Mary Greer has an interesting post on her blog about a 1935 deck and one of the Tarot spreads included in the little instruction book accompanying the deck. The spread uses 13 cards, but you only turn over 5 of the cards. The rest must remain facedown; you never see them. In the comments, Mary and her readers discuss why this might be so and connect it to the importance of ritual in shuffling, selecting, and laying out the cards for creating the appropriate mind set for receiving the wisdom of the cards.
I am intrigued with this use of unseen cards because it reflects how change unfolds in our lives. We can’t always know what change will bring. Even with careful planning, we can’t know everything that will unfold. A layout on a question of change where some of the cards remain unseen is a symbolic reminder of that reality.
This also makes me think of questions that could be added on for further exploration of the unseen in the spread such as:
- How can I manage my anxiety about what I don’t know about this change?
- How can I prepare for unforeseen challenges that might arise?
- How can I be open to unforeseen opportunities that might arise?
So what other questions might there be about factors in a change process that you can not yet see?
My grandmother used a version of the Celtic spread. After the querent shuffled and cut, Grandma Germaine would then lay out the cards FACE DOWN–all of them. Then she would describe what each position represented, and the querent could choose to look at whatever card s/he wished in whatever order. She was born in Lille and “received” her deck at 14, passed to her from her grandmother.
As a believe in the questioners being an active particpant in the reading, I love this idea of their getting decide what information they are ready to receive. I love to hear about the Tarot traditions in your family, Paris!