The One Card Myth.
Every now and then I get a call or a message requesting, “Darin.
I was just wondering [fill in the blank] and wanted you to draw just one card to
tell me what is going on.” I would love it if that would work out, just for my
own sake it would be nice if a one card draw actually could provide some useful
information. Unfortunately, a single card is a bevy of information chock full
of potentials. As many a tarot writer has stated, “every card is a universe in
itself.” Drawing one card would be like shouting “Love!” out loud in answer to
the concern “I’m worried about my role at work.”
Card Plus Position at the Least.
I call it “the Contract.” While shuffling the cards as I’m
invoking the angel of light and guidance, HRU, I’m imagining the agencies of
the 72 angels and 72 demons of the Shemhamphorash paying apt attention –
perhaps even wantonly flicking a finger or tail into the shuffle now and then –
and they are reading my mind as I also imagine all the things I can think of
about the question I am shuffling for AND (quite importantly) the spread I will
be using as I lay the cards out in the order they will arrive. By the demands
of this agreement, we should all be expecting that the cards that land in
various positions are intended to be there and provide the most direct
statement pertaining to the question we had in mind while shuffling. Thus, the
more specific the question, the more specific the statement.
Reversed, Afflicted, Benefitted.
Depending on the deck I am using and the spread chosen to
approach the question, cards will arrive on the table from the shuffle in
positions of being upside down, or near to cards that influence it
significantly enough to influence the meaning of the cards involved. Some of my
decks, such as The Mythic Tarot or The Rider-Waite, I shuffle while occasionally
turning a handful or two of the deck around and around. This gives the deck a
certain chance of providing cards that will land upside down. Certain decks,
such as Thoth or my two Golden Dawn decks, I shuffle by pulling the halves
apart from each other and prevent all opportunity for the cards to become
reversed. Which deck I choose will depend on the spread I am choosing to use,
as I find some spread designs are not suitable for considering “this card over
here influences that card over there” as well as other spreads I have, so for
those spreads I depend on cards becoming reversed to indicate to me whether to
read it/understand it as its most beneficent nature or its most malefic nature
(or anywhere in between).
Location, Location, Location!
As I hinted earlier, position means as much as the card that
lands there itself. But a card’s position does not exist in a vacuum. A card’s
position is relative to the rest of the cards on the table, detailing with more
specifics exactly why and how that card should exist. For instance, we can’t
say with great clarity that the Outcome of a 10-card spread is “ten of cups,
great satisfaction” without the “Immediate Future” and “Best Outcome/Crown of
it All” cards. Suppose the Immediate
Future showed reversed five of swords and the Best/Crown of it All revealed the
five of cups. Indeed the information the Tarot is giving us has become far more
interesting than just saying “Satiety” from the ten of cups. Now it appears as
if the satisfaction is in the form of someone being caught by their own lies,
the end of lies/slander being the satisfaction in the end. The end of a
negative relationship with someone (which would be revealed even further by the
rest of the spread).
Each Card is a Universe
Each card is a composite device of all the ingredients that
go into it. The various symbolisms, story themes, numbers, elements/suits,
colors and mood intentions drawn on each card, if done skillfully, and as in
tune as the reader of the deck is about those ingredients, the more complete
each card acts as a depiction of the universal forces (let’s call them)that
they invoke or evoke or are inhabited with (choose your flavor). Each card is
to the Universe as a man is to the Universe, a microcosm of the whole. As such
we need more specific lenses as we examine them, and this the other cards
provide. Looking at a card within a spread formed on the question put forth is
like interviewing that card and as many friends of his as seem relevant. So one card, although a complete picture
indeed, and not inaccurate in any way, is not at all competent in answering
your question.
The One Card Clarification
There are times when pulling a single card is effective. One
typical situation is as a clarification card laid upon a specific question that
a spread reading leads to. We might want more specific information about a
Court Card that has arrived, or more details about a next step shown in another
particular card. But this method shouldn’t be used haphazardly. It is asking
for an extension on a contract, so must be used judiciously.