This week we are focusing our attention on the number four. Four represents a stabilization - as in four directions, or four legs of a table. While there are an enormous amount of 4-card spreads possible, here is one that I find instructive. I call it “State of the Aces.”
You are encouraged to come up with other four-card spread ideas and share them with me, if you like!
How do you throw this spread? (Featured is The Hermetic Deck by Godfrey Dowson Godfrey)
Step 1 : Cull the Aces
Begin by separating the Ace of Wands, the Ace of Cups, the Ace of Swords, And the Ace of Pentacles from the deck.

The Ace of Wands (fire) represents drives, intentions, creative forces, and spiritual impulses. The Ace of Cups (water) represents intuitions, imaginings, emotions, and reflective states. The Ace of Swords (air) represents, concepts, ideas, solutions, plans, and rational methods. The Ace of Pentacles, (earth) or disks represents bodies, things, objects, monetary values, and physical manifestations.
In short: the Will, the Imagination, the Intellect, and the Body, respectively.
Step 2: Shuffle the Aces in
Put the Ace of Wands onto the top of the deck, and shuffle it in thoroughly. Repeat this with the Ace of Cups, the Ace of Swords, and the Ace of Pentacles. Be receptive to learning about where each of these faculties operates in your life, and how it is affected (helped or hindered) by other factors. Shuffle until these cards are thoroughly mixed, and you feel “right”.
Step 3: Establish the Four Piles
When you feel like the deck has been charged with your intention, place it on the table and cut it into four piles from right to left.

Next, look at the cards on either side of each ace - these suggest context - if the Ace of Swords is sandwiched between the Devil and the 9 of cups in the water pile, perhaps the person in question is a psychoanalyst, or could benefit from bringing analytic tools to bear on unconscious trauma. If the Ace of Cups is sandwiched between the Magickian and the Fool, perhaps they are a mystic artist or seer.
Sometimes Aces will be found together, or sharing “boundary cards”, and you can view these as being akin to complex energy chains. For example, the Ace of Swords with the nine of swords on right, and the Tower on the left, next to the Ace of Cups with the Tower on the left and the Devil on the right (such that they share the Tower) in the pentacles pile, suggests a toxic relationship that is maintained by rationalizations and dominated by money. It is like a volcano ready to explode.
A chain like Magician - Ace of Wands, Ace of Swords - High Priestess in the wands pile could indicate an idealist philosopher - a Platonist like Proclus, perhaps….
Take your time contemplating each pile and try to come up with a profile that fits the unique distribution of energies. What is important for this person? What is less important? Which faculties are in harmony? Which faculties are in conflict. What is working? What is not?
This is a rich exercise for letting your imagination “connect the dots”. Let a coherent story emerge from what you find in each pile. Here is an example reading:

Ace of Wands in the Air pile, between King of Pentacles and Two of Cups - suggests a passionate engagement with a highly technical physical discipline - such as a martial art, circus art, or a mental sport like chess. This is explored as an intellectual quest.

The Ace of Cups between Death and the Five of Swords in the Water pile (along with the Ace of Pentacles), suggests an emotional “dip” - a processing period where many things are being let go and released - and in which failures and sad feelings are being surveyed as they are relinquished. This is a healthy cleansing process, so long as each feeling is truly felt with awareness, before it is released.

The Ace of Swords between The Seven of Disks and the Princess of Cups, in the Fire pile. The mind is cut a little loose at this time and is trying to grasp the ungraspable. This can lead to becoming paralyzed by “what ifs” or by a vision of the big picture that causes reason to stop us in our tracks. The solution is a rigorous, one-day-at-a-time return to our paths.

The Ace of Disks in between the five of pentacles and the three of pentacles in the Water pile (which also the houses the cups). Persistent hard work drives through a period of dearth and releases the emotional blockages that have previously stifled flourishing - we see this in the alliance between the Ace of Cups and the Ace of Pentacles, here in the water pile. Big rewards will result from perservering here.
Pro Tip - This is a technique that can yield very nuanced results. It is suitable for exploring the profile of a personality - it is probably best for self diagnostics - detecting how your balance is at a given time. Repeated practice with this technique will open up how we can be different people at different times, depending on how we are focused. This spread can be a valuable teaching tool for how to change up your mode of being. Try it once a week for a year, and see what you learn.
Remember to let the images on the cards speak to you like the figures of a dream. Tarot logic and dream logic are, after all, very similar. Meaning comes from how certain feelings connect, contrast and communicate - this is not so much about direct pointing (but sometimes it can be), so much as suggestion. Trust your intuition - no matter what comes to mind, give it some consideration. Write your thoughts down (or doodle them) in a journal or sketchbook. This is more than just keeping a record, the physical act of making marks is alchemical.
With the State of the Aces spread, you can really dig deep. Try leaving it out on the table for a day and revisiting it several times.
Can you think of alternate 4-card spreads? Why not share them with me?
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