Tarot - Spreads and Readings

Tarot - Spreads and Readings

Before setting off to do a reading, there are some other key points to understand:

Most aspects of Tarot cards portray a 'duality' of positive and negative, and some cards may reveal unwelcome truths as well as messages which sound too good to be true. Here is the first caution: do not assume that the unwelcome truths are terribly bad, and look on them as providing opportunities for turning the negative into the positive.

Be careful of assuming a card is ALWAYS positive or ALWAYS negative. Sometimes you will find when you look at a card, only one aspect of its duality will be apparent to you. Note what is happening, because now you have become a perceptive reader!

The most frequent misinterpretation, though, is of the 'Death' card. This card is actually one of the most positive cards in the pack, and in the context of a reading usually indicates that something has to end in order to make way for something new and much better. You can imagine how much fear instead of optimism the Death card can produce to the inexperienced reader.....

The advice to the beginner is to ask some simple questions about each card that appears:
do you feel this card basically negative or positive?
how and to what degree does this change the balance of the reading?
do you feel this card provides opportunities which are not apparent from the basic card or individually from the other cards in the reading?

Another example often encountered in readings surrounding relationships is an indication that the relationship will end. Usually, the reading is not as black and white as that! It is more usual that some aspect of the relationship has to end in order to make way for progress in the entire relationship. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately!) a Tarot reading will not tell someone to 'stop leaving the cap off the toothpaste' in order to restore a failing relationship!! The indication instead may be not to be selfish concerning partnership matters!

The only advice anyone can give to someone doing a Tarot reading is 'note what you see, listen to what you hear, and believe what you feel'.

Tarot - Your First Reading...

Some of you have been reading the Tarot cards for divination for some time, but we all started somewhere.....

The Tarot bears the idea of the journey of the innocent Fool to his destiny. In the broad, this symbolises the querent passing through their life. As in life where we sometimes create 'new beginnings' (getting married or divorced, changing jobs, moving house, etc) so the Fool can be seen to embark on new journeys too. Each reading should be considered in this context.

It is suggested that for your first reading, you start with a simple 'spread'. A 'spread' is the collection of cards and their spatial relationship which constitute a reading.

You (the reader) are acting on behalf of the person asking the question (the querent), so have to guide them through the procedure of shuffling and selecting the cards.

Note now that it is not just the individual card that is important, but also 'where' the card appears in relationship to all the other cards in the spread. This is where the Tarot has its greatest strength, but also its greatest complexity. If you chose just on card, then it is simple in its interpretation, but if you drew two, it is important which you drew first. If you draw three, then the the possible combinations are beginning to be significant, and the order is critical to the interpretation.

In statistical terms, the chance of selecting one particular card from a pack of 78 is 78:1 (seventy-eight to one), of drawing two is (78x77):1, or 6006:1, and of drawing three is (78x77x76):1, or 456456:1 (nearly half a million to one). By the time you reach the 10 cards used in the Celtic Cross spread, the odds of choosing a particular combination of the ten cards is 4.56618x10¹⁸:1, or more than four and a half million million million to one!

Given this amazing statistical calculation, it is important that you follow a consistent process for handling the cards. There is a lot written about the significance of this, which is summarised here.

The cards are often kept wrapped in black silk, to preserve their 'power' which you impart to them every time you handle them. This is not essential, but you will find it easier if you work with your cards on a flat, clean surface.

The silk cloth is unwrapped in the centre of a table (or flat surface), with the reader sitting to the north (facing south), and the querent sitting to the south (facing north), and the cards are placed in the centre of the cloth. The historical reason for this orientation is due to the 'powers' believed to flow from North to South.

Some say this 'ritual' is vital to a successful reading, while most do not bother. Such a ritual will certainly assist you to get into a 'frame of mind' to allow you to focus on the reading. Again, find what works for you, but it is recommended that you always do readings in a calm and undisturbed environment.

The cards should be shuffled by the querent, then 'cut' into three piles using their left hand (nearest to the heart), before indicating one of three piles to the reader. The cards as indicated are taken and turned to face the reader, before being dealt into the required spread.

Another equally-acceptable way to select the cards is for the querent to shuffle the cards and then fan them on the table before using their left hand to select the required number of cards for the desired spread, passing each in turn to the reader.

In this process, some cards may have become 'reversed'. This means 'their head is where their feet should be, not that they have been accidentally revealed. Reversed cards usually mean 'reversed' interpretation: interpret the negative aspects of a reversed card as positive and the positive aspects as negative.

Using reversed cards makes it VERY important how all the cards are passed between querent and reader. The orientation of the card in the hands of the reader should be the same as it was in the hands of the querent. So if the querent saw a card was 'reversed' in their hand, by the time the reader lays the card in the spread, it should also be reversed to the reader's eye. Remember that reader and querent sit opposite, so this means that all cards are rotated from the hand of the querent to the hand of the dealer!

Remember also that cards are revealed by turning over sideways, NOT from top to bottom!

Tarot - Three-Card and Five-Card Spreads

Assuming you have become familiar with the cards and the method of shuffling and dealing, we will make life easy, and look at a spread of only a few cards!

This spread is useful and meaningful for a beginner, and it helps to build confidence at the beginning.

Most people wish to try Tarot readings on themselves first, and this spread is very suitable for self-readings.

The first three cards of the basic Five-Card spread can be used as a Three-Card spread where those cards have their same meanings in both spreads, making it easier for a beginner to extend their capabilities as their confidence builds.

Click on any card below to see its meaning:

Card 1 (The Significator) represents the querent's current situation or question.

Card 2 indicates the positive influences

Card 3 represents the negative aspects

Card 4 represents past events: what gave rise to the situation

Card 5 represents future events

The cards should be shuffled then dealt in the order shown, and revealed in that order, expanding the interpretation as each card is revealed.

You may be surprised at the revelations which come to you from just these few cards!