Beta Testing: “Cups of Illusion” The Cups of Illusion spread is a sixteen-card spread using the 78 cards of a full tarot deck. This spread specifically targets the illusions the Querent sees in eight spheres of their environment, including themselves, and the real nature underneath the illusions. The layout is based on the RWS 7 of Cups, and the cards are laid out in planetary order.

(Note to self: Need a position guide for those playing at home.)

Beta Tester: “Trav“

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A formal post for the Cups of Illusion spread will be made after beta testing is complete (including dealing order on the table), but for now here are the different stations:

• Q: Querent’s personal sphere. Their interior self.
• Moon: The Querent’s intuition, dreams, and subconscious.
• Mercury: The Querent’s ability to communicate, be understood, and/or manipulation of kir environment.
• Venus: The Querent’s love life, as well as personal fecundity. How kir nurtures other people and other things.
• Sun: The Querent’s external self, how ke presents kirself to others, and how ke is seen.
• Mars: The Querent’s external battles, including place of work, if relevant. Those matters where the Querent is in opposition and must strive to get ahead.
• Jupiter: The Querent’s overall luck and prosperity, (lack of) generosity and the consequences of it.
• Saturn: The Querent’s long-term fate and total influence over their world. Often out of the Querent’s immediate hands, but can be changed through kir daily actions.

• Querent’s Illusions:
  • Q: The Magician You see yourself as capable of doing anything, at any time, using any resources at hand. You might notice a dropped ball here and there, but you laugh it off as part of the show. The audience notices, but no one is saying anything.
  • Moon: Knight of Wands Quick as a whistle, you say you are. Sharp as a tack, and able to cut through the bullshit nearly immediately. The world isn’t getting away from you, you’ve giving us time to catch up.
  • Mercury: 7 of Cups Tying in with the illusion of the Magician, this is part of your razzle dazzle. Spinning a new world from nothing and trying to give those you speak to the illusion that you are in complete control. Including yourself.
  • Venus: Wheel of Fortune Trying to be an agent of serendipity to everyone around you. You walk in the room and *bam*, good things happen. But correlation is not causation.
  • Sun: The Star If anyone has a problem they can always come to you, right? You know just what to say to make things better. Except you don’t, and the response is more to save your feelings.
  • Mars: The Hierophant There is a way to get shit done, and you’re doing it. Right? You may following the book, but it’s several revisions behind, and you’re charging at the wrong target.
  • Jupiter: 10 of Wands Everyone wants a piece of you, and somehow they all get it. Right? Well, that the perception you are whining about the most. It is in error and at risk of becoming self-fulfilling.
  • Saturn: Page of Wands You think the world around you is better off for your being here. I mean this not in an egotistical or hubristic way, but that you have managed to overlook the slights in your wake. Optimism is good, but when it blinds you to other troubles, it’s bad.

• Querent’s Reality:
  • Q: 4 of Cups The show goes on, but you’re sick of it. You can fool enough of the people, enough of the time, but you’ve had enough of the entire affair. You don’t quite know how to leave the stage, and you’re telling yourself that you can hang in there.
  • Moon: The Fool The world is getting away from you. Not so much you turning a blind eye to what is happening, but that you are refusing to accept what you see. Willful ignorance will hurt you later.
  • Mercury: Queen of Cups Normally a positive card, but as this is the reality you are hiding from, it is a judgement against you. Your words have done more harm than help, and the funhouse mirrors you have used are making a pretty cage around you.
  • Venus: Death You may want to consider if that polite reaction you’ve been getting when trying to get things going (for various values of ‘things’) isn’t really a way to appease you so you’ll go somewhere else.
  • Sun: The Moon Folks aren’t quite sure what to make of you. Hell, you’re not quite sure yourself, so you walk around with a mask to hide your fears and insecurities. But you are mistaking the mask for the reality.
  • Mars: King of Pentacles Your reality is not far off from the illusion. There are times when the book is right, and when the book is just a suggestion. Slow down, and be more methodical in your approach to life’s battles. You’ll see when you need to change tactics or even call for parley instead.
  • Jupiter: 10 of Cups You are actually in one of the best places to be right now. This is your shining moment, and you have the chance to extend your Happy Ever After. Look at what you have!
  • Saturn: 4 of Wands You have the potential to be the Force for Good that you think yourself to be. Your personal foundation is sturdy, and you have the capability to build well upon it. But because you must build, you consider it flawed and imperfect. This is not a character flaw, no matter what others have told you. Stop trying to build other people’s castles on your ground.