Pairspectives #2: Knowing Choices

This is, again, more of a single-card draw than a true 2-card draw, but we will still look at the cards in duality. It may be useful in making decisions, as well as developing your intuitive skills and most importantly, learning what you already know, without the cards.

Take out your deck. Form your question or situation, if you have one. Shuffle well and choose one card in any fashion you desire, but do not turn it face up.

Sit with the card a moment, still face-down.

What card is it?

Here is where a few different possibilities come in:

1. What card do you think it is?
2. What card are you afraid to see?
3. What card do you want it to be?
4. Do you feel you already know what card it is?

You can of course go through all these possibilities, but you potentially then have up to 4 cards already — and you haven’t even looked at the card you drew!

So, for the sake of keeping with the Pairspectives theme, either decide which of those four questions (or a different, but related question) you want to work with, – or – the one that you most immediately have an answer for.

Try not to think of which card you want, or fear, or think will turn up while you’re shuffling. Wait until the card is drawn, and then answer what card you think/feel/want/fear it is.

Once that is clear, turn over the card you drew. This part will feel a little like you’re playing stage magician with yourself, but that’s OK:

• Is this your card?
• Is it related to your card?
• Is it a surprise?

Most interestingly, if you pay very close attention, you might find that the card is clear (if the actual card is different from the one in your mind) a split-second before you turn it over — this is probably more important than the card it is, or the card(s) you may have thought it would be.

At any rate, you now have 2 cards: the one in your mind, and the one on the table.

Since it’s more likely that they will be different, let’s look at that first. The actual card is, initially, irrelevant. The answer is in you — in that moment just before you turned over the card. Even if the card itself isn’t what you thought, it still reveals your fears, your desires, and/or what you know to be true.

Now, if the card is different than what you thought, or in that moment right before turning the card over, what can the two cards taken together reveal to you?

• Is your fear unfounded?
• Are your desires misplaced?
• What is the deep knowing revealed to you in the moment before turning over the card, compared to what you see?

Often, we take what we see to be true, but neglect what we know at a deeper level. This exercise asks you to pay more attention to what is within you than what is confirmed visually.

This part of the exercise is not about accuracy — don’t be the least bit concerned about being “right.” You can use this exercise in that way, certainly, and there are some more techniques below to develop that accuracy, but for now use it as an opportunity to access your interior world.

You might wonder, “why use the cards at all, if I’m just going to go by what card is in my mind?”

Perfectly good question. Why, indeed?

Something happens as a result of having an external reference that does not normally happen without it. It’s similar to the mirror exercise described at the opening of this series in that regard — what you see in the mirror is different from how you see yourself without it; and what you find within remains hidden until you hold a mirror up to it. That’s what that face-down card is: a mirror. But, it’s a mirror with two faces.

As an aside, this is also a valuable use of journaling: just write, be conscious of yourself writing, but have absolutely no intention to go back and read it. Ever. Again, the process of writing, of being involved with the senses of touch and sight (and sound and smell to a degree) unearth different material from the mind that the mind digging within itself won’t. It is developing the witness so often spoken of in Buddhist and mindfulness meditation, using at least two of the outward senses, not just the mind — and thus is more tangible.

Similarly, the act of drawing a card and not looking at it, but paying attention to your internal processes also develops the witnessing mind, which helps us step out of conditioned behaviour. Don’t skip over or rush through this step in favour of seeing the result — the result will be interesting, even helpful, but the process is perhaps more important than the findings.

That said, we can continue on to the findings 😉

Compare the two cards. You can use any method of comparison you are already familiar with, or use the Pairspectives #1 method of reading both cards as one, or any of the Pairspectives methods to follow over the next days/weeks. (I will link them here as they become available)

On to if the card in your mind and the card on the table are the same: it’s confirmation. It’s significant, but simpler in many ways. Here too, though, be careful not to just look at the surface. Was the match a confirmation of your fears, your desires, your will, or your knowing?

It doesn’t necessarily mean that your fears or desires will come true, but it does reveal that you are being honest with yourself about them, and that at least regarding that subject/situation, you are not hiding from yourself — investigate the card further, either through meditation, journaling, observing its relevance in the recent past, now, and the days to come, or any other method or combination of methods that are useful in gaining deeper insight.

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To use this method for developing your intuition, psychic training, or just for fun, you might at first find that your “accuracy” is low. You might not, but with a 1:78 (or 79, or 80, depending on the deck and how “traditional” it is) chance of getting it “right” the probability is pretty low.

So for now, let’s stack the odds a little more in your favour.

Separate your Courts, Minors, and Majors. I’ll go step-by-step here, but you can skip as many steps as you like, depending on how high or low you need the probability to be for your accuracy to be at least 50%. Once your accuracy reaches 75-80% or higher, move on to the next step (or skip a few again):

1.  1:2 Probability — Using just the Minors, determine whether the card is odd or even. If you use reversals, you could also play at this probability determining reversed or upright rather than odd or even — in which case you could use as many cards as you like, provided the backs are reversible and the faces are easily distinguished between upright and reversed.
2. 1:4 Probability — Using just the Minors, determine what suit the card is. You can also do this with only four cards, in which case I prefer to do it with the same rank of all four suits. If using all the minors, you can also combine the odd/even, reversed/upright methods of step 1 for the same probability.
3. 1: 6 & 1:8 Probability — Combine steps 1 & 2, so using all Minors, determine whether the chosen card is odd or even and what suit for a 1:6 probability; add reversals for 1:8.
4. 1:10 Probability — Take out Ace-10 from one suit. Determine what number your card is.
5. 1:16 Probability — Using just the courts, take a card and determine it. If incorrect, note whether you still got rank or suit correct.
6. 1:22 (or 23, or 24)  Probability — Same thing, Majors only.
7. 1:40 Probability — Using just the Minors, determine rank and suit. Give yourself bonus points for getting number -or- suit correct.
8. 1:56 Probability — Use the Minors and Courts together. Again, bonus points for getting suit or rank correct, even if the card itself isn’t.
9. 1:78 (or 79, or 80) — Try it with the whole deck.
10. Have fun and don’t take it too seriously!

The simplest variation is to only do steps 5, 6, and 9.

If you feel pretty lucky, start with step 4 or 5; if you find your accuracy is low, start with 1, 2, or 3 instead.

You can also see how your accuracy is affected, especially in steps 1-4, by assigning meaning to the cards or not. Try it first without meaning, and then with, and notice the difference — does emotion (assigning meaning) cloud your judgement, or enhance it?

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The whole exercise will help you recognize patterns in your larger readings as well, and will help you develop both your intuition and deep knowing, and develop your discernment around projection and will compared with reality. All of this will in turn help you see through the cards and your own biases to the heart of matters you inquire about.

View the entire Pairspectives series here.