In Buddhism, the “Middle Path” is the balance between complete indulgence, and complete denial. The concept of the Middle Path is helpful in many regards, regardless of your particular spiritual views. Recently, in a tarot reading, a new way of looking at the idea of a Middle Path popped up.

The cards that came up for my client forced me to suggest that she find the “attitudinal sweet spot” between having a positive mental attitude and being in denial about her circumstances.

Some people are optimists, and some are pessimists. I think most of us agree that an optimistic attitude is good for our health, our relationships, and even our bank accounts.  Hermetic wisdom suggests that “like attracts like.” If the energy we put out into the world is positive, we are more likely to attract positive situations and people to us.

On the other hand, being so Pollyanna-positive that we are in denial about real problems isn’t helpful. In fact, it could be very costly to deny the existence of actual problems.

Here’s a tarot spread I developed after that conversation. Use it to make sure that you are on the Middle Path of Perception,

You can arrange the cards in a line. Here are the position meanings.

Card One: What is a problem that I haven’t given enough attention to?

Card Two: What should I do about this problem?

Card Three: What must I do to maintain the Middle Path in my perceptions of my life?

Card Four: What is a blessing in my life that I haven’t given enough attention to?

Card Five: How can I take full advantage of this blessing?

The trick with a reading like this is to be able to interpret the cards in context, even when a positive card comes up to describe a problem, or a less desirable card appears to describe a blessing. Performing this reading may give you some new ideas about how to keep emotional balance in your life, and how to hear the messages of the cards.