Energy Flow
The direction the figures face is also a clue. Where the energy between cards flows, where it comes to rest and where it gets stuck tells you which card is really the key card.
Using the direction figures face to see how cards act on each other
Besides static relationships such as shared numbers or suits, the direction a figure or main subject faces (left, right, straight ahead, or no clear direction) is another clue you can layer on top. It is especially useful in free draws with no fixed positions, and it can be added to any spread with fixed positions as well.
Free draws usually use an odd number of cards, such as three or five. The reasoning is similar to a vote: an even number can end in a tie, while an odd number lets a majority view emerge, and the middle position is naturally where opinion concentrates and where the deciding vote falls. This is why many free-form draws treat the middle position as the key position by default. That is only the default when there is no directional clue, though. Once you bring in facing direction, the key card can easily move to another position. Common patterns:
- Straight line: the figures in several cards all face the same side, so the energy flows one way in that direction. The card that finally "closes" the line (it no longer points toward either side) is the one that actually decides the outcome, even if it was not in the middle. This reading can build a chain of cause and effect among cards that do not necessarily have a natural causal link: the earlier cards describe the cause and the process, and the closing card gives the final outcome. Even if the middle card looks positive on its own, the outcome is still set by the closing card. A reversal breaks the chain. When a card is reversed, its figure's direction flips with it, and if the cards no longer all point toward the same end, the straight-line cause and effect no longer holds. At most you can say the energy swung briefly the other way; it does not make a complete chain.
- Choice: the middle card itself shows hesitation or weighing (common with the Twos), and on either side sit two unrelated figure cards, one for each option. The side the middle card finally faces shows the choice the querent really leans toward inside. Even when the standard meanings already give a workable interpretation, adding the direction clue often brings out an unspoken layer of choosing or giving something up. A reversed middle card usually means the person has lost their judgment or sense of control and may drift toward the option they would not otherwise have chosen.
- Spreading out: the figure in the middle card faces straight ahead (leaning to neither side and showing no sign of choosing). It stands for a tone or attitude that has been settled as a whole. The cards on either side each face outward toward their own side and stand for two parallel lines of action that grow out of that tone. These are two things to do at the same time; neither one is being chosen over the other.
- Directing (a special case of spreading out): the middle card again faces straight ahead, but the image shows one person directing two others. In this case the side cards are not parallel lines of action. They are helpers that the middle card mobilizes to make up for the querent's own weak spots. The middle card is the person's core character, which stays the same, and the two side cards are the specific abilities supplied by other people or outside resources. This layout asks a lot of the card images and does not come up often.
- Converging in the middle / blocked energy: both side cards face the middle. Here the deciding factor is entirely the nature of the middle card, and the direction of the side cards adds nothing further. If the middle card is positive, read it as energy gathering smoothly: the two forces complement each other, work together and appreciate each other's strengths. If the middle card shows conflict or destruction, read it as energy piling up and getting stuck in the middle: the two forces rub each other the wrong way and are quick to find fault. The pattern holds as long as both sides face inward; the images do not need to be mechanically symmetrical.
One point is worth noting. For "complementing each other" to really bring energy together, each person has to meet the other's actual emotional needs; a general difference in personality is not enough. Two people whose lifestyles are worlds apart, but who do not actually meet each other's needs, may carry the label "complementary" on the surface while what is really going on is another form of blocked energy.
Adding energy flow to a fixed-position spread
When you layer energy flow onto a spread with fixed positions, pick two positions that clearly stand for the two people's points of view (for example "my position" and "their position" in a relationship spread) and see whether the figures on those two cards face each other. If they both face each other, read it as both people still paying attention to the same thing right now, with energy flowing toward each other. If both face away and do not respond to each other, it suggests the two have no shared focus at the moment. In that case, do not look for the reason only in the "present" position. Go back to positions such as "the past" and trace what caused the distance.