This is a specified relationship spread that uses nine cards to analyse where a romantic relationship is at and where it is headed. The first card shows where it is at now, and can be considered the significator. The second and third cards determine where your partner stands and how it relates to where you are at personally.
Above the stem, the three-card base of the layout, a cup forms. Cards #4 and #5 show each person's desires, meaning what they want to get out of this coupling. Above this, Cards #6 and #7 show the challenge that this pairing presents to each individual. The final two cards at the top form the rim of the cup, symbolic of the taste of the relationship to each person, which shows how things will turn out on each side.

The Future Outcome (To be read in tandem with the card to the right)![]() The Hierophant |
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The Future Outcome (To be read in tandem with the card to the left)![]() Justice |
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Challenges Which May Arise for You![]() King of Wands |
Challenges Which May Arise for Your Lover![]() 4 of Pentacles |
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Desires in Relation to Your Question![]() 3 of Pentacles |
Your Lover's Desires![]() Ace of Pentacles |
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Nature of Your Issue![]() 7 of Swords |
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Your Lover's Current Position![]() Death |
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The Current State of Things![]() Page of Wands |
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The Current State of Things
A young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange.
Upright Meaning:
Dark young man, faithful, a lover, family intelligence, a messenger, favourable testimony. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups.
The Grim Reaper rides into town on a pale horse. The king has fallen, and the Pope greets Death with the king's family. The sun sets in the gateway on the horizon.
Upright Meaning:
End, destruction, loss, failure, terminus, conclusion, completion, closure, resolution, outcome, annihilation, downfall, rebirth.
A man in the act of carrying away five swords hastily; missing two which remain stuck in the ground. He is a thief. A camp is close at hand.
Reversed Meaning:
A dangerous plan that may fail, quarrelling, annoyance, disturbance, thievery, crime, slander, babbling.
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.
Reversed Meaning:
Mediocrity, puerility, pettiness, weakness, pathetic-ness, lameness, a quack.
A hand reaching out from a cloud holds up a pentacle.
Reversed Meaning:
The negative side of wealth, malicious intelligence; also great riches, prosperity, comfortable material conditions, but this is to your disadvantage when the card appears reversed.
The nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He bears the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.
Reversed Meaning:
Good-natured, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He clings to what he has.
Reversed Meaning:
Suspense, delay, opposition, bad economy, repression, stubbornness, penny wise – pound foolish.
Seated on his throne, the Pope symbolises the male understanding of the spiritual workings of the world and traditional values. Two monks flank him on either side.
Reversed Meaning:
Society, concord, overkindness, weakness, doormat, misinterpretation, misunderstanding.
A female judge holds the sword of Justice in her right hand and the scales of Justice in her left. This is symbolic of fairness and the knowledge of the law, as well as the power to execute judgement.
Reversed Meaning:
Legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity, conspiracy, mind games, prejudice, intolerance, discrimination.