I have a strong interest in tarot spreads that function on multiple levels, particularly of the "mind/body/spirit" type. This is my second three-tiered spread to explore that territory, this time using "facing" and dispensing with the astrological correspondences. This one is developmental in nature, offering a six-month forecast, rather than a real-time "snapshot." Here is … Continue reading The “Triple-Decker” Mind/Body/ Spirit Six-Month Life Reading Spread
Tarot Spreads
A Small-Spread Overview
In my own practice, I consider any spread of five cards or fewer to be "small." I find anything in that range to be of little use in complex scenarios with numerous variables that often have their most telling influence from behind-the-scenes. A small layout leaves a lot unsaid "between the lines" (that is, in … Continue reading A Small-Spread Overview
A Milestone and a Conundrum
I've just passed 175 self-created spreads in my personal inventory (see the Dropbox link in the sidebar for the list, which you can explore in the WordPress search function), and I paused a moment to wonder whether I will ever use the majority of these spreads in practice. Although I've binned them by category, the … Continue reading A Milestone and a Conundrum
The “Moving Finger” Situational Development Spread
"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line" (Omar Khayyam, from The Rubaiyat) Here is a spread built around the rather whimsical notion I had yesterday that upright cards in a reading can be considered "solar" (plainspoken and reliable) … Continue reading The “Moving Finger” Situational Development Spread
The “Two-Trump Tango” Life-Reading Spread*
*(So named for no other reason than that it has a pleasing alliteration to it.) I've long held that, when they appear in a prediction, the tarot trump cards usually presage "matters of greater import" emerging in a person's life, while the rest of the cards are more about routine experiences and attitudes arising within … Continue reading The “Two-Trump Tango” Life-Reading Spread*
Fortuna’s Spiral: A “Make-Your-Own-Luck” Spread
I find inspiration for new spreads in some unusual places. While reading a long dissertation by C.S. Lewis on De Consolatione Philosophiae by 6th-Century Roman statesman/philospher Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, I encountered a passage contrasting "Fortune" (here called "Providence") and "Destiny" (or "Fate"): "That which 'in the citadel of the divine simplicity' is Providence, when … Continue reading Fortuna’s Spiral: A “Make-Your-Own-Luck” Spread
A Career “Fishing Expedition” Spread
While I have a few spreads that examine career potential, all of them assume that querents have at least some idea what they want to do for work. Before today I had none that start from the perspective that some kind of employment change is crucial but the individual has no clue where that might … Continue reading A Career “Fishing Expedition” Spread
Days Like This
As you probably know, I'm not a fan of the one-card daily draw because it's so static; you're stuck with its singular influence since there is little sense of movement or development in it unless you "intuit" such from free-association or your prior experience with the card. (In a previous post I called it the … Continue reading Days Like This
The “Trump-Card Interrogation” Spread
This spread is based on the work I did with Alejandro Jodorowsky's list of trump-card questions that I posted yesterday. It is one step above a general life-reading in level of detail and is intended for use when the sitter doesn't have a more personal question to ask of the cards. The spread begins with … Continue reading The “Trump-Card Interrogation” Spread
“Breaking the Chain” Cause-and-Effect Spread
This is the spread I promised yesterday; it is built on the assumption that the sitter can best decide (based on the subconscious "hunches" that most of us harbor) which time-frame should be explored first in determining why present circumstances are the way they are and what might be done about them. Since our behavior … Continue reading “Breaking the Chain” Cause-and-Effect Spread
