TAROT SPREADS

 

A lot of importance sometimes seems to be placed on tarot spreads, the pattern in which the cards are laid out for a reading. Each position is generally given a very specific meaning, and the card that winds up in this position is usually read with this direction in mind. This does work, and it can be amazing when the reading all comes together. However, we have to be careful not to put so much emphasis and importance on the position in a tarot spread and what it represents that we miss what the card is trying to tell us.

I will always remember watching a professional psychic working with members of a police department, trying to give them information to solve a criminal case. This woman was using an oversized Thoth deck. The cards were battered and beaten, ragged eared and wonderful. With no pomp or preparation, she quickly spread out a small silk scarf on the table before her. Holding the large deck in her left hand, she lowered her head and began turning card after card after card. This woman laid each card she drew in a single pile on the scarf, commenting now and then, giving an impression, a feeling, a color, a direction, an eerie insight, a quick view inside the mind of the criminal and the world of his victim. There was no spread used, just the cards and this woman’s natural incredible intuition.

No matter what spread you use, if the card you see before you has a different message than what is expected of it, listen. Don’t dismiss it.

With that said, we’re going to enjoy and delve into a variety of tarot spreads and find out how they can be used to answer very specific questions. These tarot spreads are both spreads I’ve developed for myself and have used successfully over the years, as well as new spreads I’ve created specifically for my tarot books. These are spreads created for the reader who wants to read for him/herself; and yes, you can do this. Some people will be more successful at it than others, but it can be done.

 

A tarot spread refers to the various patterns in which the cards may be laid out for a reading. Each position in a tarot spread is usually assigned a particular topic or question. There is an infinite number of tarot spreads published in a variety of books and there are a few old classics, like The Celtic Cross Spread, and you may very well come up with spreads of your own design. By designing your own tarot spread you’ll find that you may get sharper clearer readings, more in key with your circumstances because the spread you design yourself will be more in tune with your direct questions and concerns.

One of the best-known and most popular tarot spreads is The Celtic Cross Spread. And oddly enough, I have very rarely used this spread. For some reason it makes me feel boxed in, claustrophobic, and contained. This does not mean that I won't use it in the future, or that it did not prove useful when I used it in the past. There are a great many people who stand by this spread as one of the most solid and dependable. It’s purely a personal preference.

1. This may be a pre-selected card representing the querent. It may also signify what envelops and surrounds you.

2. What crucifies you, in other words, the problem.

3. What completes you, or what is above you.

4. What lies beneath you, sometimes skeletons in your closet, or the root of the problem.

5. What is behind you, in your past.

6. What lies ahead of you, that which is yet to come.

7. This is you.

8. What surrounds you.

9. Your hopes and fears.

10. The outcome.

LEARNING TAROT

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