Lesson 10 - Spreads Part 1

It isn't always necessary to use all 78 cards when you do a Tarot reading. There are many ways to use the cards.

for example you could use ...

- the Major Arcana
- the Minor Arcana
- Aces and Major Arcana
- Aces and Minor Arcana
- court cards and Minor Arcana
- court cards and Major Arcana

If you do a little research by studying different Tarot books and other web sites, you'll discover hundreds, if not thousands of different spreads and card combinations - you can even create your own mix and your own spreads!!

In lesson 12 I'll be covering guidelines for Tarot reading in a little more detail, but for now I'll simply outline a couple of basic pointers to help you get started.

1. Some people read the cards differently, depending on whether they are reversed (upside down) or upright. This is a personal preference and one you need to decide for yourself. Personally, I choose to get a feel from the spread as a whole, to guide me as to whether a card is indicating its negative or positive interpretation, and I ignore whether a card is reversed or not.

   You can do the same, but if you find that difficult, you can read upright cards as positive in meaning and upside down (reversed) cards, as negative in meaning.

   Intepreting the relationship between cards in their various positions is a little more difficult. Many books do give some guidance on this, and I recommend Jonathan Dee's excellent 'Tarot an illustrated guide' for this reason.

   For now, simply understanding what each card indicates in a particular position in a spread will enable you to give a reasonable reading.

2. When you read for someone, this person can be referred to as 'The Querant' or 'The Enquirer' and they should shuffle the cards.

   When they have finished shuffling you can spread the whole deck and ask them to pick the appropriate number of cards, or you could split the deck into 3 smaller packs and get them to pick a pack they are most drawn to. I choose to do the latter, but you can feel free to find your own way for the querant to pick their cards.

   Many people feel quite nervous when they come for a reading, especially for the first time, or if they are feeling distressed about something. Find your own way to make them feel at ease.

   I do this by explaining the process and what I believe the tarot is all about. I explain each of the spreads I use and often explain the meanings of the cards. However, many Tarot readers feel it is better not to do this, and only convey the message they see in the cards - it's up to you to find your own way of working with the tarot and with the people you read for.

So, let's move on to a spread.

You've been working with a classic 3 card spread, so let's use this same reading to create a new one ... by using it twice!

Spread 1. The Choice Reading - 6 cards

This is ideal when a querant has to choose between 2 options, for example - should I stay married or should I leave my spouse? Should I go out with Steve or Michael?!! Should I become a lawyer or a hair stylist? You get the idea!!!

Simply ask the querant to shuffle the cards and pick 6, and then spread the cards as below:

 

Card 1	Card 2	Card 3		Card 4	Card 5	Card 6
this 1st row represents their first choice				this 2nd row represents their second choice

 

You then read each row as you would the 3 card reading you've been practising:

1st card is - influences from the past
2nd card is - advice
3rd card is - outcome.

The idea of the spread is to help guide the querant to the most positive or favorable choice. Of course both options could lead to seemingly equally negative or positive outcomes, in which case you can do an additional spread for clarification.

This could be ...

 

Spread 2. Guidance Reading - 4 cards

In this situation, you could use the guidance reading to ask for more information on each option.

Lets say that Option 1 was - 'should I go out with Steve?'

Lay the cards out as follows:

Card 1	Card 2	Card 3	Card 4

1st card is - the current situation
2nd card is - what is going for you
3rd card is - what is going against you
4th card is - the outcome

After finishing this reading, shuffle the cards again and do the same for Option 2 - 'should I go out with Michael?'

If they still both have a similar outcome, then you have more work to do, or perhaps your querant will decide to go out with both of them!

The 4 card Guidance reading can be used to ask any question, it doesn't need to relate to a choice. You could use it to get a feel for what's going on around the querant generally, or to ask a specific questions such as:-

'will I have love in my life soon'
'will my finances improve'
'will I sell my house'

and so on and so on.

OK, so now you have 3 spreads to work with:-

Classic 3 card spread
6 card 'choice'spread
4 card 'guidance' spread

 

Practical Exercise for this week

Your homework is to practice these on yourself and your friends and begin to develop your own way of working with the cards and your querant.

We will move on to a couple of bigger spreads next week.

There's no multiple choice test for this lesson, but make sure you do plenty of practice readings before next week.