Thoughts on Theme, Not Position

[balenciaga]

Hi all,
I would love to hear your thoughts on theme, or rather, "overall message or vibe" when you do a reading.

*As an experiment, I did an Umbrae Relationship Spread - and the results were visually amazing - it is true what is said about it - if you back up and look, there is a "bigger message", a theme, which eclipses the message of an individual card.*

Anyhow, any comments on the overall look of a spread and the message it sends (which causes you to gloss over indiv. cards) vs. individual card placement/designated positions? Or does one card a deal-maker break/make?

 

[Julien]

It's funny because I don't think, for me, it's an either/or. I throw a spread and then look at it without thinking ("in this position, which means this, is this card, so we have that meaning...). Nor do I really try to think, "what is this theme?" Rather I just look at the cards... And I rarely look at the in the order they were laid out...

Sometimes an overall theme is really THERE and as I gaze at the spread I see that theme (Umbrae's Relationship Spread is especially likely to get that reaction in part because, I think, the closeness of the cards when you lay them out -- it really is like looking at one large painting). Sometimes it's just a color that seems to be looping through all the cards... At other times, I really have to work at it and think about the individual cards. If one card seems to really dominate the scene to my mind, then I let it guide the reading. But that doesn't always happen either.

So, I guess my answer is that it depends on the moment. Sometimes it's one card that dominates all others; sometimes the individual position meanings really matter; and sometimes none of this matters and it's the entire throw that tells me the theme...

Julien

 

[zannamarie]

I often look for an overall theme, usually based on suits present in the reading, but sometimes I use other factors as well. Perhaps a color theme or all cards show people of the same sex.

I think there are lots of ways to pull the cards together in an overall theme.