This last weekend was the closing of the annual Valhalla Renaissance Faire, and Rosered, Artemis, Anastasia and myself attended. With our new friend Michele’s assistance in running the front of the booth, I was able to do more readings for patrons. Today I’ll share some of the memorable readings, questions and surprises that came up during a whirlwind weekend of readings.
The Couples’ V spread.
Overall the TTG booth did more couples readings in one weekend than entire years previous. While I did only one myself, I know RoseRed, Artemis and Anastasia all did readings for many many couples over the weekend. Couples’ readings are typically about specific questions, like: Where should we retire? Will our nest egg be there when we need it? What should we do for our anniversary? This weekend it was: Should we get married sooner or later?
I’m very grateful that Anastasia has a prominent display of TTG’s code of ethics at the front of the booth. The guiding principle is: We’re not psychics or fortune tellers. I can safely stay behind that barrier and tell people: “I’m not going to tell you what to do” because a) it’s illegal without a (pricey) license, and b) I don’t want to be responsible for what you do.
So what do you do when you’re asked a question like: Should we get married sooner or later? Change the question.
If they’re asking when, that means there’s a reason for they haven’t already done so. So the question I want to help them answer is: What do you need to do to be ready? So in this case, I created a spread that would hopefully show them what they needed to do to reach a point where they’d be ready to get married.
I call it the Couples’ V spread. Here’s the process:
Have one querent shuffle the deck, then have the other cut the deck into two piles.
Then deal cards in the following pattern. Odd numbered cards are drawn by one querent from their pile, and even card numbers are drawn by the other querent from their pile. The last, X, card it drawn by the Reader from either pile or by reshuffling the two querents’ piles.
The meaning of the cards are as follows:
1. What Partner #1 brings to the relationship/issue
2. What Partner #2 brings to the relationship/issue
3. What Partner #1 needs to deal with in regards to the relationship/issue
4. What Partner #2 needs to deal with in regards to the relationship/issue
5. How Partner #2 helps Partner #1 with their issue.
6. How Partner #1 helps Partner #2 with their issue.
X. Outcome. Any last advice the Reader thinks the Querents need to hear.
The Vacation spread: Who, How, How Long, and Family.
One of the other advantages to working a faire years in a row is seeing familiar faces again. It’s really quite gratifying and humbling when a patron comes up and says: “Do you remember me? You read for me (x) years ago and you were right!”
Well this year I saw ‘Pirate G.’ Two years ago I read for her, her son and her son’s girlfriend. At the time she was planning her retirement, and this year she gleefully informed me how much she was enjoying her freedom and liberty. In fact, she was planning a trip-of-a-lifetime to the Mediterranean and wanted help with planning it. So we sat down and drew some cards. There were essentially four categories: Who should she take with her; How should she take this trip (train or cruise); what kind of planning would she need to make and finally how her family would deal with her leaving.
For the first question, I drew four cards, describing what kind of person they represented, and after each asked her if she knew who this was. Almost immediately she knew who it was and happily decided on her partner for the trip.
The second question went much like the first: drawing one card at a time in a stack, describing how they might represent a type of journey. Starting off with the Chariot was kind of equivocal between taking a Cruise or a Train. The second card was the 8 or Wands, so I said that implied lots of options while on the trip. We both agreed that sounded more like a cruise than a train ride. That settled that.
The third question is a little harder to articulate, but I’ll try. She wanted to know, essentially, how to best use her time on her trip, as she “burned out” easily by trying to do too many things in a row. Fortunately the first card to come up was Justice, so I said she needed to plan appropriately, balancing the frenzied go-go-go of climbing Greek mountains and exploring catacombs of Rome with days just lounging on the sun deck, drinking marguerites and enjoy watching the pool boys.
Her last question was about her family, since it was just her and her friend going on this trip. Would they be okay without her? Well the first card in this stack was the Devil so I told her this trip was all about her and so she should just indulge. The next card was the three of swords, so I told her the kids would miss her, but they’d get over it.
She was delighted, excited, and left promising to tell me all about the trip at faire next year.
On dealing with the three of hearts.
Speaking of the three of swords, a reading for a client I read for had a bit of a twist that required some reshuffling-of-thinking. This very regal Lady sat down for my basic “where am I? where am I going in this hand-basket?” (More on this spread in another post) type readings, which focuses on current challenges and ends with a ‘turn of the wheel’ card that represents either the evolution of the person (if a Major or Court card) or represents the next challenge ahead.
In her initial reading, the three of swords came up as the turn of the wheel card, and my client immediately seized on this, saying that she was dealing with heartbreak and disappointment now and asked how she could deal with it.
Okay, I said, let’s start over and focus on that. I kept the three of swords out, setting it down as a ‘Origin’ point card, and had her reshuffle the rest of the deck. We then asked the deck to tell us what she could do in dealing with the three of sword, and drew three more cards:
The first card was… The Chariot. “Keep yourself busy” I said, “focus on living your life and getting things done and the next time you stop and remember what was making you sad, you’ll be a hundred miles away and the sadness will be that much smaller.”
The second card was The Moon. “Listen to the subtle wisdom, the voice behind the crying and the pain. It’s trying to tell you something important. It’s know where you need to go on that Chariot; if not the destination than the journey, because that’s just as important.”
The final card was The Queen of Swords. “Loose yourself in the details. Process your feelings in a rational way and with each step tell yourself: “This is why I am upset or hurt, and this is how I am getting over it”. Let the Chariot take you on a journey, inspired by the Moon, and take some good notes along the way.”
Readings like this, when you really reach someone almost without trying, are proof as Thalassa says: TSW. This Stuff Works.
The next TTG Ren Faire will be at Ardenwood, September 11th and 12th in Freemont/Newark. Come by and get a reading!
~Andrew