It arrived... yahoo!!
Well, I am impressed. And I LOVED the idea of just re-doing / re-tooling the Celtic Cross from scratch. That I will definitely be trying. Either pulling a specific card consciously that is linked with a posed question, and then using the colour codes to just select the other 9 cards unsighted, or heck will throw caution to the wind and just do all 10 cards in accordance with colour code unsighted. Live dangerously right
(If you have no idea what I am talking about, go buy the deck and read the book - it will all make perfect sense!)
2 things I have done already. First up, the blank cards. (I was hoping to see how others had used them, but not really encountered much info, so I just dived right in with the ones from my deck). Tierney explains you can top and tail to double up on the extra titles, and that is what I did. So, I now have 10 extra titles which fit right in with the sections they are aligned with.
Now on to what I can see myself doing with the Question and Clarification cards
I have a section in my folder of using a tarot card to pose a question, using the 5WH technique (where/why/what/when/who/how) and have never really used it. In fact it could be used as a question of the day to highlight what to reflect or meditate on.
I will select a tarot card to go with the question and then one for the clarifier.
So, the question card can be used to highlight the issue of the reading, if for example, the client didn't have a specific question, or did not know what to focus on with ther reading.
However, it could also be used to open the reading with a question within the question (if that makes sense.....)
Example: Someone asking about a relationship, and why they haven't got a boyfriend as they want to get married, and were always single or in short term relationships. The question card was the 7 of cups, so it could be saying "What is it you are looking for in your ideal partner?" and the clarifier, being the 6 of wands could be "If you find the right person, what would be the sense of achievement for you?"
I am sure I can come up with something a bit clearer by way of explanation, but the potential to use the first drawn tarot card to pose the question for the remainder of the reading is most definitely there. This takes it beyond seeing the tarot card being the gist of the overall theme. So instead of saying to the client she had some choices or options she could consider (very generic) a very pertinent question was posed instead.
So there you have it folks. A very happer camper here. Over time I had come to despair at the blandness of the traditional CC, and had resorted to amending it for the festivals. I have felt it to be restrictive and not very good as a general spread. Thanks to Tierney, and the Deck of 1000 spreads I can take it further. I love the way the theme can be set and then caution subsequently thrown to the wind, with card positions being created on the run so to speak - knowing each one will be different.
I will also have the enthusiasm to actually use a card to ask a question