The 'Mary' Method (updated) personal readings

Many years ago, when I still lived in Barnes, London, I spent about a year and a half looking after my Grandmother who, in her elder years, had Alzheimer's. I did this with my cousin Mary Bolingbroke who went on to become a brilliant Cranial Osteopath. I remember vividly a technique that she used to use to make decisions. I can't remember where or when this method came to her, all I remember was she was traveling around America and was trying to decide where she should travel to next. A friend of hers told her to toss a coin. She hated the idea. How could she leave such an important decision to such a random and unpredictable method? She resisted. As deadlines dawned and her indecision continued, she eventually decided to take her friends advice. She assigned 'heads' to one destination and 'tails' to the other...and then flipped the coin.

(I wish you could hear her tell the story. One day I'll have to get her to tell it on video so that you can hear her tension and her delight at her eventual revelation).

She caught the coin (in England we rarely let the coin land on the floor, preferring to catch it and slap it onto the back of our hand) and flipped it to show the answer. As she tentatively removed her hand, she saw the curve of a head and her heart sank. "Noooooooo....." she cried.

And that's when it hit her. She had already made her decision in her heart, well before the coin toss, but had been over thinking it. The result of the coin toss was ultimately irrelevant. She knew what she wanted to do. The value of the coin toss was not in the result of "heads or tails" but in a ritual that surfaced her true emotion. A ritual that exposed the answer that was already within her.

That's the inspiration for this methodology of Nockwood reading.

This is a method for quick method where the cards determine both the area of enquiry and a response. This can be done daily, weekly or whenever you are at a loss for what to do.

Step 1: Start by getting the person you are doing the reading for, to shuffle the deck and cut it 3 times.

Step 2: Take the first card from the top of the deck and place it in position #1. The suit of the card will define the broad subject of the reading. E.g. If Hearts, “The subject is something that you feel passionately about, or something that you intuitively feel needs consideration. Alternatively it could be Spades, something in the persons life that needs protection or needs stability/order...etc.etc..The secondary trait will define a specific aspect of that broad subject. Through discussion with the person you are reading for, identify the topic that the card refers to. Sometimes this is immediately apparent to them. Sometimes you have to probe to find the topic that aligns with the card selected. Do not move forward until you have clearly identified the topic.

Step 3: Take the next card from the top of the deck and place it in position #2. Read the personal qualities that will be required. This could be existing strengths or abilities that they currently have (and may not be aware of) or a quality they need to develop and build.

Step 4: Take the next card from the top of the deck and place it in position #3. This card will define the types of outward actions they need to take to be successful.

Step 5: Take the next card and place it in position #4. This card will define the ultimate outcome or result.

Step 6: Read all cards as a complete story. Use your intuition to extrapolate the dominant shapes/themes that will bring depth to the reading. The opposite pairs are powerful...Read the combinations of the subject (#1) and the outcome (#4) to give a sense of how to think about success. Read the inner (#2) and outer (#3) actions as the means by which success will be achieved. Do not forget to identify the underlying, latent or hidden challenges from the secondary symbols of all 4 cards.

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