AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here is a unique way to deploy the Significator in playing-card reading that draws its inspiration from later cartomantic techniques. It places the querent squarely in the middle of the action by having to “live in the present” while dealing with previous inputs and subsequent outputs. It relies on the shuffle (and cut if performed) to build a five-card “past/present/future” forecast centered on the Significator. While intentionally positioning the querent’s card is common practice, in this model the matrix of surrounding cards is determined by the Significator’s random appearance in the draw.

First choose a face card to represent the querent and leave it in the deck. (In the example reading I’m the King of Hearts.)

Shuffle the deck while concentrating on the question, then pull cards from the top of the deck and place them face-up in a pile until the Significator appears. Locate the two cards that lie directly beneath the Significator.

Without disturbing the order, place all three in a line with the Significator at the right end. This series shows past influences that are affecting present circumstances and may spill over into future conditions if not addressed. Some are very recent and may not be completely settled while other are more remote and unchanging in nature, but both are still nagging at the querent.

Without reshuffling, pull two more cards from the deck and place them to the right of the Significator to complete the five-card line. This continuation shows future circumstances that are about to emerge and those that should eventually culminate in the projected outcome.

The middle triplicity acts as an integrated continuum of recent past, present and near future conditions that are more-or-less within the querent’s span of control. He or she may still be reacting to recent turmoil that has not yet faded while at the same time trying to maintain present equilibrium and establish a position for what is soon to come. The Significator is the fulcrum that will tilt one way or the other depending on whether past issues or future opportunities have a stronger hold on the querent’s attention.

Note that the Distant Past card shows the “foundation of the matter” and lies outside of the querent’s ability to completely erase the lingering impact of its memory, while the Outcome card shows future consequences of the querent’s actions in wrestling with the effects of everything that went before.

In the example reading, the King of Hearts’ gaze suggests that I’m still mulling over a long-ago decision (Ace of Spades) that brought me to my recent state of inertia (4 of Clubs), laying the foundation for my uneventful (and slightly boring) domestic existence (4 of Spades) that will reinforce my feelings of detachment from my social and cultural peers (King of Spades).

Either I will become the King of Spades or I will confront him as I re-evaluate my entrenched status as a private person. (I notice that the Kings aren’t seeing “eye-to-eye.”) Two Fours may suggest being grounded and stable but here they are both black, as are all of the other cards except the King of Hearts. I think I need an infusion of enthusiasm but the King of Spades and his cohorts aren’t going to provide it, so I’ll most likely remain the (ahem) cloistered “pearl in the oyster.”

The layout can also be arranged in a cross pattern as shown below: