Order of Cards

[GoddessArtemis]

When you ask a question, how does the order of two cards being pulled affect the meaning?

For example, if you're looking for an outcome to a situation...how would Justice, clarified by Death...be different from Death, clarified by Justice? Does that change the meaning? Or are those two pairings the same?

My thought is that the interpretation changes, depending on which card comes up first. In simplified terms: I'd read Justice, clarified by Death as a "rightful ending"; Death, clarified by Justice as "letting go and allowing karma/universe to step in". How's that? I'm curious to hear others' thoughts are on this.

Thanks.

GA

 

[Oddity]

Hi,
I would do it the way you do it: read the first card as the more important card and the second as a clarification. I think that's usually easier, for me anyway.
But I guess you could also read both cards together and in that case it won't matter which one comes first. The important thing is just to decide how you want to do it before you do it, and stick to that so you don't get all confused in the middle of a reading.
Sometimes I don't decide how I'm going to view the cards until the second before I pick them, but as long as I'm clear on what's what before I look at the cards, everything works out okay.

 

[berrieh]

If you're talking about "clarifying" where you laid one down and viewed it and then pulled another card, the 1st card, to me, has the majority of the weight, and the other is just to help you look at the important message of the 1st card.

If I'm laying the cards down all at once, and the positions don't indicate 'importance' of any kind, I'm egalitarian and all the cards have equal weight in theory, depending on their influence (Majors stronger than Minors), their reinforcements (in a spread with 3 cards, 2 of which were the same number or the same suit, those would have more weight than the 3rd for me), or just my general intuition.

No matter what -- If you feel the 1st card should have more weight, then it should.

 

[ana luisa]

I´m with berrieh here. Usually, the first carries more weight but when I lay the cards, there´s always ONE that screams louder. And that´s my pivotal point.

 

[GoddessArtemis]

I agree that clarifiers bear less weight in interpreting cards. But what if you pull the above cards (Justice, clarified by Death)....and then the next time you ask the same question, you get the same cards in reverse (Death, clarified by Justice). Are those saying the same thing? Or are they different because of the order of the cards?

This has happened to me numerous times.

GA

 

[Starling]

I agree that clarifiers bear less weight in interpreting cards. But what if you pull the above cards (Justice, clarified by Death)....and then the next time you ask the same question, you get the same cards in reverse (Death, clarified by Justice). Are those saying the same thing? Or are they different because of the order of the cards?

This has happened to me numerous times.

GA

I can't give you a specific answer, but ... It seems to me that if you are pulling the same cards over and over, that you need to pay attention to those cards and that the order you pull them in doesn't matter as much as the fact that they are showing up over and over again.

Yes, there might be some difference depending on which one came up first, or which one is clarifying the other, but in the case of cards coming up, as a pair, frequently, and with the order changing, I'd take a good look at them AS A PAIR. In this case, I think they have equal weight.

If they were my cards I'd start by doing the old fashioned thing. I'd look them up and see what clicked with me. Then I'd go through a bunch of the things in Mary Greer's 21 Ways to clarify them more. I'd describe them. I'd tell stories about them. I'd move the characters from one card to another in my imagination. I'd do a bunch of journaling. Sometimes when my fingers are doing the talking I learn things I didn't know I knew.

Only you can know if the meanings change if you give more weight to one card or the other. Only you can know if one set of meanings is more important than the others. But I bet that you need ALL of them or you wouldn't be here asking questions.

 

[willowfox]

Justice / Death

A solution that will allow an end to the situation giving way to a new beginning?


Death /Justice

An ending to a situation that has been fairly decided upon by all concerned?

 

[starrystarrynight]

I, too, agree with those who have said that the first card carries the weight (the clarifier, to me, is just a card designed to make me better understand the original card.)

GA, when you get the same card combo (but in different order) could it be just because you are asking the same question too soon again?? (Because if it comes up for different questions, it would, or course, change the meanings.)

I do think, as Willowfox pointed out by example, that different orders would definitely change the meanings.

 

[GoddessArtemis]

I do think, as Willowfox pointed out by example, that different orders would definitely change the meanings.

That's exactly my point, esp. in the illustrated case. Sometimes, the same cards come up but the interpretation can be different and that's where it gets confusing, esp. when your intuition doesn't kick in to help.

Thank you all for the input.

GA