka: Calendar Spread)

fairyhedgehog (29 Dec, 2001 05:28):
Okay, Thirteen, here's the thing:

I don't do readings for other people because they all disapprove of Tarot.

And I don't personally believe that Tarot cards tell the future, but that they are a way of examining the present.

The future comes out of the present :)

Think of it this way--forget whether the cards can tell the future. You don't know if they will or won't, not until you say it and, 6 months from now, it happens. All you can ever say with Tarot cards is what you see in them. But if you only read for yourself it's like looking in a mirror, you only see yourself.

Reading for another is a way of seeing others. And it's a way of getting them to see YOU.

If you really can't read for friends (are they really such good friends if they ALL disapprove?), time to go out and read for a complete stranger. Go to a coffeehouse and lay out the cards, someone will ask you to read for them.

Why do this? Because it's time you got some validation for being a tarot reader rather than dissapproval! This is something you do--it's fun, creative, and, one hopes, it energizes you and gives you insights into yourself and the world. If everyone you know condemns it, so much so that you can't bring it out into the open, then they are, in a way, condeming you, or at least a part of you.

That's not right. So find someone to read for who wants a reading. See how you do in *seeing* them by way of your cards. And, hopefully, they will appreciate and thank you for it--and see a side of YOU that no one else gets to see.

And maybe this will give you a new perspective on what you do, a feeling of confidence, pride, and joy in it--instead of feeling that you're doing something strange or abnormal or silly or wrong.

It's none of those things. It is what it is. No more abnormal than prayer or lighting candles or playing the stock market or watching a game where men kick a ball around with their feet or getting passionately involved in the lives of t.v. characters who were never real and never will be. It's as serious or light as you want it to be, as real or unreal as you make it.
 

fairyhedgehog

Thanks, Thirteen :)

I'm stuck indoors with a heavy cold at the moment (and feeling very sorry for myself), but I promise I'll at least consider it when I'm up and about again. I'm already thinking about who and how, but I don't give my word to do something lightly, so I won't say more than I'll think about it at the moment.

What you said about being disapproved of certainly struck home. (Everything you said struck home, in fact :) ) So thanks :)

All the best,

FH
 

bec

Awwww that sucks Thirteen :( me mom being the only cool person around wanting this done ................

Ahh well, I guess I can talk some one into it.

I´m not sure how to understand this one though:

2) A small notebook and pen
So you can jot down the spreads you get and tell us what happened! Just write down the spread--quickly and in short-hand (like 1 = hps for Card #1 is High Priestess), you'll remember what you said when you see it again.

?????????

Am I supposed to show you my reading of it ??? or could I just say " done " ;D Just kidding, I´ll do the exercise alright, but not sure on wehter you want the reading written inhere like we did with the others. ( we??? only seen one reading in the starlight up so far - guess people take time off from the boards :) )
 

Kaz

I am still waiting for a reading to wrap up, tried it on your moving-thing(1st house) bec, but somehow the deck told me to get lost and use the cards I had so far. So no clarification there :-(
Anybody having a reading for me that needs wrapping up?

Tomorrow I will get one of my collegues to do the newyear spread on. I just grab one that is slightly curious :).

Kaz
 

Thirteen

Spreads #4: New Year&#39 FIELD TEST! (aka: Calendar Spread)

bec

2) not sure on wehter you want the reading written inhere like we did with the others.

Yes! The only reason I added the pen and paper was so that there are so many thing going on, you're not likely to do it and rush back to the computer. So you do it, jot it down, and then later, you post it here. The notebook just a way to remember--in case you drink a little too much at a party afterwards and your memory is shot :)
 

Kaz

I need a second victim, cos I gave the paper with the cards on it to my victim and forgot to write it down for myself.
I'll grab an other collegue tomorrow then........

Kaz