The Compass
Life is essentially a series of choices and consequences. When you’re at a crossroads the right path is seldom obvious. Sometimes it’s fine to follow your gut instincts, but with bigger, life changing decisions it can be helpful to look inward to make a more informed choice about which way you should go.
I chose this spread to close out the fours because a compass represents stability. When you are lost it provides guidance because it always stays true. More obviously, there are four cardinal directions that correspond to the four suits of the minor arcana.
Use this spread to realign your inner compass so that you may always stay true. It’s one of my favorites.
The Compass
Type: Self-Reflection or Querent Driven
Level: Beginner
0. Your Significator
1. Your Current Situation
2. A Direction and Guidance
3. An Action
4. The Outcome
Place your significator in the 0 position face up, then place the cards for position 1 and 2 face down. Lay out the compass cards for position 3 face down starting with north and go clockwise. Then place the final card face down in position 4.
Start by turning over card 1. This card represents your current situation or the problem at hand that you are trying to solve. Flip card 2. This card will tell you which direction to take.
Pentacles: North
Swords: East
Wands: South
Cups: West
If you turn over a major arcana card here you may read what it is telling you and either stop there or draw again for a minor arcana card. That card informs the next card to flip, but also provides some guidance for your journey. Decipher it before moving forward.
Optionally, you can use a tarot dice to decide your direction instead.
Next, flip the card of the direction you chose. This is the action you should take.
The final card in position 4 represents the outcome of your decision.
The spread below is one I did a few months ago when I was having trouble making a decision about my career path.
I placed my significator, the Queen of Cups first. The card which represented my situation was The Devil, which is pretty much as bad as it seems. I was feeling trapped and powerless. The card that was supposed to tell me where to go was The World reversed, which I interpreted as telling me that I shouldn’t go anywhere because I have unfinished business where I am. I was unwilling to accept that, so I drew again and got the II of Swords reversed. This card told me that no matter what there was no right choice to be made and no right way to go. I followed it to the East position to find the Queen of Pentacles. I took this to mean that instead of continuing to embrace only my emotional side I should look within myself to find the part of me that is practical. In the final position The King of Cups reversed was revealed. This card told me that if I choose to take the path of practicality to find wealth I may have to sacrifice my emotional stability.
This reading had some pretty strong things to say. It was all court and major arcana cards before I decided to draw for a direction in position 3. Major arcana cards generally indicate that circumstances are outside of your control and there are greater powers at work. Court cards are similar as they represent the highest values of their suit, but their greater power is something you have to tap into within yourself. They ask you to consult those specific parts of yourself. You may be the Queen of Cups, but the Queen of Pentacles is in there somewhere. How can you tap into her power?
In the end it rang true. I decided to stay the course with my career and I did end up making more money but feeling frustrated and emotionally conflicted. It might be time to do this spread again to see where to go from here.
