AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is my second spread based on the “troll under the bridge” symbolism of Scandinavian folklore. (The first one was aimed at readings for children; this one is for adults and the “troll” – here we could call it a “cave troll” – is implied rather than explicit.) The roll of a single six-sided die is used to show whether the path ahead will be a smooth, ascending one (an even-numbered roll) or whether the seeker will encounter the “troll” in the depths (an odd-numbered roll). It also employs a carefully-chosen trump-card backdrop to create an underlying “composite theme” for each of the two randomly-drawn “transition” cards. The title alludes to the option faced by travelers at some locations on the Eastern seaboard of the United States to either “take the bridge” or “take the “tunnel” to get to their destination.

Major Arcana cards were used to devise an allegorical model for the progress of any situation along two potential paths: a “high road” of optimism that is ripe with opportunity and a “low-road” of pessimism that is beset with difficulty and distress. These cards are not to be read as part of the narrative, they merely set the stage for the optimal scenario or its dysfunctional opposite; “turning-point” cards #2 and #3 will take on the shared ambience of the trumps as either encouragement or discouragement, if not actually expressing their precise nature. The Wheel of Fortune in the middle is also largely neutral in the reading; it has no spread position and is intended to suggest changing circumstances with no “good” or “bad” value judgment implied. Although it isn’t illustrated, the “quintessence” card, if used, could be placed here as additional commentary on the broader dimensions of the transition and its consequences.

Since I’m aiming the reading at transformational promise for the querent “out in the world” rather than internally or psychologically, I’ve used those relevant trump cards that appear in the second half of the 22-card sequence. (The Fool and the World obviously represent the “alpha-and-omega” of projected developments – the beginning and the end of the matter – that are single-pointed and not vulnerable to in-process “environmental variables.”) The middle card in each path shows an upturn in prospects on the “high road” and a downturn or looming crisis on the “low road” that in each case is sensitive to either the opportunities or the pitfalls conveyed by the associated trumps.

Just a word about “bad” cards in “good” positions and vice versa: in the first case, a sympathetic environment can take the edge off an unfavorable outlook without rendering it entirely positive, and in the second case a bad placement for a good card can reflect opportunities that are not as robust as might otherwise be expected without completely negating them. It becomes a “glass-half-empty or glass-half-full” scenario. There is no need to place the “template” cards on the table for the layout as long as their presence is assumed during the analysis, but if you choose to do so they should be taken from a second deck.

Begin by shuffling a full deck and dealing four cards face-up in the order shown (reversals may be allowed during this step). Next, roll the die and determine whether the face-up side is odd or even in its number of “spots.” If it is even-numbered, assume the impact to be an harmonious and benevolent augury that points to the “high road” as the “way of certainty” for the situation. Read the three cards of the “bridge” series as the developmental “story.” If, on the other hand, it is odd-numbered, expect that the “way of struggle” will be the querent’s path and read the three-card “tunnel” series as the “low road” of possible strife and sorrow. The result in either case is a three-card vignette, one more-or-less comfortable, the other most likely challenging. If you calculate the “quint” card, read it for additional insights on the long-range outcome.

The card in the first position (underscored by the archetypal Fool) will be self-explanatory as the “kick-off” event. It will be either well-favored or ill-disposed according to its inherent nature and orientation (upright or reversed), and its relative disposition will not affect the path to be experienced by the querent; that is expressly up to the die-roll. It is advancing but may be insufficiently attentive and thus stumble out of the gate; consider it as implying a tenuous state of readiness or disregard for the demands of the journey ahead.

As Aleister Crowley once wrote, the World card merely represents the “crystallization of the whole matter involved,” without commenting on success or failure as the outcome. Waite called it “assured success,” but the mundane exigencies that attend it make that debatable in most cases. The Golden Dawn described it as “the matter itself,” the complexion of which depends entirely on the accompanying cards (in this case that influence would be ascribed to the random card in Position #4, which is arrived at via either Card #2 or Card #3). The most reliable approach would be to view it as the situation coming to an end in accordance with the forecast given by Card #4 and its antecedent on the path indicated; in short, unlike Cards #2 and #3, the position is neither inherently positive nor negative in nature.