AUTHOR’S NOTE: In my considered opinion, one area where modern tarot reading has “gone off the rails” is in the rise of the so-called “freestyle” layout in which there is no established rhyme or reason to the arrangement of the cards.

Its proponents claim that this “deconstructed” approach sparks their creativity but it seems to me that it is more likely to hobble their oracular continuity and coherence since there is no conceptual framework on which to hang their observations as the tale unfolds in a welter of cards that “just feels right” in its magnitude. The result can be a sketchy patchwork of ideas that sort of dribbles out in fits-and-starts according to whatever strikes the reader’s fancy as the reading progresses.

It can then be a Herculean task to make the shapeless beginning, middle and end connect as the chronicle wanders away from an anecdotal story-line and must be restored in order to achieve an approximation of intelligibility. Personally, I don’t want to work that hard when a well-designed spread will greatly enhance the pattern-recognition that is vital to making sense of any random scatter of tarot cards while also cutting right to the chase with no speculative dithering.

To me, the necessary foundation is provided by a carefully-constructed spread that links the card positions in a meaningful way by supporting a logical presentation. The old standby, “Past/Present/Future,” is no longer the entry-level layout for effective predictions although it still has its place when learning. A more granular approach is required, one that favors an appropriate number of small, concise bites of wisdom rather than large gulps of imaginative conjecture with little backbone (think of it as a darting-and-dancing school of synchronized sardines compared to an aimlessly-drifting jellyfish).

In my own custom spreads I try to ask the card in each position a pointed question that ties in smoothly with the overall flow of the reading. This forms the topical blueprint for development of the narrative. It’s all about creating a properly fleshed-out tableau that offers both internal integrity and external boundaries that shape the contents and the trajectory of the forecast.

I consider the ideal spread to feature a malleable configuration with some daylight between the position definitions that allows me to go “outside the box” any time I think it’s beneficial to an understanding of the situation while still maintaining a central network of integrated impressions to which I can return when I’ve finished extemporizing (I call it “reeling myself back in”). Even my more visionary excursions are still tethered to the core meanings like electrons circling the nucleus of an atom, and if I do it right there will be no gatekeeping “HAL” that refuses to “open the pod door” when I want to re-enter the hub.

All of this is a clever way of saying that “structure matters” if we want to give our clients the most complete picture of forthcoming events and circumstances because nothing will be overlooked due to misfiring intuition or neglect of fundamentals in an excess of “anything goes” zeal.

Reading the cards is primarily an act of identifying relationships between them that coalesce into a recognizable theme or signature motif carrying a message for the seeker. If we start with no plot we will have to create one as we go in an inspired burst of imagination. It can certainly be done, but why bother when there is already a track laid out? While I enjoy thinking on my feet in a face-to-face session, I’m more interested in communicating than in showing off my spontaneous ingenuity, and a spread gives me a ready-made set of talking points that can then be embellished with more impressionistic insights.