AUTHOR’S NOTE: This spread is intended to show the development of an opportunity along the most favorable elemental lines. The “Ace in the Hole” card is a wild card that is dealt face-down and then aligned with the most advantageous path when it is turned face-up. The idea is to build a five-card reading around the friendliest elemental pair among the four two-card sets of the initial pull as the preferred developmental arc.

Begin by shuffling the deck and dealing nine cards in the order shown in the photo, all face-up except Card #9, which is to be placed face-down without looking at it. This card reflects latent environmental conditions that will be either complementary or cautionary, and they should be brought to bear on the favored approach once they are revealed. Reversals may be used, although I didn’t do so in the example reading.

There are four possible paths with varying degrees of advantage and disadvantage: the “Audacious” path is the most ambitious and receives a +2 advantage; the “Orthodox” path is the least adventurous and carries a -1 disadvantage; the “Forthright” path is confident but prudently systematic, so it enjoys a +1 advantage; the “Circumspect” path tries to split the different among the other three and therefore has a neutral disposition.

Examine the pairs to determine which set is best situated to advance the opportunity in the most auspicious way, both elementally and according to the inherent nature of the two cards. Rank the pairs from +2 to -2 in terms of orientation (i.e. advantage or disadvantage) toward this goal based on their mutual cooperation or antagonism. Then turn the “wild card” face-up and align it with the pair that yields the most fortunate three-card line.

In the photo below, Earth and Water are on the friendliest of terms, so the “Circumspect” path offers the most beneficial outlook when augmented by the “wild card.” The Earth of the 6 of Disks is hostile toward the Air of the “Orthodox” path; of mixed aspect with the Water and Fire of the “Forthright” path; and moderately well-favored by the Fire and Earth cards of the “Audacious” path. The advice in this case would be to proceed with shrewd discretion down the “Circumspect” path, which is the less strenuous of the two bundled “+2 advantage” scenarios.

Deal two more cards face-up onto the end of that line. One will be the “Action” card revealing the most effective move to make in striving to further the objective, and the other will be the “Outcome” card describing the “end of the matter.”

In this example, the “Action” card is the Aeon (Judgement in the Waite-Smith deck); of this card Aleister Crowley said “it always represents the taking of a definite step.” Therefore, when the matter evolves to this stage, there is no more time for passive half-measures and the querent should act decisively. Such action should lead to the Sun, one of the most favorable cards in the deck, as the successful resolution

Since the 6 of Disks as the “wild card” is itself titled “Success” (Lord of Material Success in the Golden Dawn canon), the key factor in pursuing this developmental arc to its optimum benefit lies in enlisting the collaboration of the Knight of Cups and Knight of Disks (RWS Kings), who should be well-positioned to render assistance. They are authority figures that convey the mature wisdom and patient resolve to see the matter through to its conclusion, and if they represent administrators of some kind, they aren’t intentionally dragging their feet or digging in their heels, they are just dedicated “paper-pushers” enslaved to due process. I also see them as “gatekeepers” who may have to be appeased before the Aeon can gain any traction in the affair. If they instead show psychological attributes, these conservative qualities will apply to the querent’s behaviors and attitudes in navigating the circumstances.