The Flip Side of a Reading
21 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in God Tarot, Goddess Tarot, Life, the Universe and Everything, Tarot
In honour of Pancake Day, I’d like to share a quick and easy Tarot technique that can be used in a wide variety of readings: The Flip Side (geddit? You flip pancakes, right? Yeah, I spent a lot of time making pancakes today for the Pancake Day Bed Picnic-a-thon.)
There’s a number of ways the Flip Side of a Reading can be used.
1. The Flip Side of the Outcome
You’ve done your reading, and there’s your outcome card in front of you. Most spreads will have only a single card for an outcome in a reading, but we all know that life is never, ever that simple. So, there’s always a flip side, the stuff you haven’t considered, the other way of looking at it… Alongside your outcome card, ask yourself “So, what’s the flip side of this?” and pull a card at random from the pack. There’s your flip side. Example:
Outcome = Ace of Cups. Things are looking pretty good in this spread, particularly if the question was about a relationship or the querent’s emotional state. Bliss, ecstasy, union… their cup runneth over.
Ace of Cups (White Tara) from "Pistis Sophia: the Goddess Tarot"
But what’s the Flip Side to this? It can’t always be that perfect, can it? What other aspects are there to consider here? The Flip Side: Nine of Wands. Although the relationship/union will be extremely happy and will have a deeply spiritual aspect to it, the querent(s) will need to face many battles together, climb many a mountain together, and test their mettle together. Otherwise their spiritual connection will have nothing to fire it up. Peace may be good, but “interesting times” create the true heroes.
Nine of Wands (Yamato Takeru) from "Sol Invictus: the God Tarot"
2. A New Perspective
Sometimes we’re having a hard time getting to grips with a situation or coping with a circumstance. We may be stuck in a rut or finding ourselves at an increasingly negative stage in a process, getting trapped by unhelpful thought processes or self-defeatism. And when we’re caught up in these places, it can be difficult to get ourselves out. What we need is to shake things up from the outside in: gain an entirely new perspective on the matter. So, this New Perspective exercise can be used as a method of reflection and the instigator of a new thought process in relation to such a situation.
First, you (or the querent) consciously chooses a card from the pack that represents how you/they are feeling about the situation or describes the situation as you/they see it. This is not a random choice from dealing the cards out. Encourage the querent to use this card to talk about the situation, or you can do the talking to a friend, a pet, or just write it all down in a journal. Now, discuss/write about how you feel this perspective is holding you back or making things difficult for you. What behaviours to you engage in that are caused by this perspective, for instance?
Next, lay that card aside and ask yourself what new perspective on the situation is available, open your mind up to a new approach that is more helpful, healthier, coherent or holistic. Pull one card at random from the deck. This is your Flip Side, your New Perspective. What does it tell you? Spend some time with this card discussing/writing about the ways in which you can start to modify your thought patterns to encompass this new perspective; discuss how you feel it will beneficial to you and your situation.
3. Flipping the Pancake
When things just aren’t going right, you need to ask yourself, “How can I turn things around?” This is very similar to the last exercise, and can be used in conjuction with an outcome/situation card in a reading that is unwanted or shows negative outcomes or situations. Simply ask yourself “How can I turn things around?” and pull one card. A negative outcome never has to be negative: by engaging in the present we have some control over our future. Tarot can be used to engage more proactively and informedly with life in the present to build a better future.
In the end, life is like a pancake. There’s always another side to things that you may not be able to see until you take decisive action to turn things around, flip things over, or shake things up.
Happy Pancake Eating! Here in the UK, you have all of 23 minutes left to indulge.
