Spreads and Extras
If you’ve done the activities in the earlier part of this book, then you’ve probably already worked with spreads a little bit. In this section, I will share two of my favorites. If you want to know more about spreads … a lot more … check out my book titled Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings. In that book, you’ll learn about the visual dynamics at play in tarot spreads and spreadcrafting. There are tons of great spreads and lots of unique tips and techniques that make readings more dynamic and more powerful. For now, this book will give you enough to keep you busy!
You already learned one of tarot’s most classic spreads, the Celtic Cross, in CHAPTER 4. You’ve also done some simple three-card readings. In addition to those, I’ll share my favorite Yes/No Spread and my personal variation of another classic spread, the Horseshoe Spread.
Yes/No Spread
I learned this spread from Susyn Blair-Hunt’s Tarot Prediction and Divination. Many tarot readers don’t like answering yes/no questions and will often rephrase such a question to make it more open-ended. As for me, I like using this spread at the beginning of a reading to get a sense of where the situation stands and the direction it is likely to go. That way, my client and I have a good understanding of the energy at play as we explore further. This spread gives more information than just a simple “yes” or “no” answer.
Shuffle your cards and lay out five cards in a horizontal row as shown:
In this spread, you count cards to determine the answer. Even-
numbered Minor Arcana cards and all Major Arcana cards count as “yes.” Odd-numbered Minor Arcana cards and all Court cards count as “no.” Because there are five cards, there will never be a tie. And, to be honest, there is rarely a complete and absolute “yes” or “no,” which makes sense because the future is rarely written in stone and is usually malleable to some degree or another. So an answer could be “probably yes” or “mostly yes, but really close.”
Then, after you determine the yes or no part of the reading, interpret the five cards as you would any spread. I do not use positional meanings but instead, let the cards reveal whatever message is needed.
Barbara’s Modified Horseshoe Spread
This is a good, all-purpose spread that you can use in almost any situation. It is called the Horseshoe Spread because of its shape. I’ve modified the positions in a way that makes more sense to me and allows for the use of a really interesting technique.
The Modified Horseshoe Spread
There are a number of ways to approach interpreting this spread, which is part of its beauty. It is designed so that you can see the various energies at play in relation to each other. The technique at the end makes even further use of this integrated approach.
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1: Querent 2: Past 3: Other information 4: Present 5: Challenge 6: Future 7: Possible outcome |
Start by interpreting the spread however you normally would (hopefully this includes some of the helpful instructions from CHAPTER 4!), then look at the column on the left as a simple three-card past-present-future spread. After that, consider the cards across from each other in pairs: 2 and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 and 7. These pairs work together very well. Cards 2 and 3 give information about what happened in the past that is shaping the current situation. Cards 4 and 5 show the present struggles (there is usually a struggle present or a reading wouldn’t be necessary, although that is not always the case). Cards 6 and 7 work together to describe the future.
For the final and, to me, really cool part, take card 1 and move it between cards 2 and 3. Observe the querent card and how its energy feels or reacts to the two cards flanking it. After that, keep moving it through the next two pairs. The significators playtime activity in CHAPTER 3 helped build this skill. I’d encourage you to use it because the cards in the columns describe the situation (past, present, and future), but remember that not everyone will feel or react the same in that situation. Seeing the card that represents the seeker between two cards will create a very telling and helpful story.
You now have enough spreads to at least get started. You can always invent your own spreads, too. Think about your situation and all the questions you’d like to explore. Use those questions as spread positions and lay them out in a way that makes sense to you. Yes, there are ways to improve your spread-creating skills, but you can learn a lot just by trying. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Remember, tarot is an ever-evolving art. New practices, ideas, and discoveries hardly ever happen without a mistake or two. Also, if you don’t want to buy another book (such as my Tarot Spreads book), you can easily find tons of spreads online. Go explore! Go create!
Ethics and Mission Statement
Now that you know more than you did, review your ethics and mission statements to make sure they still reflect your beliefs. I suggest doing this once a year or whenever you feel like you’ve gone through a significant spiritual growth spurt.
Difficult Cards
By now you may feel like you understand most of the cards fairly well. However, there may be a few that you are still fuzzy on or ones that you just plain don’t like. This is an activity I learned from one of my friends, James Wells, at a tarot conference. Decide on a situation that you want to read about. Pick a spread. Take your difficult card, and only that card, and interpret it in each of the positions. It sounds a little strange, I know, but not only will it give you a practical way to explore the many facets of a troublesome card, it will also show how the question or positional meaning helps shape the final card interpretation.
Recordings
Record your readings, even if (or perhaps especially if) you are reading for yourself. This helps you to slow down and really pay attention to what you are doing. When you listen to the recording later, you can notice (and celebrate) your strengths as well as identify and correct any weaknesses, so that you can improve as a reader. Recording while reading for yourself is great because when we read for ourselves, sometimes we lay out the cards, look at them, pretend that we’ve read them, and gather them up, calling it good. We don’t always give as much attention to our readings as we do for other people. Give yourself the time and attention you deserve and don’t rush through your own readings.
Practicing
Both beginners and long-time readers need to practice, hopefully for different reasons. Beginners want to gain confidence and experience. More seasoned readers like to try out new decks and new techniques. Here are my suggestions for getting in as much practice as possible.
Read for yourself. This has limitations, of course. Reading for yourself can be challenging simply because it is harder to be objective. Also, I don’t know about you, but often I simply don’t have enough questions to practice on myself that often.
Read for imaginary people. Invent a person with a short bio and a question.
Read for a fictional character. Before going to a movie, reading a chapter in a novel, or viewing the next episode of your favorite weekly TV show, do a reading to see what will happen.
Pretend a celebrity has asked for a reading and practice on them. This option may cross ethical boundaries for some, particularly those who believe that you should never read for anyone without their permission. If that is your case, then obviously this option isn’t for you.
Offer free readings. In exchange for feedback, provide free readings on your favorite social networking site or join a forum or organization that allows reading exchanges.
Farewell
I could not leave you on a better note than that: practice, practice, practice! The more you engage with tarot, the more it engages with you. It will open your eyes and your mind to more than you ever imagined. When you hold a tarot deck, you hold seventy-eight keys that will lead you to the infinite possibilities of this wondrous and mysterious world we inhabit. Remember, the only rules are the ones that are rooted in your beliefs. Tarot is for everyone, for anyone who wants to explore it, but it is also always and completely your own.