Decision Crossroads (A/B) suits a question with two concrete options and a reason to care about each. A holiday visit can be just such a choice: you want time with your parents, and you understand why your partner wants to see theirs. Both wishes matter, but the available days cannot accommodate both visits.
The six positions separate each option's appeal and cost from the conflict underneath the choice. They help explain why a convincing reason for one visit does not make the other wish disappear.
What the six positions mean
Name options A and B before drawing. The options depend on the question; the positions keep their assigned jobs.
| Fixed position | General meaning |
|---|---|
| Option A Pros | Advantages and circumstances supporting A |
| Option A Cons | Risks, costs, or something that must be given up with A |
| Option B Pros | Advantages and circumstances supporting B |
| Option B Cons | Risks, costs, or something that must be given up with B |
| Core Conflict | What makes the choice genuinely difficult for the person asking |
| Integrating Guidance | How to weigh both options’ benefits and costs alongside the main conflict |
A cost does not cancel an option's value. An advantage does not make that option cost-free. Core Conflict and Integrating Guidance connect the four separate perspectives.
Last year's visit and this year's rare opportunity
Consider a couple whose parents live in different cities. They want to travel together for Lunar New Year. Once travel time and their overlapping time off are taken into account, they can make only one visit.
Last year they visited the partner's parents. This year the person asking wants to spend the holiday with their own parents. Their partner has explained that siblings who usually live apart can all come home this year—a rare chance to gather. The couple has not decided where to go.
The question stays simple:
Should we visit my parents or my partner's for Lunar New Year?
A means going together to the asker's parents; B means going together to the partner's parents. This example uses familiar Rider–Waite–Smith imagery. Upright means the card is normally oriented; reversed means it is upside down. Position and known circumstances shape the interpretation.
| Fixed position | What it explores in this example | Card drawn |
|---|---|---|
| Option A Pros | The wish for time with the asker's parents that A would answer | Six of Cups, upright |
| Option A Cons | The gathering they would miss by choosing A | Five of Cups, upright |
| Option B Pros | The value of this particular gathering at the partner's home | Four of Wands, upright |
| Option B Cons | The disappointment of visiting the partner's parents two years running | Six of Pentacles, reversed |
| Core Conflict | Why neither wish for family time is easy to set aside | The Lovers, upright |
| Integrating Guidance | How taking turns and this unusual opportunity both enter the choice | Temperance, upright |
A familiar table, and another gathering missed
The Six of Cups in Option A Pros brings familiar affection and remembered connections into view. Its scene of a cup of flowers being offered suits the asker's wish to take part in their own family's holiday again.
They spent last Lunar New Year elsewhere. Wanting to sit at a familiar table with their parents has a specific history. Here, the Six of Cups expresses that wish for shared time; it does not reduce the relationship to a count of visits.
The Five of Cups occupies Option A Cons. The figure watches the fallen cups while others remain standing, an image often associated with loss and attention to what could not be kept. In this position, it concerns missing the partner's sibling reunion. One wish would be met, and a different opportunity would be forgone.
Nothing in that image establishes that the partner would resent the choice or that the siblings could never meet again. The known cost is this occasion. Together, the two Cups cards allow pleasure in going home and regret about another gathering to coexist.
A special reunion can still leave someone waiting
The Four of Wands in Option B Pros shows a celebratory setting, with a garland and people gathered nearby. It fits the value of an enjoyable occasion shared with others.
The siblings' unusual availability is already part of the example. The card highlights why this year's visit has its own appeal: the destination may be the same as last year, while the people able to gather may be different.
Option B Cons is the reversed Six of Pentacles. Giving, receiving, and distribution are familiar themes of this card. Reversed in this position, it can express a distribution of time that does not meet both people's expectations.
If they visit the partner's parents again, the asker's wish for a holiday with their own parents will remain unmet for another year. Understanding a good reason to return to the same home can coexist with wondering when their own family will have a turn.
This interpretation concerns the disappointment attached to B. Where they spend two Lunar New Year holidays cannot show everything either person contributes to the relationship, or prove that the partner does not care about the asker's family.
The Four of Wands explains the particular attraction of the reunion. The reversed Six of Pentacles shows why the asker's wish to visit their own parents still matters.
Two reasons that remain important together
The Lovers in Core Conflict can concern connection, values, and consequential choices. Here it gathers the asker's two attachments into one view rather than grading the relationship.
They want time with their parents and can also understand their partner's wish for a rare reunion. The Six of Cups and Four of Wands explain the two attractions. The Five of Cups and reversed Six of Pentacles show what remains unfulfilled with either choice. The hesitation has more substance than a contest over who has the better argument.
Temperance appears in Integrating Guidance. Water moving between two cups often suggests bringing different needs together. In this example, last year's destination matters to the expectation of taking turns; this year's available family members matter to the particular opportunity.
Considering only the previous visit would leave out what is unusual this year. Considering only the reunion would leave out the asker's wish to go home. Temperance holds both in the interpretation. The available holiday still permits one trip; the card neither creates a second trip nor names a destination.
The six cards explain why the choice remains difficult: an exceptional occasion and an ongoing wish to share family time fall within the same limited holiday. Each option offers something wanted and leaves something else unmet.
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