Here is another spread that uses a three-part separation of the deck into trumps-only, court-only and minors-only sub-packs, each with a different focus in the reading. It's built on the idea of a "best-case/steady-state/worst-case" scenario in each of three areas - Central Issue or Conflict, Key Player or Quality, and Functional Status of the situation … Continue reading The “Palace of Joys and Sorrows” Conditional Awareness Spread
Tarot Spreads
The “Who Goes There?” Personal Outreach Spread
This is an unusual spread aimed at zeroing in on the kind of person the querent needs to reach out to in his or her particular situation. It could be a lover, a mentor or an electrician depending on the circumstances. It uses two decks, one to lay out all 16 court cards in a … Continue reading The “Who Goes There?” Personal Outreach Spread
The “Aces High” Motivational Outlook Spread
This spread looks at fulfillment potential in each of four sets of circumstances: Actions (Fire), Emotions (Water), Ideas (Air) and Sensations (Earth). The Aces of Wands (Doing), Cups (Feeling), Swords (Thinking) and Pentacles (Being) are placed in advance at the head of their elemental columns as the "root" energy for that particular manifestation. Aces High … Continue reading The “Aces High” Motivational Outlook Spread
The “Decision Stream” Spread
This is a simple decision-making spread that evaluates the pros and cons of up to four options, although it can easily be expanded to cover more than four by adding input streams. Decision Stream Spread
The “Inconvenient Truths” Personal Encounter Spread
Now back to our regular programing . . . This spread is designed to examine head-on encounters between two people with potentially very different agendas and expectations. It's purpose is not so much to find common ground as to minimize negative exposure to the querent. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ty1wbq0b42ljg6t/The%20Inconvenient%20Truths%20Personal%20Encounter%20Spread.pdf?raw=1
The “Flavor of the Month” Spread
This monthly forecast spread is segmented into four weekly lines and involves using at least two decks: one that is reassembled and reshuffled between pulls and one that is used to populate the spread positions (more decks may be needed to do this if the same card keeps appearing during the weekly pulls). It makes … Continue reading The “Flavor of the Month” Spread
The “Waypoint” Life-Reading Spread
This is the first spread I created when I returned to the full-time pursuit of tarot and other esoteric studies upon retirement in 2010. I was looking for a more comprehensive and organized life-reading spread to substitute for the "messier" Celtic Cross, one that also brought in astrological (planetary) correspondences. I developed this long before … Continue reading The “Waypoint” Life-Reading Spread
The “5 W’s + 1” Decision Spread
Those of us who went through the US school system in the middle of the 20th Century were taught the "5 W's" as a device for writing effective narrative, both fact and fiction. According to Wikipedia, the Five W's are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving. They are often … Continue reading The “5 W’s + 1” Decision Spread
“Enemy at the Gates” Vulnerability Spread
This spread was developed specifically to examine confrontations between two antagonists in any kind of contest (politics and sports come to mind). I've used it twice so far for major political situations, once to analyze the Macron and Le Pen face-off for French President, and again to explore the adversarial relationship between the Trump Administration … Continue reading “Enemy at the Gates” Vulnerability Spread
The “Celestial Mirror” Hopes and Fears Spread
My favorite tarot spread, the Celtic Cross - in any of its incarnations - has always dealt unconvincingly with the subject of the querent's hopes and fears. Rolling both of them together into one position, as Waite did in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, was a head-scratcher because you never knew whether you had … Continue reading The “Celestial Mirror” Hopes and Fears Spread