A good deal of the rest of this book will be dealing with the cards in a variety of specific spreads and layouts. Some spreads are useful for an overall reading, and these I call comprehensive spreads. Others are more useful for looking at a specific situation, and these I call focused spreads, while others are useful for timing events, and these I call calendar spreads. Some layouts can double up for more than one type of reading. I will volunteer my opinion on which spread is best for each purpose. In appendix A at the end of the book, you will find a comprehensive table that will give you an instant view of the value of all the spreads in this book.
There are many Tarot spreads in existence, and while some Readers use highly organized spreads, others practically throw their cards on the table at random. At this stage, it's worth experimenting with all the ideas in this book until you settle on two or three spreads that you feel comfortable with.
The following totally unstructured method might suit a Reader who is already pretty psychic. Ask your Questioner to shuffle the cards and then spread them out in a rough line on the table. Then ask her to select a number of cards (perhaps seven, thirteen, or twenty-one) and spread them out roughly on the table. The cards will be so roughly arranged that some may lie in an upright position, others sideways on, while some may even be upside down. Read all the cards as though they were upright.
See if there are more than one-third Major Arcana cards on the table, as this indicates that fate is taking a hand in your Questioner's future. If the reading contains more than two-thirds Minor Arcana cards, then the Questioner is pretty much in charge of her own destiny. If any one of the four suits predominates, this will show you the nature of the Questioner's present or future situation. If there are more than a scattering of Court cards, other people will have an important place in her life.
Notice the way the cards are grouped together. For instance, if a powerful card stands out, see what cards surround it. The powerful card will symbolize a situation and the surrounding ones will tell you something about it. The powerful card may be a Major Arcana card, a particularly pleasant or a particularly difficult card, or anything else that catches your eye.
Having said this, most people need more structure than this, so now read on and investigate the ideas that I have outlined below.
The most basic spread is one that allows the Reader to move from the past to the present and then on to the future. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to take six cards and work forward.
If you want a tighter reading, use two cards for the past, two for the present and two for the future. If you prefer to leave your readings loose, just move from one unspecified period of time to another.
This, combined with an observation of the ratios, contents, elements, etc. as explained in previous chapters, can make for a nice accurate little reading. This assessment of the weighting of a reading may seem a tedious process to you at first, but it will soon become second nature to quickly run your eyes over the layout before opening your mouth to speak.
If you wish to find the answer to a specific question, you will need to choose a particular card to act as the Significator of the question. This card may choose itself from some earlier and more comprehensive stage of the reading or you may decide to choose one that represents the situation. For example, when asking if you would soon get a new job, you might choose the Eight of Coins as Significator. You would then take another two or three cards at random to see what the answer might be.
Before moving on, I suggest you try this one out for yourself, either using yourself as guinea pig or asking a friend to help you. Use the following questions as mind-joggers:
Another very simple idea for a trainee Reader is to ask your Questioner to shuffle the cards, then deal three or four cards from the top of the deck and try to work out what is worrying him.
Look at the three cards on page 114: the Page of Swords, the Page of Coins, and the King of Cups. Who might be worrying the person who picked these cards?
You can try this with seven cards spread out into a random pattern. One card may leap out at you, possibly accompanied by another that is similar. In this case, don't try to interpret all seven of the cards, just concentrate on the one or two to which your attention has been drawn. Now, without saying anything, ask your Questioner to rearrange all the cards so that they form a row. Working from left to right this time, you will be able to see whether the problem has been around for some time or is just coming into being.
The foregoing spread is unwieldy and not really recommended for everyday use, but it's a good training aid. I have seen it used very successfully by a highly intuitive professional Reader and, on occasion, I have used it myself, but I can think of many easier ways to do the job. The idea is to lay out a large number of cards in a rectangular spread and look over them, allowing the important ones to jump out at you.
Personally, I have never found this spread to be much use, but please try it for yourself. The method is to ask your Questioner to shuffle the cards and then to deal out three rows of seven cards. The first row represents the past, the middle one represents the present, and the last row represents the future.
