Hey, this thread took off!
I'm afraid I haven't been able to follow all of it but I'm glad Amanda your method has gained such a following.
I did today succumb and use it for a 'when will' instead of 'when should I'... and it feels like a reading that 'matters', but at the same time I'm flummoxed so here I am asking everyone's thoughts!
I asked when I will earn money through my own efforts, if ever. I have been on disability for some years and it's 'obvious' that I can't expect to support myself again. But I feel that if I find the right enterprise it will be possible, something I do at home and take a day off from whenever I have a bad day - without warning. (Not a worker anyone would employ, you see.)
This is what I drew (Original RW, without reversals):
3 Pentacles - Justice - King of Swords - the Emperor - Judgement
Wow... and er, wot?!
Justice, the King and Judgement sat there gazing at me impassively. I was quite daunted. I don't know what they expect of me! All three throned, looking straight forward, swords in two of their hands and a sceptre in the other... etc. Lots of sternness. Then Judgement (also stern) which as I looked had a very obvious triangle, from the angel down the line of the coffins either side, echoing the triangle of pentacles on the Three. It also struck me that the King is bright white in the middle, two red-robed authorities on his right and left, and a sort of 'hard work' colour at the two ends. He's also the only one of those three who is outdoors ... I'm doing my best with no intuitive guidance here!
It could be three years, but there's that 'if ever' in the question and I feel it could equally mean I won't earn entirely independently (that card looks like teamwork to me although that's not in its official meaning as far as I know), or something to do with learnt skills.
I seem to be doing the base as 'underpinning' or even 'why you asked', the sum as summary or 'what it's all really about'. The sum of those cards comes to VII the Chariot, my birth (destiny or whatever you call it) card. Going ahead confidently without knowing exactly how it all works, coming out the winner; and balance or duality, to go with Justice. (?) The base card was the 7 Pents, 'still some way to go', but that could go with either of those interpretations.
I tried the opposite pairs mirroring but got nowhere, except by summing them: the 3 and XX gives the Hierophant: it's not about (me) the individual, and it is about going public, committing to something; then XI and IV make XV: for that I jotted down 'getting it right' this morning and can't even remember why but that must have jumped into my mind.
Justice could possibly be the divorce I'm in the middle of and the King my stbx, but those don't feel right.
Had a go at the elements and got stuck.
Perhaps I should use my intellect, or it depends on being clever, or cool-headed, or an executive / decisive / businesslike approach, or some kind of manager will be influential... thought combined with oomph... perhaps I should embrace my callous side?! The King is the fulcrum; it hinges on the intellect. Or words. (I used to write...) Or languages (which I used to be good at). Or being cold-hearted! Thought is at the centre...
That's the best I can do. I will spend some study and some meditative time on this but probably won't have the chance for a while, could be for ages, this - being a non-urgent matter - could be shoved under more immediate stuff going on. Yet it will bother me and I really do feel it came out an important reading. If I'd known that when I shuffled I might not have, I keep resolving to spend less time playing with the cards!
Thanx for any input you can add.