AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m not one to interpret the Lovers as a “soul-mate” or “twin-flame” card because the Hebrew letter associated with it is often translated as “sword,” implying an important decision to be made by taking a judicious stab or swipe at it. Here I’m using the Lovers to represent my favorite definition, a “crossroads” that can exit into either a “high-road” ascending toward improvement in fortune, or a “low-road” declining into dire straits.

To populate the reading template, I made an effort to divide the twelve subsequent trump cards in an even-handed fashion, with the more encouraging cards pursuing the “high road” and the less hopeful ones descending along the “low road.” The two “Ingress” cards – which can be selected intentionally or pulled randomly – describe approaching the crossroads with a dilemma in hand that is in urgent need of guidance regarding how it should be handled. The “Step Change” card depicts the critical move that will indicate taking either a firm step in a positive direction or a false step down the road to discontent.

Once the trajectory of the departure from the intersection is determined according to the nature of the “Step Change” card, six more cards are drawn randomly from the shuffled deck and placed on the appropriate chain. However, the prediction does not end there: if a thrust that started out negative receives a favorable card of sufficient potency at any point except the very end, the following card in the draw will be bumped up to the next numerical position on the “high road.” For example, if the Sun lands on Death, the next card pulled would be placed on the Wheel of Fortune position. A strongly negative card dealt onto a card on the “high road” would have the opposite effect, driving the progression down to the level of growing despair.

These swaps may happen more than once during the course of the pull, so the objective once all six cards are dealt is to read the chain with the highest percentage of “matching polarity” cards as suggesting the likely developmental scenario. I will attempt to illustrate this in the example reading below. (Note that I didn’t allow reversals but you can if you like.)

The message for the querent in this example is clearly “Don’t hold your breath!” While patience may be a virtue, it is not rewarded here.