Saturday, February 9, 2013

The Four Modes Spread by Marry K. Greer

I was just reading "Understanding the Tarot Court" by Marry K. Greer & Tom Little when I looked at this spread given in the book.

The Aeclectic Tarot forum explains the spread like this:

Next we visit the four modes of Tarot - the Court Cards, which answer the "Who" of a reading - the parts of yourself or people around you that are part of the issue; the Minor Arcana Pips (numbers 2-10) that describe the "What?" - the situation that the Seeker is in; The Major Arcana that answer the question "Why?", addressing the life lesson for the Seeker in the situation they are facing; and the Aces, which answer the "Where?" of the situation - the elemental world, realm or sphere where the action is taking place.

For this spread you have to basically separate the deck in four parts.
1) Court cards
2) Number cards/Minor Arcana Pips (from 2-10) of each suit
3)  Major Arcana from 0-21
4) The four Aces

Like the text I copied from Aeclectic Tarot's review of the book, the court card tells you what court card you are acting like. I didn't pre-choose the card because I wanted to see if I'm being myself (Queen of Wands) or not.

The Minor Arcana Pips card tells you what situation you are in & what you are doing in that situation

The Major Arcana card tells you why you are in this situation & what you need to express/what your lesson here in this situation is

The Ace tells you in which realm or area are you facing the situation & why you are doing what you are doing.



1) King of Swords: Some words I can really relate to for this court cards are "logical, head-over-heart, controlling, thinker (sometimes over-thinking) , wants crystal clear view of situation, cold, detached, trying too hard to dominate, & above all, blunt (look at that sword).
So I agree, I exhibit all these qualities these days.More negative than positive *sigh*

2) So whats happening is, that I'm delusional. This is the word I associate with this card. This card is also the card of day-dreaming & I'm falling for it. Instead of taking some practical decisions, or actions,I rather sit & imagine what it can be. There is also A LOT I want. & I want it all at once. That is why I have no idea which one to work towards first. At the same time, I'm so tempted by all the options I have, or I think I have, that I'm clearly careless towards what I'm losing. This explains the cold/detached King of Swords attitude.

3) The Hierophant explains why its happening. I'm a rebel. I always walk against the current, not that it ever serves me right. But the lesson here is to get real & understand that the path less travelled, well, there is a reason its less travelled. I should stick to more traditional roles. See how I'm exhibiting the role of a King, the alpha, the master, while I'm a woman & TBH I was expecting a female court card at-least  I need to fit to my role. I know this sounds too traditional, but hey, that's what the lesson is here right.

4) The realm is that of emotions, feelings, love & relationships, also family & matters related to heart. See how there is a lot of Blue in my spread, which represents feelings. The "What" card is also of Cups, mean in terms of whatever is happening, at least I'm on track. The Hirophant is Earth, boxed in with Water on both sides, thus, the message of Hierophant is even intensified. The only culprit here is Swords (Air). Air and Water just create Storms.

So here, I'm taking things (options) too rationally & logically. There is a need to conform to traditional values and even seek advice from someone who can help.

This spread actually gave me a lot to wonder about.

Try it & share how it feels!

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