Cross Examination Exercise
This week’s Sample Sunday exercise is a fun method for getting multiple perspectives on a reading or some practice with a new deck. It’s simple too!
First, select a familiar reading deck. After pondering the subject of the reading and creating or selecting a spread, deal the cards and read them according to your preferred techniques. Record your impressions and leave the cards out.
Next, take out a second deck, preferably one with differing imagery, themes, or systems, or a new deck that you haven’t worked with very much yet. Sort through the cards and pull out the same ones you drew for your initial reading and lay the matching cards next to one another.
Do your interpretations differ when you look at the cards from the second deck? Does reading the pair of matching cards enhance your interpretation of each spread position? Do you feel compelled to mix and match the cards from both decks in your overall interpretation? This exercise can magnify a consistent theme or present multiple ideas about a subject.
Let’s take a look at an example:
Horatio is doing a general reading for exploring his work life. The spread is as follows:
1. A current opportunity
2. A way to take advantage of the opportunity
3. A current obstacle
4. A way to tackle the obstacle
The Knight of Wands is Leo (fire) and Cancer (water). The Sun is, logically, the sun, and it has a firey association as well. This pairing indicates creativity, drive, and extroversion. The Knight of Wands moves quickly – this will likely be a fleeting opportunity.
The Fool is air and the King of Coins is Virgo (earth) and Leo (fire). Earth and air are opposing elements, and based on this correspondence alone we can deduce that the problem may be related to the need to embody a more grounded attitude and behavior. Interestingly, both court cards in this spread have associations with Leo, which adds emphasis to proud, extroverted, and creative qualities in this reading.
Knight of Wands – Horatio may have an opportunity to promote his new business (breeding birds if you’ve read other Sample Sunday exercises). He will have center stage to market himself and express his passion for birds.
The Sun – Horatio needs to be open to participating in this promotional opportunity and embrace it with optimism and enthusiasm as soon as he is able. He can’t wait around and wonder if it is the right thing to do or the opportunity will pass him by. (In a previous Sample Sunday, it was noted that marketing his business was going to take Horatio out of his comfort zone.)
The Fool – Horatio hasn’t been very focused lately. It has been difficult to pry himself away from pipe dreams and idealistic fantasies about the future of his business, and his attitude is resulting in little being accomplished in the real world. He may be avoiding the aspects of business ownership that he doesn’t like (ie marketing) because he isn’t sure how to tackle them.
King of Coins – Horatio would benefit from focusing on the practical matters of his business – likely marketing. If he wants to achieve success and stability, he will need to do the legwork (and utilize that extroverted Leo energy to promote himself). The King of Coins is a stable counterbalance to the less directed energy of the Knight of Wands. Practicality and passion working together is likely to result in success. These cards provide pleasant bookends to this reading.
Next, let’s draw the same cards from the Wheel of the Year Tarot. Horatio already has some good food for thought from the initial reading. Let’s see if adding the same cards from another deck provides additional insights.
I use the same correspondences as the Rider Waite with this deck, so I will skip straight to the individual card analysis.
Knight of Wands – The Knight is smiling and approaching the viewer. As an opportunity this card ties in well with the initial analysis as it heavily signifies greetings and conversations – like many promotional opportunities (ie a booth at a convention). This Knight further emphasizes being approachable and doing some approaching too.
The Sun – this Sun card shows more stability and “groundedness” than the Rider Waite Sun. Horatio may feel uncomfortable with marketing activities, but this card shows that he can let his light shine without losing his fortitude or being too shaken and rattled. He can master his social anxiety if he gets his feet wet with marketing and sees that it really isn’t so bad. He’ll be talking to fellow animal lovers!
The Fool – this Fool card has a more “comical” feeling to me. It may highlight that Horatio isn’t just daydreaming about future business success and not buckling down to take care of practical matters that are less enjoyable. He may be thinking about his new foray into marketing and worries that he will look like a foolish clown! It wasn’t until I drew this Fool card that I thought that “feeling foolish” might be the obstacle for Horatio – but I think it fits even better than the idea of a lack of focus or discipline. It highlights that aforementioned extroverted Leo energy and it pairs very well with the two opportunity related cards. If I was Horatio, this would be the interpretation that I would focus on.
The King of Coins – This card, like the Rider Waite King, exudes a sense of competence. Believing in one’s own competence and capabilities is another idea that can be pulled from the King of Coins. Horatio needs to stop seeing himself as a Fool and start seeing himself as someone who can manage a business. His confidence will give him that extra boost in his marketing endeavors. Once again, the King of Coins conclusion pairs nicely with the Knight of Wands opening.
I hope this sample reading helped to illustrate how card interpretations can be bolstered or tweaked by adding the same card from another deck. I was excited to experience this so organically as I put together this example.
This exercise can also be performed by dealing from the new deck first and pulling the matching cards from your familiar reading deck as the second set of cards. You can try it with just the trumps, a single suit, or the court cards. Smaller spreads are typically more manageable for this exercise, but if you have a lot of time to devote, a larger spread can be a lot of fun too. I’ve been aware of this exercise for a while, and the book or online resource where I found it has escaped my memory. If you know the creator of this method, please let me know so I can update this post with proper attributions.
Happy Shuffling!
Card images are from the Universal Waite Tarot, copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc and the Wheel of the Year Tarot, copyright Lo Scarabeo
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