A few general reading ”rules”: • Avoid yes/no questions. • Choose the spread appropriate for the question. • Pay attention to how you react to each card. Different cards provide different kinds of advice: • Major Arcana – big lessons in life. • Minor Arcana – specific everyday concerns. • Court Cards – other people or aspects of yourself. It’s not about individual cards’ meanings... ...but how the cards relate to each other. The Problem • My family's small vacation house at the coast hasn’t been in good shape for years. • Of course, complete remodel would take a lot of money... • ... but that couldn’t be the only reason why I’m so reluctant to do it. My whole family is involved, so frankly... ...I was not sure I would be comfortable with what I discover. The safest thing to do was the simple Past-Present-Future spread. My question was simple and straightforward: “What are my real thoughts about this house?” Card 1: The Past • King of Swords is harsh but fair, a decisive commander. • This is obviously my grandfather who built this house. • He kept the house in mint condition, until his eighties... • ...when he couldn’t really keep up. • Yet, he wouldn’t let anyone meddle in his responsibility. Card 2: The Present • Five of Pentacles: Everybody became paranoid about keeping what they have and isolated themselves from each other. • This does sound like my family. • The key is not to quit but endure and find a smarter way of moving forward. • Things won’t improve until we all learn to give and accept help from each other. Card 3: The Future • Nine of Pentacles - Success and great results are already here, whatever the final outcome proves to be. • (After choosing a path and pursuing it with determination and commitment) • In short, it seems there is no way out, nor any easy way toward results. • Better to prepare myself for hard work that is coming. But one thing was still bothering me: What exactly should I do? I decided to open one more card to clarify this point for myself. And the card I opened: • Ten of Swords! • (Just great, two pentacles and two swords: • ... hard work, hard thinking, and conflicts.) Back to Ten of Swords: • After confronting fears and expectations, the situation is conclusively resolved. • Although the result may not be what I hoped for, the new cycle is about to begin. Let’s get the whole picture now: • The period of conflicts and of everyone looking only after themselves is about to end... • ... while step-by-step continuous effort is about to begin. What is needed is to trigger this transition somehow... ...and taking action is more important than worrying whether the action is the right one. See? That was easy. • Each reading is a story. • It’s about how the cards relate to each other.