'Mission of Honor' spread not telling me much!

MandMaud

Tried out Amanda's new spread and I'm stumped. http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=229806

This is for "situations that you know need to end, but you have no idea how to get from that place and back on a path with forward momentum" which describes where I'm at with one aspect of life: my house is in chaos. I don't mean normal chaos (C.H.A.O.S.: Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome :laugh:

). Imagine we'd just moved in and half-unpacked, then someone tipped the building on its side, so the opened boxes emptied and all of them landed in the wrong rooms, and then they put it back the right way up, jiggling it about to spread the stuff equally across all the floor space upstairs and down. In fact we haven't just moved in, it has been like this for a few years. It drives me mad. I want a tidy(ish), clean(ish), liveable home with somewhere comfortable to relax, and some leisure time to relax in. And this "project" out of the way so I can move on to profitable projects as well as maybe even hobbies.

My health fluctuates and I have capacity for (approx) one project at a time. (Some days I can choose to shower, or to cook, not both.) Fingers crossed this will be the year when i get the place straight - up to now, every time I make a start something interrupts. In theory I'm finally free to get on with it, but I struggle to believe it, and if I could at least picture the goal more clearly it would be easier, because working out where/how to begin is itself a challenge.

So... I gave the cards the time period of all of 2015; held an image of how I'd like it to be (Gilded, without reversals).

Amanda said:
1. The Place to Begin:
This shows the most favorable energies of the present path. It can be a source of support, or something for you to grab hold of and carry forward with you throughout the entire situation.

Six of Cups : Where I'm at now is my comfort zone. Sort of in withdrawal / hibernation to get over what was an ultra hard-work autumn and winter. I've got used to the inconvenient layout of furniture etc and the mess, and you stop noticing it after a bit. The sofa can be used again which is an improvement on last year.

2. The Opening:
Shows the way to direct the most favorable energies.

Ace of Pentacles : This is supposed to show the way to direct the most favourable energies. Does this mean the energies in the 6C? (Amanda?

) Make a start, physically. This could be actually DOING, getting on with it, baby step by baby step - but I don't see the Pents as activity usually. "Invest" popped into my head but that's more the 10P to me, and the Ace... erm...

3. The Whisper:
A message to invite you closer. This may be an enticing tidbit about the future.

Hermit : I'm afraid of the Hermit. I loved him in 2012 and he was the guy for me pretty much all the way through that year. I was on a path of huge personal growth, and no one on my side (except a great solicitor), mid-divorce, unsure who my friends were, and I'd just sliced my sons' lives apart. At that time I liked the solitary path but I thought I was through with it and this whisper is NOT inviting or enticing to me. So maybe he refers to a teacher, a mentor or healer - I'd love to meet someone like that soon, I feel the need. But I believe a reading is more about what's within myself that simply telling the future...

4. The Beauty:
Your truest desire, among a myriad of desires, that is out there waiting for you to find it.

Chariot : Being my soul card, and meaning "Get on with it" (in a way), this fits as my truest desire.

5. The Epiphany:
Something to accept and to incorporate into your being, to make the Beauty more of your own within.

Seven of Swords : My take on the 7S is taking only what you need and no more. In this deck the "thief" looks back as he departs, looking out of the card at you, and it looks like a sorrowful farewell. If he is thieving it is for an honourable reason, perhaps forced on him, and he is not greedy. It's less sneaky than cutting your losses. All this doesn't fit with epiphany! or the best I can become! Attempting to mirror with the Hermit, I can postulate that some kind of mentor will support me in cutting free of my old way of being. BUT...

... Aha! Maybe the Hermit is the stuff I learnt on that 2012 path, the wisdom I have now, and he is the strength that makes the 7S's leaving possible. Maybe.

Mirroring: IX + 7s = XVI, The Tower. Could be the "structure" of familiar overcrowded mess in the house, which I need to undo at its "skeletal" level (shifting furniture and re-allocating where kinds of things shall live), not only the cosmetic level.

6. The Change:
A new direction your life is going to take.

Nine of Wands : But I don't want my life to take this direction! Alone (another nine), fatigued, yet more marking time until the next stage!

Mirroring with the Ace, I can't offer any ideas except that they add up to X, the Wheel, which is the quint of this reading.

7. The End:
Negative energies being shed AND the positive new outcome. A single card to represent the negative energies falling away, and something shiny and new emerging from that.

Seven of Cups : Another seven. Recently I connected this card with the chakras, which came to me out of nowhere and felt entirely valid. Also, I like to think I'll end up with lots of options open to me. As the negative being shed, surely this is indecision, not knowing where to begin with the task. Mirroring, apart from this and position 1 both being Cups, I have no thoughts. They add up to XIII, Death, which goes well with ending and ends being beginnings.

The suits are fairly evenly represented and two majors out of seven positions. Beginning and end are Cups, which lately I'm seeing as spirituality (+ possibly artistic) rather than love / emotions. It may be relevant that the Chariot is my soul and personality card, and I have struggled to "get" it but am beginning to think it's about (for me personally) "Get on with it and trust to luck, stop stalling!"

The sum (quint) = the Wheel of Fortune, and on the base of the deck: 6 of Swords. I like both of these. In this deck the 6S shows a woman standing alone in a boat, profiled against the full moon, looking intently ahead as if to the shore which is just becoming visible. I've always liked the sense of going ahead into the unknown, having burnt your bridges but sure that the reasoning you based that on was sound. And the Wheel just makes me think, "Bring it on!"

Then I have an idiosyncratic thing I do with the sum and the base card, I stick them into this sentence: "This reading is about change, but considering that striking out to pastures new is behind it all, it's really all about old structures being torn apart." (About the quint, but with the base beneath, really about the sum of both of these.)

I've had enough of the Tower. Plenty of it already in my life, especially the last decade. But sixteen and sevens seem threaded through this reading. Ouch.

Amanda

1. The Place to Begin: 6 of CUPS
This shows the most favorable energies of the present path. It can be a source of support, or something for you to grab hold of and carry forward with you throughout the entire situation.
Choices need to be made and allowing or asking others you love and trust (your child/ren) to help you.

2. The Opening: ACE of PENTACLES
Shows the way to direct the most favorable energies.
One site I reference suggests that this is a “well governed home”. I suppose it is clean and clear and back to the basic essentials here with this Ace. It could also be suggesting that you offer a reward or payment to someone that helps you, and maybe also, a clean and clear house will be your reward and motivation to get the mobility and dexterity you need (Chariot).

3. The Whisper: HERMIT
A message to invite you closer. This may be an enticing tidbit about the future.
Go forth and search in the land of Mess, and you will discover you haven’t lost a thing; instead you find parts of you that you thought were long gone. The message is that there are parts of you left to be discovered.

4. The Beauty: CHARIOT
Your truest desire, among a myriad of desires, that is out there waiting for you to find it.
I was going to say that your desire is to have more control; your “get on with it” interpretation fits too, but considering the Wheel I think what you really, truly desire is mobility and dexterity. Front, back, side-to-side – I don’t think it matters; you’d just like to be able to move one way or another.

5. The Epiphany: 7 of SWORDS
Something to accept and to incorporate into your being, to make the Beauty more of your own within.
Only keep what is really good and important to you.

6. The Change: 9 of WANDS
A new direction your life is going to take.
Standing very firm and strong in your territory to make it stay clean and clear and under control.

7. The End: 7 of CUPS
Negative energies being shed AND the positive new outcome. A single card to represent the negative energies falling away, and something shiny and new emerging from that.
The muddled thinking will fall away, once you allow someone else (your child/ren) to help you decide things. It is someone you love and trust and by allowing them to help you, what you really want and what is really important will become clear through the fog.

*Wipes sweat from brow* :laugh:

MandMaud

Thanks so much for giving your time to this. :heart:

I've been looking and re-looking at my cards without making any more of them than when I drew them.

Your version of the 6C is interesting and I'll give it a "run" to see how it works for me.

Your take on the 7C is very close to mine.

I don't FEEL that I'm holding the task close to my chest, letting no one else in - I recognise that tendency, it's so natural when we feel responsible or feel un-helped... I could be wrong of course, but I don't feel I'm doing that. (Used to, but long illness kills that kind of pride.) I can't afford to pay a cleaner regularly (the Ace) and I know that your average cleaner wouldn't be able to work as the place is, most rooms can't even be vacuumed (only the kitchen is clear enough, but its carpet is so threadbare there's a real knack to hoovering in there without sucking up frayed edges and setting the machine on fire... it has happened before... or ripping the carpet... which is already patched together with strong tape... of course new flooring is yet another "house repair" project! but not urgent in the way last year's repairs were). I have offered incentives (ok, call 'em bribes) to my sons but while they agree to help, they have only once spent half a day helping. Only one lives here, and he firmly doesn't believe it's his job. When we discuss objectively he does see that it's at least partly his business, but he was brought up by his dad (aged 6 to about 10 he had a mother too weak to be part of family life) who dealt with it by ignoring it, so that goes into the bloodstream. (I try not to think it's inborn, in his blood - but whether or not it's inherited, it does come very naturally to him after those influential years.

) A long-winded explanation but it's hard to describe, no one can believe my ex's attitude if they haven't actually lived with similar, and few people have lived with anything like it. ('Indescribable' may be more accurate than 'hard to'!)

I love your reading of the 7S, very cheering. I don't find it a particularly negative card but there aren't many ways that it's a "peak" of human experience. But that clean "ruthlessness" - the necessary shedding of Stuff... yes. I do think I've reached that point on my learning path, but it's true that it isn't enacted in material reality yet. Your 9W is also cheering. I always think of huge effort with that card, lots of energy expended, and doggedness and tiredness. But "standing firm" is happier. So (mirroring)... the material spending of the Ace (whether that's paying someone, or what) leads towards the standing firm - which may still have that defensive character, but your telling of it is positive whereas mine wasn't.

You're absolutely correct about mobility and dexterity. And for me, the Chariot isn't about control. Though my understanding of the Chariot is still morphing and nowhere near settling into actual understanding.

And I'd forgotten that the Hermit's learning is not only hard and in solitude, but also across unexplored territory, a route no one has trodden or at least not mapped before him. Also, last night I read a twist on Hermit as teacher of the wisdom he acquires: he doesn't offer it, hermits sit in their caves (or wherever) and ordinary people approach them and have to earn their "approval" or respect before he offers to share knowledge. He doesn't seek apprentices. That added depth to him.

OK. While still pondering this reading, I shall gird my loins (always a Chariot phrase, for me) and go forth and search in the land of Mess*... in the future one day, never know, I'll be writing the best-seller on de-cluttering. For those with mobility difficulties. And no time or money. :laugh:

* I may print that in 72-point font and stick it up somewhere prominent.

ps. I've also learnt a lot of 7S about people as well as stuff. Choosing who to be friends with, not hanging out with people just because we always have, that kind of thing. It's all of a pattern.

Amanda

MandMaud said:
I don't FEEL that I'm holding the task close to my chest, letting no one else in - I recognise that tendency, it's so natural when we feel responsible or feel un-helped... I could be wrong of course, but I don't feel I'm doing that. (Used to, but long illness kills that kind of pride.)

I had so much coming to me in your reading actually, that at one point I had thought about the 6 of Cups saying something about making good daily choices, especially with regard to the foods and drinks you were consuming, as the 7 of Cups might indicate that you're consuming something that has more of a "toxic" quality in your body, which hinders your body's physical mobility and dexterity. Whether that is true or not, the idea of "Making good daily choices" since the 6 of Cups is a simple, and therefore daily kind of card, is a good energy for you to hold onto here.

I wasn't really getting the sense that you hogged the decisions, so you're right there I think. Look at it this way... I used to have major issues making decisions at the store. I've been so poor most of my adult life (and homeless a couple times) that it became a huge fear/anxiety to simply buy what I needed. I have certainly come a long way from that. Now, when I'm in the store, if I find myself vacillating on a decision, I walk away. If I can't decide quickly (and now it is usually on something beyond needs), I let it go or defer the decision to husband. It is that energy of vacillation I think, that you need to watch out for. Make the good and easy decisions you are comfortable making and pass the other decisions on to someone else... (I would say, simply walking away in this case is probably not the best for de-cluttering your home.

)

I can't afford to pay a cleaner regularly (the Ace) and I know that your average cleaner wouldn't be able to work as the place is, most rooms can't even be vacuumed (only the kitchen is clear enough, but its carpet is so threadbare there's a real knack to hoovering in there without sucking up frayed edges and setting the machine on fire... it has happened before... or ripping the carpet... which is already patched together with strong tape... of course new flooring is yet another "house repair" project! but not urgent in the way last year's repairs were). I have offered incentives (ok, call 'em bribes) to my sons but while they agree to help, they have only once spent half a day helping. Only one lives here, and he firmly doesn't believe it's his job. When we discuss objectively he does see that it's at least partly his business, but he was brought up by his dad (aged 6 to about 10 he had a mother too weak to be part of family life) who dealt with it by ignoring it, so that goes into the bloodstream. (I try not to think it's inborn, in his blood - but whether or not it's inherited, it does come very naturally to him after those influential years. ) A long-winded explanation but it's hard to describe, no one can believe my ex's attitude if they haven't actually lived with similar, and few people have lived with anything like it. ('Indescribable' may be more accurate than 'hard to'!)

Well, the Ace may not be 'regular' though. Perhaps it is one major clear-out that you could afford -or save for- to have a professional organizer with a team of people to do the heavy lifting or you could emulate that scenario with people you trust -- put one in charge to direct things, nothing goes past you (or another trusted) without a decision; various piles for Keep, Bin, Donate and plans for removal of the things you're not keeping with a final clean of the house. It could be done in over a weekend with enough people helping. With the major stuff out of the way, the daily choices may become easier for you, and the daily activity for you may start to increase. With making good daily choices and some increased activity, you could perhaps still pay someone to help you once in a while to keep things under control rather than say, weekly, which might cut into your budget too much.

I love your reading of the 7S, very cheering. I don't find it a particularly negative card but there aren't many ways that it's a "peak" of human experience. But that clean "ruthlessness" - the necessary shedding of Stuff... yes. I do think I've reached that point on my learning path, but it's true that it isn't enacted in material reality yet. Your 9W is also cheering. I always think of huge effort with that card, lots of energy expended, and doggedness and tiredness. But "standing firm" is happier. So (mirroring)... the material spending of the Ace (whether that's paying someone, or what) leads towards the standing firm - which may still have that defensive character, but your telling of it is positive whereas mine wasn't.

Yes!

You're absolutely correct about mobility and dexterity. And for me, the Chariot isn't about control. Though my understanding of the Chariot is still morphing and nowhere near settling into actual understanding.

Well normally for me, the Chariot's Lesson is about Taking Control. But with the Wheel as your summary, I decided that it was less about that and more about movement here.

And I'd forgotten that the Hermit's learning is not only hard and in solitude, but also across unexplored territory, a route no one has trodden or at least not mapped before him. Also, last night I read a twist on Hermit as teacher of the wisdom he acquires: he doesn't offer it, hermits sit in their caves (or wherever) and ordinary people approach them and have to earn their "approval" or respect before he offers to share knowledge. He doesn't seek apprentices. That added depth to him.

Yes!

OK. While still pondering this reading, I shall gird my loins (always a Chariot phrase, for me) and go forth and search in the land of Mess*... in the future one day, never know, I'll be writing the best-seller on de-cluttering. For those with mobility difficulties. And no time or money.

* I may print that in 72-point font and stick it up somewhere prominent.

ps. I've also learnt a lot of 7S about people as well as stuff. Choosing who to be friends with, not hanging out with people just because we always have, that kind of thing. It's all of a pattern.

Definitely, and you just hold tight to what is important and leave the rest behind.

Thanks again for trying my spread. I think I should have titled it: The Nearly Impossible Spread. :joke:

MandMaud

Amanda said:
I had so much coming to me in your reading actually, that at one point I had thought about the 6 of Cups saying something about making good daily choices, especially with regard to the foods and drinks you were consuming, as the 7 of Cups might indicate that you're consuming something that has more of a "toxic" quality in your body, which hinders your body's physical mobility and dexterity. Whether that is true or not, the idea of "Making good daily choices" since the 6 of Cups is a simple, and therefore daily kind of card, is a good energy for you to hold onto here.

Wow, every so often you come out with something that gobsmacks me.

If it's food/drink, all I can think is that I'm still stepping out of my Christmas chocolate habit (I go cold turkey GRADUALLY three times a year after Xmas, Easter eggs and summer

), and not quite out of the dairy habit that also returns at Xmas. Dairy's not brilliant in quantity, and chocolate sounds trivial but seriously affects me in lots of ways, mood more than anything. However I've learnt to be gentle with myself in my cold-turkey going.)

Whether it is or not, I'm a bit in awe of you getting "daily" from the 6C simplicity. Daily management is key to my health. I'm diabetic, but apart from that (which is old news, since childhood), with the things that have an impact on life and "capacity", everything hangs on daily choices: regular eating, rest, hours slept, etc. If I take my eye off the ball for three days I can take three weeks it all getting back into sync. But when I get it right, I do so much better.

When I come to think of it, I have more "not quite sure" cards among the Cups than anywhere else. Hm.

Oh, and if I have to default to a keyword, this six is "comfort zone" - which isn't terribly far from eating too much cheese!

Amanda said:
I wasn't really getting the sense that you hogged the decisions, so you're right there I think. Look at it this way... I used to have major issues making decisions at the store. I've been so poor most of my adult life (and homeless a couple times) that it became a huge fear/anxiety to simply buy what I needed. I have certainly come a long way from that. Now, when I'm in the store, if I find myself vacillating on a decision, I walk away. If I can't decide quickly (and now it is usually on something beyond needs), I let it go or defer the decision to husband. It is that energy of vacillation I think, that you need to watch out for. Make the good and easy decisions you are comfortable making and pass the other decisions on to someone else...

I understand that deciding problem. You're having the same problem now but with career, aren't you?

Rather than hand the decision to anyone else, I mastered the same thing by taking it as a sign that I don't need or want the thing much at all so might as well not spend the money. Or, nowadays, if I catch myself in that state of mind it indicates a tiredness (physical, spiritual, or mental) so I step away and come back to the decision when refreshed.

Anyway, there isn't anyone to pass decisions to. My son's fine with going through a box and putting everything outgrown into a sack - when he begins, he's fine with that. It's getting him to start on it.

Other decisions mostly have to be me anyway; a lot of them are things I inherited from my mum, things that were my gran's, and I grew up with them in the house and they're not familiar to anyone else now living. So those have to be me.

I keep coming back to "It is that energy of vacillation that you need to watch out for." YES. That is "the enemy" more than the Stuff is. That's quite an epiphany in itself, actually. And its opposite, its antidote, is the Chariot ... in the way I've come to see the Chariot until I grasp it better.

Amanda said:
(I would say, simply walking away in this case is probably not the best for de-cluttering your home. )

Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind though!

Amanda said:
Well, the Ace may not be 'regular' though. Perhaps it is one major clear-out that you could afford -or save for-

Aha! I have thought about a cleaner who used to come (back before I lost eligibility for Council help on grounds of disability - didn't lose the grounds, but I inherited from my mother and, having assets, lost the funding (as well as my mother's days helping); such is the logic of The System) - I got on with thi woman, and she was in a different league from any other cleaners from the agency, plus she got twice as much done in the time.

Amanda said:
to have a professional organizer with a team of people to do the heavy lifting

Just to be confusing, I'm ok to do all my own heavy lifting. When I'm fit, I'm as fit as I was at thirty (if not fitter). It's just that I'm fit about 1/10 of my waking hours. ... It's complicated!

Amanda said:
or you could emulate that scenario with people you trust -- put one in charge to direct things, nothing goes past you (or another trusted) without a decision; various piles for Keep, Bin, Donate and plans for removal of the things you're not keeping with a final clean of the house. It could be done in over a weekend with enough people helping.

Ooh, you have tapped directly into my fantasy.

Amanda said:
Well normally for me, the Chariot's Lesson is about Taking Control. But with the Wheel as your summary, I decided that it was less about that and more about movement here.

That's funny, as for me it's normally about Letting Go of Control. (She isn't holding tight to those reins...) Which, after all, is a way of stepping into a position of greater control.

Amanda said:
I think I should have titled it: The Nearly Impossible Spread.

It has depth, that's all. Lots and lots of depth(s).