The “Carrot and Stick” Situational Development Spread

This is a type of decision-making spread that examines the odds of success or failure in any significant change scenario. It requires separating the deck into two stacks, one with only the minor cards and the other with the court and trump cards. The two sets are dealt separately into a “three-plus-three” array with the more subjective aspects displayed above and the broader, more objective elements below. The minor cards show the likely development of a situation toward a desired goal in mundane or practical terms (the “carrot”), and the cards of  higher rank express the external factors that influence progress, whether through the intervention of other people or circumstances outside of the querent’s control (the “stick”). Long-term consequences are identified through calculation of a trump-card “quintessence” using the numerical values of all the cards in the spread.