AUTHOR’S NOTE: In its lengthy dissertation on the reciprocal “separating and compensating” action of a swinging pendulum as envisioned in Hermetic thought, The Kybalion observes that it is the goal of an aspiring master to “get off the treadmill” (my own phrase for it) by rising above the mindless tide of repetition and refusing to succumb to its endless ebb and flow.

The text states that aspirants must first take up a position at the far end of the pendulum’s travel that best suits their purpose and then resist being budged by its pull in the opposite direction, thereby avoiding the need to “do the loop” repeatedly only to arrive back at the same place. I don’t find this to be a particularly enlightened posture because it implies being “stuck” in an extreme status, however intentional that may be.

Fortunately The Kybalion goes on to describe attaining a heightened state of consciousness that departs entirely from the impulse for automatic regulation and adjustment by achieving “neutralization” of its effects through force of will. While in its normal operation the pendulum will (very briefly) reach a neutral condition as it passes through “bottom-dead-center” of its transit, the authors are proposing a permanent escape from the chaos of near-constant instability.

In the past I’ve created tarot spreads based on the “pendulum” model to examine the escalating disarray in a dysfunctional relationship wherein the participants are no longer able to find “common ground” and instead are increasingly pulled off-center by their inability to cooperate. Here I’m generalizing that concept by adding a solid anchor from which the pendulum’s “bob” is suspended and to which the seeker can ascend, leaving its peregrinations behind. I’m calling it “the Invisible Hand” after Adam Smith’s hidden force that moves economic markets, but in this case it is symbolizing the “power of Will” that is poised to cancel unwarranted perturbations.

Here is a spread (and example reading) that brings together the above ideas. The new wrinkle is that I’m conceiving of the “Invisible Hand” as the “numerical essence” of the other cards in the layout, always a trump card suggesting an archetypal path by which to “make one’s getaway.” Separation is signified by the conceptual distance between the two poles that alternately grows and shrinks; compensation by the inexorable convergence of the moving “bob” on the mid-point, first from one direction and then the other, and its almost immediate departure; and neutralization by the trump card at the top that offers a transcendent route to deliverance from perpetual unrest.

In practice, I would use this spread in situations involving competing entities or conflicting agendas that are light-years apart on the continuum, with the aim of reaching a mutually agreeable compromise (or at least an agreement to disagree) as shown by the “essence” card.

The example reading below examines the status of the US-Iran conflict. I gave Polarity #1 to the US and Polarity #2 to Iran.

From these “polarity” cards it appears that Iran is operating from an abundance of moral conviction and military defiance (Knight of Swords) while the US is frustrated (5 of Cups, Disappointment).

In the “Demands and Concessions” comparison, it looks like the US just wants to get it behind them. The administration keeps saying “It’s a done deal” (4 of Wands, Completion) but there continue to be questions about Iran’s good faith. With the Knight of Disks, Iran is “sticking to its guns” in a gritty, determined show of resistance. The two Knights reflect the patriarchal authority that dominates Iranian government.

The crux of the matter and the main bone of contention has been money (Ace of Disks), specifically the billions of dollars in assets Iran wants unfrozen. Negotiations have been tiptoeing around it and gravitating toward nuclear proliferation concerns.

The flag of pre-Revolution “Pahlavi Iran” (the Lion and the Sword) is echoed in the image of the Strength card (the Thoth deck’s “Lust”). This begs the question whether Iran’s disaffected secular population has had something to do with the hard-line religious leadership’s willingness to deal.

On the other hand, it could be showing Donald Trump’s Leo Ascendant subduing and controlling the Iranian lion. Since there are still outstanding issues to be resolved, I would tend to go with the latter and say that the last word in the matter lies with the US. As the old cliche goes, “Something’s gotta give,” and Strength will have its say.