AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here is a spread that is designed to follow the progress of an initiative, enterprise or project from its inception to the “first milestone” of self-sustaining viability. (The “story arc” is structured so it can be repeated for later phases of a strategic game plan.) It includes a public (or “overt”) arc and a private (or “covert) arc showing situational development.

Success of the former is not assured without a parallel investment in the latter; if we don’t have sufficient faith in ourselves, external circumstances are unlikely to bolster it. Each four-card arc offers a set of interim checkpoints leading to the milestone in Card #5, and will ideally show rising and falling fortunes on both the external and internal fronts. The two “big-picture” trump cards at the near-right are derived from a mathematical conflation of the five cards to their left, and the right-most trump is the numerical “essence” of the other two trumps; it represents the “last word” on the environmental theme or backdrop for the scenario.*

The hypothetical question I put to this spread for the example reading was based on a real-life venture I’ve been contemplating over the last few years on which I have never “pulled the trigger.” The interesting thing is that in the draw all ten of the “developmental arc” cards except the 5 of Cups came up reversed, implying that I should quit while I’m ahead (tell me something I don’t know), but this gave me nothing to work with as a “test case.” So I changed the orientation of all of them to upright except the 5 of Cups, which became reversed. Now I had something with which to play around.

In the “overt” arc the first two Wands court cards remind me of those paragons of aggressive driving, “Mr. Lead-Foot” (Prince of Wands) and “Mr. Hot-Shoe” (Knight of Wands). They’re plainly insisting “Go for it and don’t look back!” But the Queen of Swords as the “Reality Check” puts the brakes on and brings the over-eager enthusiasm to a screeching halt with a little cool-headed criticism. With Art (Temperance) as the upshot of her intervention, she is demanding a lot more finesse in the affair, which serves to rein in runaway ambition but also offsets any dramatic gains by “normalizing” or averaging them out. The result is a profound change of direction (Death) and a loss of momentum that is confirmed by the Hanged Man.

The “covert” arc begins with two harmonious Water cards, the 4 of Cups (Luxury) and the 6 of Cups (Pleasure), signifying that an abundance of emotional self-confidence is fueling the initiative. But the reversed 5 of Cups (Disappointment) as the “Reality Check” indicates running out of gas and having to coast along on fumes, accomplishing the same thing as the Queen of Swords directly above. The 2 of Disks (Change) signals a pragmatic reassessment of the goal, while the 2 of Swords (Peace) clearly advises “pulling in my horns” and backing off. So much for premature congratulations.

With Death (“big change”) as the “overt” conclusion and the 2 of Disks (“little change”) in the “covert” chain of events, this combination reinforces a previous reading on the same topic, which also featured Death and the 2 of Disks in its forecast, thus asking pointedly ‘What part of ‘no’ didn’t you understand?” Tarot can be uncomfortably consistent. All that Fire culminating in Water can’t be good from an elemental affinity perspective (Death is doing a less-celebratory dance than the Knight of Wands), nor can all that Water ending in the fatalism of the 2 of Swords.

The three “essence” cards are fascinating. The Hanged Man for the “overt” arc is cautioning “Wait for it . . . ” while the Hermit for the “covert” arc echoes that sentiment by prompting me to “Ponder a bit” after the internal unrest shown by the Twos. The Universe as the “last word” is essentially saying “Don’t worry, it will all work out fine in accordance with the Master Plan” about which I can do nothing except “roll with it” when it comes down. But I get a whiff of blithe Panglossian disinformation here: “Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Even when it transparently isn’t: all that starts well doesn’t necessarily end well. Still, the Universe is a generally favorable card so hope abides.

*See the “quintessence” card of the French tirage en croix spread for guidance on this calculation, which can be achieved in several ways, all of which arrive at a similar result from 0 to 22: 1) summing the digits of the cards’ face values and subtracting as necessary to come within range; 2) “casting out nines” or subtracting increments of nine from the total (my personal choice in most cases); or 3) subtracting 22 from the sum. This card is always a trump, thus its “big picture” contribution to this spread.