I know that we have spoken about this technique before in the Wildwood Tarot Study group on Facebook, but it came back into to mind today after the Page of Arrows/Hooded Man’ link was suggested in a comment on a Pathway Spread reading there.
The Secret Path technique originated with Ruth and Wald Amberstone in the US, I believe. Ruth and Walt said that a secret path could be created between cards that shared common symbolism. This path strengthened links between those cards, deepening the interpretations of each one, by being able to refer to the other(s).
I have also included a list of over 50 symbolic links between Wildwood Tarot cards the at the back of my book, A Year In The Wildwood. The list is not exhaustive and won’t have everything, but I think I’ve included most of the shared symbols that would be interesting to take a look at). Please feel free to let me know about symbolic links between cards that I have not included, I will happily update my list and give you full credit for the spot!
This Secret Paths technique can help when working with single card pulls especially – you automatically get paths to other cards, even if they are not part of the cards dealt in the spread. If both/all ‘secret path’ cards for a symbol ARE dealt in the spread, the link is clear.
The Queen of Arrows, for example, shows up in 6 Arrows TRANSITION in the Wildwood Tarot.
As you can see by these two cards – we could add the idea of Transition from 6 Arrows to our understanding of the Queen of Arrows and conversely, we could add our interpretations for Swan to our 6 of Arrows if it turned up in a reading – if we felt that it would add deeper significance to the reading for our client. Perhaps we could say that the traits of the Queen of Arrows could assist in any transition that the client might be going through?
What do you think? Is it a technique that you already use or would like to use?
