Spreads are the way in which Tarot cards are organized in a formal manner for conducting a reading. Ideally, in a spread, there are a fixed number of cards which are drawn and are placed in a pattern, where each position stands for something. So, depending on the card drawn and the position where it stood at, the reader can interpret the meaning of the Tarot card.
Here, I am going to tell you some easy Tarot card spreads which you can use for simple readings. In each of these spreads, you just lay out the cards in a straight line. But before we go ahead, a little discussion about the methods of drawing the cards: some people prefer to shuffle the deck and make a fan of the cards and draw any random card from anywhere, while some prefer to shuffle the deck and draw the cards from the top of the deck. It doesn’t matter which method you follow – both these methods work, and different readers follow either of these methods.
Without any further ado, these simple spreads are:
1. 3-Card Spread: This is the most basic and straightforward spread of all times. For this spread, draw three cards from a well shuffled deck and lay them out in a straight line. This spread has many different applications. These 3 positions can either stand for ‘Past, Present and Future’ or ‘Situation, Advice and Outcome’ or ‘Option one, Option two, Outcome’ and so on. You can be totally creative with this spread. Also observe the flow of the reading and read in the direction which seems natural to you.
2. 5-Card Spread: This is a step-up on the basic 3-Card Spread. For this draw 5 cards from a well shuffled deck and lay them out in a straight line. Like the previous spread, this too has several applications. For example, the five positions could be ‘Past, Present, Hurdles, Advice, and Outcome’. Here is my favorite position definition for this spread: ‘Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Spirit’ where each element and its practical associations are explored with the card drawn in that position.
3.7-Card Spread: Again a very good and simple spread. Draw 7 cards from a well shuffled deck and lay them in either a straight line or in a horse-shoe pattern. The positions would be: ‘Past, Present, Situation, Hurdles, Advice, Outcome One and Outcome Two’.
Spreads can always be designed and the different positions can be defined based on the question being asked. So go ahead and be creative with your spreads. With these basic spreads, you can very easily do simple readings for yourself or for your friends. Once you have mastered these spreads, you can move on to those spreads which call for more cards and have more different positions.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Tarostar - The Witchs Spellcraft Revised
John Sebastian Marlowe Ward - The Master Masons Handbook
Aristotle - On Dreams
John Dee - The Rosie Crucian Secrets
