Because your Chart of Origin is like a natal astrology chart, you cast it only once. But after you’ve spent time exploring the basic relationships of your archetypes to the houses into which they fall, you’re ready to use a similar technique to obtain guidance in a variety of specific situations by casting what I call “working charts.” You could, for example, ask for guidance with a health issue, a career decision, or a relationship. In those cases, you would use the same two stacks of cards with which you cast your Chart of Origin. But as you are shuffling the cards, ask for guidance in a particular area, beginning with the phrase “I am open to….” For example:
- I am open to receiving one healing insight about my stress patterns and this illness.
- I am open to recognizing why I block reconciliation with this individual.
- I am open to receiving guidance about why I block my creativity.
- I am open to receiving guidance about my fears of losing money.
- I am open to guidance about my core reason(s) for wanting to quit.
- I am open to recognizing my deepest fear in this relationship.
- I am open to recognizing the gift of this relationship.
Do not ask a question that requires a yes or no answer, especially regarding your health, such as, “Do I have cancer?” or “Should I get an MRI?” Don’t phrase your request in a way that supports the victim in you: “Why were my parents so mean to me?” or “Why is my spouse lying to me?” Instead, ask for guidance to help you understand your relationship with your parents, or ask for insights into your relationship with your spouse or partner. And by all means avoid asking about what’s going on in another person’s psyche, such as, “Why is my child acting distant toward me?” or “What does Joan really want from me?”
As long as you follow these guidelines, you will receive significant guidance for just about any appropriate question or issue. Use one of the blank wheels in my “Journal of Inner Dialogue” for each of your working charts, and then write down the insights that come to you from each new pairing of your archetypes with the 12 houses. You may then compare these pairings to those from your Chart of Origin, paying special attention to any pairs that may happen to come out the same in both charts. That’s an especially fruitful place to begin examining your results.
