AUTHOR’S NOTE: While answering a career-related question in one of the online tarot communities, I was inspired to develop a spread that is based on “matching” between one of four elemental “career-path” cards and the querent’s significator. It’s not exactly a process of elimination; call it a “process of affiliation.”

I spent some time trying to come up with the kind of employment factors that each of the four general categories could be said to embody while remaining as concise as possible. The limited space on the graphic image helped in that regard, but I still consider it a work-in-progress. Another good source would be the astrological literature for elemental careers that parallels the tarot correspondences.

To use this spread, first select four elemental cards (Fire, Water, Air and Earth) to stand for the four career paths and place them in a column to the left. I advise doing some research to arrive at the best fit. I chose the Aces as my “placeholders” and came up with the descriptive text from my own previous writing on the subject, along with a good deal of creative imagination rooted in decades of workplace experience.

Next, choose a card to represent the querent and leave it in the deck. (I chose my own avatar, the King of Cups, for the example reading.)

Shuffle (or have the sitter shuffle) the deck while concentrating on the question, then begin dealing the cards sequentially next to the “career-path” column until the significator shows up. This will provide the preliminary answer to “What type of career would be best for me?”

To take the narrative further, consider doing a more specific reading to address “What will happen if I pursue the recommended path?” You can either reshuffle the entire deck, keeping the signifcator card out as the focus of a new spread, or use a few of the cards that appeared beneath the significator in the original deal, which is what I did in the example below. This reading is retrospective since I’ve been retired for 15 years, so its only purpose is to test the spread.

The King of Cups landed next to the Ace of Swords, the “Mind-worker” career path, which is entirely appropriate. I had a successful 31-year career in a technological industry in which I was at various times an engineer, a technical and legal writer, and a middle manager. The Chariot shows my unbroken success during the first 25 years with the company, until it was bought by a much larger corporation in 2002, and the 10 of Wands reflects the slog that it became thereafter. (They took my “ride” away and left me trudging along.) The reversed Tower indicates the upheaval that occurred between the new owner and the State involving the work my group was doing right before I retired, but I consider the reversal of this card to imply a “soft landing,” so I skated out with no ill effects even though I had to give a verbal deposition before the Attorney General’s legal team. As we were departing, my company-appointed lawyer – who was apparently adept at reading lawyerly poker-faces – said “They loved you!” and I never heard any more.