You know those cards that sometimes pop out when you shuffle your tarot deck a little too vigorously? This spread is about celebrating those little jumpers by heeding their wisdom rather than sneakily shuffling them back into the pile.
The point of this spread is to come face-to-face with what’s right in front of us so that we can heal and transform what’s no longer serving us as we enter autumn, the season of change. This is often something we’re diligently trying to avoid, despite the big looming presence of whatever it is – a dysfunctional pattern or unhelpful thought process, or maybe even the indisputable fact that everything in our life is actually pretty awesome right now.This spread is a direct invitation to a fuller, self-compassionate vision, to jump bravely into awareness and action.
Pick whatever tarot deck in your collection you’d like to deliver this message to you. As you shuffle, focus on the importance of facing whatever it is that’s right in front of you but that you’re either deliberately ignoring, or just not seeing clearly yet. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, while focusing on this. It may help to say your intention out loud as a sort of mantra. Usually when we shuffle we try to do it with precision so we don’t drop anything. Since that’s the opposite of what we want here, it may help to move into a bit of a trance state with the repetitive sound and motion of shuffling, while stating what you wish to learn. As you shuffle, decide how many jumpers you wish to collect. I suggest anywhere from 1-6 cards.
Lay out the cards in the order they jumped to see the larger narrative of their message to you. Keep in mind that this spread is all about
showing us what we are avoiding! If you draw a lot of pentacles, you may be avoiding grounding in your body, or you may be neglecting simple necessities like cooking, bodily health or hygiene, or there may be a massive work project (or even job change) that needs to happen. If you see a lot of fire, you may be avoiding your passions. You may be avoiding the fact that you’re super burnt out! Or maybe you’re avoiding the simple truth that some of your current decisions around relationships have been too focused around sex. It all depends on what cards you draw, how they interact with each other, and your intuition. If you’re having trouble discerning the cards’ message for you, it may be helpful to ask a trusted friend about what they see in your spread.
Let the jumper cards aid you in seeing your blind spots around patterns and habits and people and yourself – the things that need to change. Let these truths jump out of the cards and into your body and self. It is no longer possible not to see.
Here are some questions to ask yourself for each card:
- What needs to change?
- What do I know I am avoiding?
- What do I not know I am avoiding?
- Where (or how) am I complacent (in general, or about a certain issue)?
- What dynamic in my love life am I avoiding?
- What dynamic in my work life am I avoiding?
- What dynamic in my spiritual life am I avoiding?
Be sure to decide which card is which before you begin to draw cards, and ideally before you even begin to shuffle!