PCO: I want love, pero ni tanto.

A few days ago I did a relationship reading for a close person, a divorced woman near her fifties. Actually, I did two. One of them was about their love life in the present (and the reading showed with poignant clarity that right now she was more concerned about taking care of her business than looking for love. So I did another, using the Cat Spread taught by Ana Cortez in the book of the Playing Card Oracles.

The point of this spread is to use the deck as the calendar that it, in fact, is. The deck has 52 cards - a lunar year has 52 weeks. It also has 4 suits, just like the year has 4 seasons, Each suit has 13 cards - each season, 13 weeks. Therefore, each card of the deck represents one week. These are some of the many correspondences between the calendar and a deck of playing cards. If you would like to read more about this, I highly recommend Ana Cortez's article on the subject.

The purpose of the Cat Spread is to find within the range of one year when what the sitter asked is more likely to happen. Or when something of significance related to the sitter's question will happen. And the cards show how it'll (or won't) happen. Why one year only? Because the deck is a one year calendar, so it cannot see beyond that. It can only see up to 52 weeks from the present.

So, I did this reading to know if she would find a partner within the next year.

The timing was seven lunar months and two weeks from the date of the reading (which happened last weekend). So the reading is indicating, approximately, the second week of September.

"September???", my sitter cried. "That's almost an year from now!"

I told her that she's welcome to challenge this reading, for not everything is written on stone. What most of readings show is a tendency, change your present path and you may also change the outcome of the situation.

These were the card for her reading:

Head (♦/Fire): 4♦

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Throat (♣/Air): 11♣

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Torso (♥/Water): 6♠

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Feet (♠/Earth): 13♥

Geomantic Figures

Because Geomancy is used with the Playing Card Oracles, one of my main reading decks, I think it's important here to post a table with the 16 figures, so people will know which is which.

Here's an overview of the figure's meanings. If you wish to learn more about them, the wikipedia has a marvelous page on the meaning of the Geomantic Figures - you should definitely check it out.

On how to deal with "obsessive" sitters...

This was part of a thread posted in the Aeclectic Tarot Forum, about a querent that just wanted to know if her ex-lover (a married man) was still thinking of her. The reader who posted it was annoyed (with a reason), because he/she wanted to give a in-depth reading and the sitter would not listen. She wanted a quick and dirty answer - preferably a "yes".

I  usually gets annoyed at this kind of people too, but lately I've been giving the whole matter some thought... and it changed the way I see it. Here's my opinion, answering the reader's post.

A quote for the reader's original post:

I think S. is probably right, and friends and family have advised them to get on with their lives, and maybe what it's going to take is a "psychic" to tell them what common sense really ought to dictate. Granted, a broken heart is a hard thing, but there almost seems to be a sense of desperate hope that if they just keep asking different people, including psychic/tarot readers, they'll get the answer they want to hear instead of actually listening to good common sense advice.

It seems like there are some things that should be self-evident, and you shouldn't need to call a reader to tell you something you already know.

My opinion:

People pretty much ignore common sense when their broken heart and possessiveness are cluttering their minds. All they think about is fixing what is wrong - making things go back to what they used to. They are certain that it's just a matter of time, just a matter of words, the right words & the right moment, that will make everything perfect again.

And believe me, no amount of reasoning is going to make them "see the light". You cannot really blame them. They are not "homewreckers" for the sake of destroying families. Who knows for how long these guys gave them hope, only the leave them because all of a sudden they wanted a normal life?

PCO + The Pentagram Spread

Here's the reading I did using the PCO with the Pentagram Spread I posted previously.

................5♣.............

..................................
....13♠................14♠

..................................
........11♠.......13♣.....

Your reading is full of earth - almost the entire Earth family is there (Morgana, Mardoc and Pampero). Are your an Earth sign, like Taurus, Capricorn or Virgo? That might explain the amount of earth cards! The five cards are black suits - the can mean that you have been feeling more introspective as of late, or more serious. Or even a bit melancholic.

There's a lack of Diamonds and Hearts, which are the more impulsive and spontaneous elements. Maybe you are lacking of spontaneity right now, or energy (real life can be a vampire sometimes). You don't have to become crazy and hyper, not at all. Just look for people and environments that make you feel more comfortable, so you can loosen up a bit when you are more tense.


1. The Place of the Inner Flame: King of Clubs ~ Sol
Sol is the king of the Air realm. Air and Fire are friendly elements, so I say that your intuition receives great support from the side your your mind that is more rational. You enrich the power of your intuition through studying and learning. You don't oppose your intellectuality and your spirituality.
I get the feeling here that learning is an important part of your life, and that future achievements will be the result of your dedication in perfecting one of your skills.

2. The Place of the Well: King of Spades ~ Mardoc
Mardoc, the king of the Earth realm, is a kinda cold and collected guy. You have been keeping your feelings more to yourself. Is not that you don't feel or are heartless - water and earth are friendly, so Mardoc in this position isn't bad - but maybe you've been trying to protect yourself by holding your feeling at bay. Some people may perceive some melancholy in you, even if actually you're just serious, not sad. In the matters of heart, you tend to the pragmatic view.

3. The Place of the Sword: Queen of Spades ~ Morgana
Morgana is the queen of the Earth realm, Mardoc's divorced wife. This is very significant - somehow, you tend to separate your heart from your mind. They are two sides of the same coin, but in you, they are divorced.
Your mind is sharp, and nothing escapes your eyes. When you need to rationalize, you can do it very well. I wonder if you have some interest in magic and in the occult beside the tarot - Morgana, as we all know, is a sorceress. Again, i see a tendency to focus be pragmatic regarding thoughts and ideas. You are not satisfied with wondering how things could be - you want to turn them into something practical. You don't just admire how pretty are the others' handicraft - you make your own!
Don't let your powerful mind make you cold or judgmental!

4. The Place of the Stone: Jack of Spades ~ Pampero
Your body is very, very strong, and so is you health - even when you complain of a pain here, and itch there, that usually isn't serious. our body hardly ever lets you down or keeps you from doing what you want. It's your reliable companion!
Your body can be easily disciplined. If for any reason you are unsatisfied about it, or thinking that you should exercise more, do more healthy things, know that your body will adapt quickly to it. Moving your body will do you good, just like turning over the earth with a shovel aerates the ground and make it better for the plant!
If you already keep a healthy lifestyle, then you must know that already!

5. The Place of the Spirit/Soul: Five of Clubs ~ East Wind
The East Wind is a gentle, constant force. It's not the power of the immediate change - it's the water that wears down the rock. Slowly, it changes things. It has no hurry.
Exercise your patience. Learn to be like this wind, that works everyday towards a goal. Set your mind to your dream and go after it, one step at a time. Don't hurry. Think before acting, wait for the facts and the developments of the situations before jumping to conclusions. Give yourself time to mediate.
The life outside might be a marathon; but within yourself, in your spirituality, you have all the time you need.

Feedback: Yes, my sun sign is Taurus :). But these days, I'm also concerned with becoming more grounded/stable, finances, and some minor health issues. [...]  My internship has run into some obstacles that have left me feeling all of the above, in addition to a recent relationship breakup. [...] This was a really good reading, M., and gave me a lot to think about. Thank you!

(Note: The feedback was card-per-card but I only posted a part of it. The reading didn't deal with excessively private matters or any sticky subjects, but I didn't feel comfortable with posting the entire feedback.)

The Pentagram Spread

A while ago, in one of the reading circles at AT, we used a spread called "The Pentagram Spread", taken from the companion book to the Druid Plant Oracle. I do not own this deck - the person who suggested the spread does.

I was surprised at how well it works with the Playing Card Oracle. I believe that it's because each position had an element related to it, which makes possible to relate to element of the card itself.

Here's the layout of the spread:

.............................................5...

........................................(Spirit)...

..............3...........................................................2....

...(Air/thinking)......................................(Water/feeling)....

....................4............................................1.....

......(Earth/sensation)........................(Fire/intuition)......

1: The Place of the Inner Flame: the role of intuition in your life, how it may be developed, or how it may relate to a new idea/direction that is about to dawn.

2: The Place of the Well: the role of emotions in your life, how emotional maturity may be developed, or how it may relate to influences that are affecting your feelings or the life of your heart.

3: The Place of the Sword: the role of intellect in your life, how your mind might be developed, or how influences are affecting your thoughts and judgement.

4: The Place of the Stone: the role of your body and senses in your life, how your health might be developed, or how influences are affecting your health and physical circumstances.

5: The Place of the Spirit/Soul: gifts or advice coming from the spiritual world and your essential Core Self (ideas that can help you achieve a sense of wholeness, balance, and integration).

Source: Carr-Gomm, Philip; Carr-Gomm, Stephanie (2008). The Druid Plant Oracle. New York: St. Martin's Press.