Here is a spread that I love to use every once in a while. It is called the “priorities of the moment” and uses 5 cards. I personally used the Morgan Greer Deck no reversals. I find this very helpful in order to look at the bigger picture, and underlying theme of a given situation.
1. Main priority / The ace of swords
2. What is blocking / The 9 of swords
3. what I can change / 7 of wands
4. what I must accept / 5 of wands
5. How things will turn out / The devil
First observations : only swords and wands, and the outcome is a major arcana. The whole spread seems to speak about courage and taking a stand. Also, the swords are related to the air element, the wands are related to the fire element. And I usually associate the devil with the Capricorn sign.
Main priority : the ace of swords
Right now, I may consider starting something new. A new challenge is at hand, and has to be addressed with logic and firmness. Objectivity might be hard at this point to obtain because of the 9 of swords which represent the blockage. The ace is about rising above all things, suggesting power and mental strength. The 9 is actually more like the opposite, being stuck not being able to rise above things and being tied, not being able to use the swords at disposal. So the 9 here represents the holding back factor before being completely at ease with the new plan. Said simply, my thinking is somewhat muddled right now, I should cut the crap and move on. Or it is having a few butterflies before accepting my new responsibility and taking the challenge.
The two together suggest to go forward with new ideas, ideals and planning, and not let the bitterness and the deception of the past take the upper hand.
Funnily enough the two next cards are both wands : active, energy, passion, movement. There is an opposition and a complementary side to this draw the swords on one side that represent the mental side, the planning of things and on the other hand, the wands which are the getting in action side to the story.
What has to be accepted with the 5 of wands : the competition ! Acceptance will have to be fought for. Also, a lot of scattered energy. I will have to be prepared to work on it quite a lot. This won’t come easy. It won’t fell in my lap. One has to reach out to catch.
What one can change with the 7 of wands : by standing your ground actively, not backing down, trusting your instinct, voicing your opinion. Also on the 7 of wands, the character is on a higher ground than the opponent. In the 5, the characters are all on the same level.
Beating out the competition, implies to present something different than the rest.
The underlying theme all around this spread seems to be fighting for an ideal, or a new project. it seems also pretty active too.
The outcome is a Major Arcana : the devil. I personnaly don’t read the devil as a bad card, especially in this type of spread where it is supposed to give you advice ! The devil here is an interesting outcome because it is related to power that is mental and also physical. And there were 2 cards for the mental and 2 cards for the physical side. It acts as a focal point within the spread, a card that merges all the sides of it. The devil here is a better control of yourself and your environment ( by that I mean , how you represent yourself to others, and how you persuade them). It is also a card for passion and control. Taking the power. How you gather your energy, focus on the goal and address all of your energy in the right direction. The endeavor is triggered initially by the ace of swords.
This draw is interesting ! Cheers,
Jayce
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