"Do This - Not This" Two-card Daily

Lately, I've been using two cards for my daily draws; I found just drawing one card without a specific question often rather vague, and even though there are some great three-card daily spreads (like the one from Mark McElroy's site), I found I had trouble keeping all three cards 'in my head' during the day.

So, two cards.

The first is:
'Do This Today'.

The second:
'Do NOT Do This Today'.

I tend to place the first one right-side up, and the second one either upside-down or on it's side, depending on the borders etc of the deck I'm using (I have a little card holder I put them in, meant for a postcard, and sometimes too much of the picture gets obscured).

I read the second card as being reversed, more or less; it's a nice way to bring out the more negative shades of meaning, and to play with the diffences and similarities between the two cards you draw.

Sometimes, the two cards will be almost opposites (Do: 4 of Swords. Do Not: 5 of Wands, for instance) and sometimes they will be very close together (Do: Knight of Coins, Do Not; King of Coins), making it an interesting way to explore the differences between cards.

They often balance each other nicely, or mirror one another.

Having them show up as advice like this also takes the sting out of the more 'scary' cards.

And I seem to be able to remember throughout the day which two cards I drew!


I have vague memories of a (two-panel) comic strip that had this 'do this-not this' format, but I can't remember or find what it was - it might have been French or Italian originally, even (and the 'not this' suggestion was often quite absurd).
If anyone has any idea what that might have been, I would love to know!
Perhaps I could name the spread after it.

LOVE it! Thanks for the suggestion!

One card isn't enough - three are too many. So choose two!

What a fantastic concept - Wish I had a card holder like you, but I'll find a way to make do

Thanks again!

Somewhere
Deep in the bowels of At
There is a thread by someone
who has a secretary
who has a spread called
Don't Do


It was a 2 card spread. half information with a half life of about 5 minutes.

For those of you who own the Gilded Tarot set with the companion book by Barbara Moore, this is a fantastic way to interpret this spread (no matter what deck you actually use)!

For every card, Ms. Moore's book provides a more positive meaning - even for the so-called "negative" cards such as Death. Not a sugar-coated meaning, but one that lets you see the value in each card.

Even more valuable in this book, and the part that so beautifully fits this spread is the "Beware" or "Be aware" message at the end of each card's meaning. It offers a compelling warning about at least one, if not several negative aspects of each card.

So when I drew the typically happy 9-Cups today for the "Do not Do This" position, the Gilded book offered me this bit of advice:

"Be aware of taking the energy of the Hermit to the extreme [my note: since it is IX/9 as well]. Do not enjoy your good fortune alone or hoard it. Do not indulge in a pompous sense of self-satisfaction but share what you have with graciousness."

AJ, that sounds like fun!
Do you think it's in the archived part of the forum? I never quite know how to get there.

AprilFool, now you are making me want to get the Gilded again!
(used to own it, didn't click with it, traded or sold it)
Sounds like a good book, I can't remember reading anything like that at the time.

Of course, some days the spread still leads to puzzlement, as it did for me today...

the only way I ever find archived threads is by accident when they come up as a google return for something I've googled.

If this thread stays active enough some one with a bigger brain than mine will remember it and be able to put their finger right on it.

The only other way I know to find it (unless it was lost in the recent crash) is pull up all my posts and start working my way through them from the first because I did post to that thread. Probably the only reason I remember it.

Nothing is worth that tedium

AJ - great idea! I'll give it a try! I do know what you mean about keeping a card in mind. It's easy to remember one card for the day, but three gets a little busy.

Hedera said:

AprilFool, now you are making me want to get the Gilded again!
(used to own it, didn't click with it, traded or sold it)
Sounds like a good book, I can't remember reading anything like that at the time.

Click to expand...

Hedra, I wonder if you had the other, later kit-version of the Gilded? I think it has a different name on the box, even though the box says in smaller print that it's the Gilded deck. This particular other kit has a completely different companion book from what I understand. Maybe someone can describe it here, since I'm mostly floundering and going WAY off topic of the thread!

Much as I love, love, love the Gilded deck, the Barbara Moore companion book alone was worth the price of the Gilded set I own!

Especially for this particular spread....see??? I'm back on topic, now!

Mellaenn said:

great idea! I'll give it a try! I do know what you mean about keeping a card in mind. It's easy to remember one card for the day, but three gets a little busy.

Click to expand...

You're welcome.


AJ, that's the only way I know how to end up in the archives, too.

AprilFool, that's definitely different from the set I had!
I bought the deck (not sure there was much of a book with it at all) right when it came out - now I'm considering re-buying it...
Not sure if I should head over to the enablement or the de-enablement thread!