This easy-to-read four-card layout is one of the most useful of all the spreads. The first card is the significator, and the last shows the outcome, provided that the advice given is followed. The advice is broken down into two cards which can easily be compared and contrasted. Card #2 suggests what to avoid, while #3 shows the path to take.
This spread can also be used to ask about the meaning of a card from a previously executed spread that may have been unclear. In this usage, Card #2 shows what it did not mean, while #3 clarifies the meaning.
DO This 6 of Swords |
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It Deals with This Knight of Cups |
Do NOT Do This Strength |
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It Leads to This The World |
It Deals with This
Graceful, and not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to those higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterise this card. He too is a dreamer, but the images of the side of sense haunt him in his vision.
Upright Meaning:
Arrival, approach – sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanour, invitation, incitement.
A woman holds a young lion at bay with her female strength of grace. She is crowned by the lemniscate as the Magician is, revealing herself as his counterpart.
Upright Meaning:
Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity, boldness, grace, mercy, goodwill, finesse, dexterity, soothing, tact.
A ferryman delivering passengers to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, as the workload is not beyond his ability.
Reversed Meaning:
Declaration, confession, publicity; possibly a proposal of love.
A nude, dancing female holding two batons, symbolic of Mother Earth and Mother Nature. She is encircled by a wreath and surrounded by the cherubs who are the guardians of Heaven and Earth.
Upright Meaning:
Assured success, courage, honour, glory, vitality, life, energy, vigour, zest, pep, fervour, passion, animation, existence, reality.