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 The Emperor |
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It Deals with This 8 of Swords |
Do NOT Do This Ace of Swords |
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It Leads to This 3 of Pentacles |
It Deals with This
A woman, blindfolded and bound, with the swords of the card around her. Yet it is rather a card of temporary endurance than of irretrievable bondage.
Upright Meaning:
Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny, sickness, having one's hands tied, insanity.
A hand reaches out from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown.
Upright Meaning:
Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune telling.
The Emperor sits on his throne holding his sceptre. He represents a male figure of power and authority.
Reversed Meaning:
Creditor, borrowing, confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity, annoyance, irritation.
A sculptor at his work in a monastery. Compare the design which illustrates the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice or amateur therein has received his reward and is now at work in earnest.
Upright Meaning:
Artifice, trade, skilled labour; regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory.