So, remember the liar I was dealing with? The advice was to walk away as quietly as possible. And, I’ve been trying to do that. Now, however, it’s not even necessary, as this rather annoying person has begun actively severing our ties.
And so, okay. I am fine with that. But out of morbid curiosity, I did a couple readings last night to try to get some insight into what’s going on. I thought it would be cool to share, as it shows off the type of spread I like to use for things like this.
Obviously I will keep the subject of these readings anonymous. To make the text flow, I will call this person: Anon Y. Mous. Or, Anon, for short!
So, the first spread I did was with my lenormand deck. I asked “what’s going on with Anon?” and put down three cards to make a sentence about it. This forms the top line of the spread, and represents the surface-level information. Then I put two cards beneath it, to represent what’s going on underneath the surface. Then I put down a single card to represent the root of everything.
Here’s what it looked like:
I know people that would put a full 3 cards on each level. Or 5 cards, however many you want. But, I feel that as you delve deeper into a person’s subconscious drives, you get into simpler and simpler impulses. Like, someone might explain that something’s fair because of X and expected because of Y and reasonable because of Z, but under the surface it’s all coming from simple jealousy. You see? So, the shape of the spread coincides with the complexity of the issues at each level.
Anyway, my interpretation of these particular cards is:
- Level One: we have 21-Mountain + 5-Tree + 23-Mice. I see this as some kind of blockage (Mountain) to Anon’s health and well-being (Tree), which is causing that health to deteriorate (Mice).
- Level Two: Underneath the surface, we see 35-Anchor + 16-Stars. Ah, so Anon’s deeper issue is a concern about their long-term goals or mission in life. Aging and deteriorating health would certainly aggravate those concerns. I could see how Anon would be afraid of becoming obsolete, or dried up, or what have you.
- Level Three: At the root, we have 2-Clover. This confused me for a bit, and I was interpreting it as seeing an opportunity of some sort… as in: Anon sees some tactical advantage in messing with me. But, I wasn’t satisfied, and I went to Sylvie Steinbach’s The Secrets of the Lenormand Oracle. It points out that 2-Clover can represent “excitable, nervous temperaments.” And I immediately said “yep!” That’s it… I think Anon is kinda grasping at straws because they are at a loss for what else to do.
So, to get more cartouche practice, I threw down three cards with the same question: “what’s going on with Anon?” Here’s what I got:
So that’s 10-Set, 6-Hathor, and 23-Pyramid, all reversed. I’m still reading cartouche with the book in my hands, as I’m still getting to know the cards. Let me tell you, I was amazed at how interesting and accurate these three cards sounded, to me.
I was aware that 10-Set represented setbacks and delays, but checked on the reversed meaning in the book. The first line opens: “There is a difference between deliberate evil intent and the blunders of the mentally afflicted.” And let me tell you, that is exactly what I have been telling people about Anon. If you are into tarot, think 9 of Swords… which Crowley calls “cruelty.” It is when your mind gets so addled and agitated that you end up lashing out in unseemly ways. Other applicable text about this card include “pseudo-intellectuality” and “hysterical emotionalism.” That last one fits nicely with 2-Clover from the lenormand reading above, I noted.
Now for 6-Hathor reversed, we have the feminine goddess energy wrapped in knots. This has intuitive meaning for me, but again, I go to the book for clarity. It says: “Spiritual weakness is an obvious meaning here, also misuse or neglect of the feminine side of one’s nature.” That is a really interesting insight into the root of this behavior, I think! Another keyword here was “intimidation,” which I think dovetails nicely with the “pseudo-intellectuality” from the reversed 10-Set.
The 23-Pyramid I didn’t have to look up. It clearly stands for foundations and permanence. Reversed, we have ideas like instability and need for changes. This could also tie into aging and health problems, which were a focus from the lenormand reading.
So, if we put those together, we see a similar meaning to the lenormand reading… we have a kind-of frantic and borderline cruel (10-Set Rev) activity rooted in spiritual weakness and a neglected feminine side (6-Hathor Rev), which is exacerbated by time passing and weakening health (23-Pyramid Rev).
I continue to be impressed by the cartouche cards, and hope to be able to spend more time working with them soon!
