Timing spreads please — not will-happen but should-do

[Amanda_04]

I'd really have to look at your cards to be sure- since you didn't have any Major Arcana I'd be checking out the court cards to see what they are looking at. Having the timing card come up first could also just be showing what will come after or how things will turn out from that point forward.

[MandMaud]

Well, will you mind if I dump the reading here in detail for you to dissect? Is that too much?

I don't know if I'll be able anyway until we come back from holiday - which means the 10th or later ... at this rate it could even be after I've taken this action!

It is SO great to have this forum to discuss ideas and maybes and what-do-you-thinks, I'm still getting used to it.

Just did a much more light-hearted reading to see how the dog was going to get on in the kennels for this week. She's going to be very homesick but enjoy all the extra dog-biscuits and the company of other dogs... she may even fall in love but it won't last, only a holiday romance... She seemed content with that.

[Amanda_04]

Well, you could leave the cards here, and I can try to give you direction without knowing the question or actually reading *them* - but rather, try to point out the pattern that I see.

[MandMaud]

You have a week to get round to it if you feel like getting round to it...
I have handwritten (scrawled) my impressions so will be able to compare. But it is far too much to type out this evening I'm afraid.

I forgot about not using reversals, though I intended not to my first time with this method, so I took forgetting to mean that they wanted to be reversed.

The summary card was the Fool.
3 of Swords rx — Ace of Wands — Queen of Wands rx — 7 of Wands rx — 4 Wands

What a lot of Wands!

I called Swords weeks, swapping with Cups being months, just feels right(er) for me; anyway three months would be ridiculous in this case. None of the days are do-able (because I'll be away, and the Ace would have been today but that wasn't do-able either), so 3 Swords has to be the timing card. That makes it Friday 22nd June, but I have been planning Friday 15th without feeling comfortable with it.

A little more info (and apologies but I have to be vague for now): it is news that I have to tell, and cannot foresee how it will be received, could be any of a vast range of possible reactions. The situation is in limbo until this is discussed, and it is important to get the time right. I'm scared! but also looking forward to the 'After'. I hope that is enough for you to get more of a feel.

Any input will be very welcome!
mm

ps Your opinion on drawing more cards for clarification?
pps My Sun is in Leo, and I have chronic fatigue, so the Queen could well be me. (She's least like me of all the Queens, though... until I get to know her better that is, I've just remembered the faith and creativity connotations, was only thinking of energy and being extroverted. (I'll shut up now.))

[Pam O]

I had an idea pop in my head. No idea if it is good or not, but I will toss it out to you & you can see how it feels to you.

Pick a significator card for you however you like to do that. Then put it in the deck, and shuffle while pondering your timing question.

When it feels like the deck has your answer for you, look for your sig card and see what card is before and after.

Then maybe use the system explained earlier of the different suits would be the answer. Maybe Ace Swords & 2 Wands would be 1 month, 2 days. You would want to decide if it is maybe 1 card before & 1 card after. Or maybe ? cards after. And what would a court card mean in your system? Maybe a person will influence the timing & it could chg if this certain person was involved.

Not sure if anything makes sense here....

Best wishes & GOOD luck with discovering your answer!!!

[Amanda_04]

Okay, lets see:

3 of Swords rx. + Ace of Wands + Queen of Wands rx. + 7 of Wands rx. + 4 of Wands

This is new for me since you used reversals, but this is the flow that I'm seeing.

The upside-down 3 of Swords is timing, but it's also giving a message- all for one and one for all- or something like, strength in numbers or something. What do you make of the 3 swords now coming together and pointing up through the heart? I feel that is part of the message. And let's go with the Queen of Wands being you, because that's what I feel. She's upside down, so looking at the Ace of Wands which is a "thumbs up" basically. You are really turned upside down about getting this exactly right; Queen of Wands reversed could suggest resistance to "getting this over with"... but I feel that the Ace of Wands gives "oomph" to your timing card. It's not a sword, but it could add a little something extra/better/different to the 3 Swords. Since the 7 of Wands rx. is what is behind the Queen, this is what *supports* her. Or basically the stance you are taking, which is hesitation... but if you hesitate much longer than 3 weeks, this might not turn out the way you want (4 of Wands). And that's why the Ace of Wands is giving oomph to the 3. I think it's advising that (in order to get "approval" or the "thumbs up" or the best outcome you want or whatever) you give this news as soon as possible within 3 weeks. So the 3 of Swords rx./Ace of Wands seems to suggest to me "the sooner, the better" (within 3 weeks).

I hope you can see my "guidelines" in there... it was a little trickier with reversals.

ETA: ps Your opinion on drawing more cards for clarification?
I pretty much never do it anymore.

[MandMaud]

I'm back! (Been without internet for a week.)
Thank you again Amanda!
Further thoughts:

Originally Posted by Amanda_04

3 of Swords rx. + Ace of Wands + Queen of Wands rx. + 7 of Wands rx. + 4 of Wands

The upside-down 3 of Swords is timing, but it's also giving a message- all for one and one for all- or something like, strength in numbers or something. What do you make of the 3 swords now coming together and pointing up through the heart? I feel that is part of the message.

The first time I looked at the reversed 3 to consider my reaction to it (I mean in theory, long before this spread), I thought the swords were like a tripod of legs supporting the heart, yes painfully, but firmly standing on their hilts which after all is the bit of the sword that doesn't flick around moving fast and doesn't cut but holds/is held steady.

I read Thirteen's guide to reversals here on AT and it threw me a bit as I hadn't thought of the heart impaled and unable to fall free, so I've been incorporating both feelings. For a while I was 'trying out for size' the idea that a reversed card has to mean something worse, or at least harder to take, than its upright, but lately I'm moving away from that rigidity. In this last week in fact I've thought I'll give up reversals altogether for a while, even though at first they seemed essential. So my use of them and thoughts around them are fluid...

Originally Posted by Amanda_04

And let's go with the Queen of Wands being you, because that's what I feel. She's upside down, so looking at the Ace of Wands which is a "thumbs up" basically. You are really turned upside down about getting this exactly right; Queen of Wands reversed could suggest resistance to "getting this over with"... but I feel that the Ace of Wands gives "oomph" to your timing card.

Yes, once I got over my scaredy-cat reaction to seeing the 3 Swords(!), that rings perfectly true.

Originally Posted by Amanda_04

hesitation... but if you hesitate much longer than 3 weeks, this might not turn out the way you want (4 of Wands).

Well, I'm not going to wait past the 3 weeks, probably still act at the 2-week point (which is this coming weekend).

Originally Posted by Amanda_04

I hope you can see my "guidelines" in there... it was a little trickier with reversals.

Yes, I don't know if it says something about my mind, or yours, but I completely get how you're working here.

I'll let you know how it went...
mm

[MandMaud]

Events have switched round which changes things...

Today is the 2-week point from that reading; next Friday is 3 weeks.

I said next weekend was out of the question, but it no longer is. In fact this and that have come together to make it ideal. Today has become more difficult, for one reason and another, than I expected it to be.

So being practical I've changed my plan to taking action next Friday (22nd). And funnily enough, that's what the 3 of Swords would have meant at its simplest. It's also so near the solstice.

I have to go, interrupted - in fact I wrote all the above more than an hour ago - but see you later.
mm

[MandMaud]

Originally Posted by Pam O

I had an idea pop in my head. No idea if it is good or not, but I will toss it out to you & you can see how it feels to you.

Pick a significator card for you however you like to do that. Then put it in the deck, and shuffle while pondering your timing question.

When it feels like the deck has your answer for you, look for your sig card and see what card is before and after.

Then maybe use the system explained earlier of the different suits would be the answer. Maybe Ace Swords & 2 Wands would be 1 month, 2 days. You would want to decide if it is maybe 1 card before & 1 card after. Or maybe ? cards after. And what would a court card mean in your system? Maybe a person will influence the timing & it could chg if this certain person was involved.

Not sure if anything makes sense here....

Best wishes & GOOD luck with discovering your answer!!!

Pam, I am SO sorry, how rude to ignore you. I did see this post and then a couple of days later, knew you'd contributed to something for me and I couldn't find where you had. I gave up... but just thought of having another look, and here your post is.

In fact I remembered this idea and tried it the next morning and iirc it suited me quite well = yes it did make sense to me! - I will look back at my journal, feels like a lot has gone on since. Well... I've been away and come home again so that is quite 'a lot'!

The idea of finding where a specific card is positioned relative to the others after shuffling was one I'd vaguely heard of but hadn't tried before, wouldn't have thought of on my own. I'm new to significators also, still need to play with that idea.

These things that just 'pop in your head' are great usually, aren't they. Thanx for this one!

[MandMaud]

If anyone was wondering ... events conspired to make me act on Friday, which was exactly the 3 weeks from when I did Amanda's method and got '3 weeks'. We were mistaken to doubt it folks!

Somehow it being a couple of days into both the new moon, and the half-year that starts with the solstice, all seems appropriate.

As an aside, I have given up reversals for the last couple of weeks. It's simpler but at the moment I need more pointers as to whether the Star, for example, is about feeling inspired or needing to seek inspiration. I think I'll go back to them for a bit, until I'm expert(!) enough not to!