Beltane Crossing Over Spread
On This Day
Beltane is symbolic of birth and regeneration. Earth’s reproductive and sexual energies are at their peak this time of the year. Kiss the one you love under the Beltane moon.
Celtic Beltane begins at moonrise the night before the first day of May. Beltane marks the second half of the Celtic year, opposite Samhain. Like Samhain, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest right now. Instead of our ancestors and ghosts passing into our world as they do in October, this is the opportunity for us to pass through into theirs.
Summation of Spread
The Death card is a doorway to the great beyond of spirits and departed souls. Let the wisdom of those who walked before come to you. Remember the lessons you offer in return with the light and warmth of your life in a symbiotic dance.
Ever wonder what it’s like on the other side? The Beltane Crossing Over Spread lets you enter the netherworld. Indulge your curiosity and include as many original questions as you like.
Cast Your Cards
1. What does the netherworld feel like?
2. How does it smell?
3. Whom do I encounter?
4. Are spirits happy here?
5. What does it feel like to be dead?
6. How is time experienced?
7. Do you watch me?
8. Do you make yourself known in our world?
9. What is the point of life?
10. What is the point of death?
11. What lesson should I carry back to the regular world?
The Loch Ness Magical Scotland Spread
On This Day
Scotland’s official animal is, unsurprisingly, the unicorn.
The first sighting of the Loch Ness monster was reported on this day in 1933. The event made news when a well-known businessman and his wife informed the local paper of a great beast spotted in Loch Ness.
Summation of Spread
Do you long for the romance of the Scottish Highlands? Nessie is but one of many attributes of Scotland, land of kilts, bagpipes, William Wallace, and the inspiration for Hogwarts castle. It’s easy to understand why Scotland is the land of magic. This spread weaves Scottish enchantment in your life.
The Celtic Cross Spread, first published by A. E. Waite in his Pictorial Guide to the Tarot, is likely the most popular tarot spread ever created. Today it is found in most books accompanying new tarot decks. A Celtic Cross is a cross with a circle around it. Scotland, Ireland, and Britain are filled with Celtic cross monuments, found especially in graveyards.
Cast Your Cards
1. Castles: What security do I have?
2. Islands: Where can I escape to?
3. Highlands: What elevates me to a higher place?
4. Mist: What mystery is rolling into my life?
5. Tartan: Where do I belong?
6. Heather: What magic is growing in my life?
7. Whiskey: What end-of-day activity should I indulge in?
8. Fairy: What supernatural aid is available to me?
Tower Card Spread
On This Day
Nathaniel Hawthorne used New Hampshire’s Old Man as inspiration for a short story, The Great Stone Face, published in 1850. The Old Man’s profile has been New Hampshire’s state emblem since 1945.
The beloved Old Man of the Mountain, also known as the Great Stone Face, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire collapsed on this day in 2003. The cliff, shaped like a man’s face, was revered by many who took comfort in anthropomorphizing the side of a mountain.
Summation of Spread
In addition to destruction, the Tower card represents a flash of understanding, a moment of illumination, and a transcendental state where one moves beyond a normal state of awareness to a higher consciousness and enlightenment.
Collapse and destruction are hallmarks of the Tower card. This card’s appearance and catastrophic events signal enlightenment and humility before nature. This spread is based on symbols found on the Tower card.
Cast Your Cards
Use this spread to answer any question. Format your question before casting the spread or simply let the cards answer the questions posed. Pull the Tower card from your deck. Placing it in the center of the Tower Card Spread, cast your cards around it.
1. Lightning bolt: What is my wakeup call?
2. Crown: What is pushed aside?
3. Tower: What situation did I create?
4. Mountain: How high can I reach?
5. Falling: Can I release control?
6. Male/Female: How do I maintain duality?
7. Fire: What must burn away?
8. Clouds: What is the higher truth I must learn?
Anger Management Spread
On This Day
In Marvel comic books, the Hulk is able to leap great distances, traveling far before meeting the ground and bouncing up again.
The iconic Incredible Hulk comic book character came to life on the big screen in the film The Avengers, released on this day in 2012. Physicist Dr. Bruce Banner, after accidental exposure to the detonation of a gamma bomb, involuntarily transforms into the Hulk whenever angry or threatened.
Summation of Spread
The Devil card carries darker aspects of extreme anger and destruction, both physical and psychological. Unchecked tyranny and obsession spiral out of control when not tempered with love and forgiveness.
Feeling volatile? The Anger Management Spread is helpful to perform when you’re feeling edgy or “Hulk-like” and need to bring your emotions down a notch. This spread, provoked by the green superhero, examines how you experience personal anger.
Cast Your Cards
Breathe deeply and cast the cards as follows:
1. Why am I so angry?
2. What led to this situation?
3. What will happen if I express my anger?
4. What will happen if I suppress my anger?
5. What will happen if I calm my feelings?
6. What action should I take?
7. What is my outcome?
Cinco de Mayo Against All Odds Spread
On This Day
The French army eventually regrouped and moved on to take Mexico City. Regardless, the euphoria of the unlikely Mexican victory against overwhelming odds is remembered every May fifth.
Today is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday celebrating an “against all odds” victory over the French army in 1862. The French army was seven times larger, well trained, and better equipped. However, the French were defeated at the Battle of Puebla, where the smaller Mexican army made a shocking victory.
Summation of Spread
The power and passion to meet any challenge is found in the energetic reserves of the four knights and kings of the tarot. Each king wears armor under his regal robes, a reminder of his strength and prowess.
What do you want more than anything? This spread, in honor of insurmountable odds, asks what impossible goal you want to accomplish. Go out on a limb—be brave and ask for what you really, truly want. How else will your wildest dream come true?
Cast Your Cards
Using tactical maneuvers, you will attack oncoming challenges in a wall of cards. Once you reach the other side, you will reap the rewards of victory. Dream large and cast your cards.
1. What do I want to do?
2. What is my first challenge?
3. What is my second challenge?
4. What is my third challenge?
5. How should I meet the first challenge?
6. How should I meet the second challenge?
7. How should I meet the third challenge?
8. What is unexpected?
9. How will I change?
10. What is my prize?
Freudian Analysis Spread
On This Day
At age 83, while losing a battle with cancer, Freud requested a doctor end his life. He died of a physician-assisted morphine overdose.
Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, was born on this day in 1856. Freud harbored a morbid fear of ferns and the number 62, so much so that he would not book himself into any hotel with more than 61 rooms for fear he would be given room 62.
Summation of Spread
The crawfish emerging from the Moon card’s pool of water represents an unconscious urge or need coming to light. This is marked for you in a moment of discovery, when you realize you desire something new or have desired something all along without realizing it.
Ready to lie on an analyst’s couch? Using Freud’s key terms and essential concepts as a springboard, this spread examines the mysteries that make up the complex and wonderful creature reading these words.
Cast Your Cards
Nature loves pairs. This spread makes uses of pairs to compare and contrast aspects of personality.
1. Conscious Mind: What weighs heavily on my mind?
2. Unconscious Mind: What wants to emerge?
3. Superego: What is my main focus and most urgent need?
4. Ego: Who do I think I am?
5. Id: What is the unnamed center of my wants, needs, and desires?
6. Sublimation: How do I redirect unfulfilled desires into something useful?
7. Pleasure Principle: What feels good?
8. Reality Principle: What must be done?
Bourbon Street Spread
On This Day
Not much separates the living from the dead in New Orleans. With a violent Civil War history, slavery, and catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina, it’s no wonder New Orleans is a paranormal gumbo and one of the most haunted cities in the United States.
The city of New Orleans was founded on this day in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville. The city’s distinct European flair is due to its previous French and Spanish ownership.
Summation of Spread
Bourbon Street’s long history as a red-light district and hedonistic spot of overindulgence falls under the Devil card’s auspices. The Devil represents temptation, instant gratification, and, above all, the ability to have a great time.
Feeling hedonistic and wicked? Bourbon Street marks the oldest part of New Orleans and focuses its tourist center. Known for its bars and strip clubs, it has transformed from a red-light district to a corporate tourist center. This spread uses the shadier elements of old Bourbon Street to inform its questions.
Cast Your Cards
Jazz notes linger in humid air and the past whispers in your ear as you duck into a shop for a tea-leaf reading. The Bourbon Street Spread wants to examine your delicate soul.
1. Prostitution: How do I sell myself short?
2. Gambling: What is the biggest risk I take?
3. Jazz: How am I innovative?
4. Dancing: How can I let myself be free?
5. Drinking: How well do I moderate myself?
6. Voodoo: What wicked magic do I possess?
Seven Themes of Van Gogh Spread
On This Day
The day Van Gogh threatened artist Paul Gauguin with a razor, Van Gogh ran off in angst to a brothel, where he sliced off the lower part of his left ear and handed it to a prostitute for safekeeping. Gauguin later discovered him lying unconscious, his head covered with blood.
Vincent Van Gogh, painter of supremely supernatural visions, committed himself to a hospital on this day in 1889. The clinic’s buildings and gardens became subjects of his paintings, including the famous Starry Night.
Summation of Spread
The Empress card evokes the creativity of artists. She is the uniting force and link between the physical and the spiritual. The Empress is present the moment paint touches canvas, words manifest upon paper, and bodies move to music.
You may share more with Van Gogh than you realize. The Vincent Van Gogh museum reflects upon the seven main themes appearing in Van Gogh’s work. These themes have been crafted into a tarot spread examining your inner qualities and motivations.
Cast Your Cards
Cast the cards in a signature Van Gogh swirl.
1. Practice Makes Perfect: What am I practicing?
2. Style of Your Own: What is my unique style?
3. Effect of Color: What color do I need to bring into my life?
4. Peasant Painter: How do I make life simpler?
5. Japanese Influence: What foreign culture influences me the most?
6. Modern Portrait: What does it mean to be modern?
7. Wealth of Nature: What is my relationship to nature?
T. S. Eliot’s Poets & Writers Spread
On This Day
Writing affects the mind the same way as meditation. Breathing slows down as the writer enters a zone where words flow freely. Stream of consciousness writing has proven to be an effective method of destressing oneself.
Poet T. S. Eliot makes reference to his poem The Wasteland in a letter to patron John Quinn on this day in 1922. Eliot makes reference to tarot cards in his landmark poem: a section of The Wasteland highlights Madame Sosostris, a fortuneteller known to be the wisest woman in Europe, who reads from a “wicked pack of cards.”
Summation of Spread
The King and Queen of Swords are the novelists of the deck. Their gifts of articulation and mental acuity provide them with the ability to communicate precise thoughts, use appropriate words, and express exactly what’s on their mind.
Are you working on a book, memoir, or piece of poetry? This spread has been created for the writer, poet, or artist about to embark on a new piece of work.
Cast Your Cards
Cast your cards as T. S. Eliot would place words on a page.
1. The project at hand.
2. What must I create?
3. What must be expressed?
4. Why is it so important for me to do this now?
5. What will this work help me to uncover?
6. How can I accomplish my task in the most eloquent way possible?
7. Focus card: what helps me retain my focus for the entire project?
Court de Gébelin’s Under Your Nose Spread
On This Day
Court de Gébelin and Benjamin Franklin were Masonic brothers in the Les Neuf Seurs lodge and served as Voltaire’s conductors in his Masonic initiation.
Antoine Court de Gébelin passed away on this day in 1784. He is important to tarot’s history because all of tarot’s occult associations began with him. He was the first person in recorded history to claim that tarot is a repository of ancient secrets.
Summation of Spread
The King of Swords, like Court de Gébelin, is a well-educated scholar who has the capacity of reaching a large audience due to his seat of power.
Is something hiding from you in plain sight? Truth and wisdom can be directly in front of us, yet we don’t see them till we are ready. De Gébelin explained to all of Paris society that tarot was the Egyptian Book of Thoth—an ancient book of secrets hidden in plain sight. His Egyptian theory was eventually disproved, yet his influence is undeniable.
Cast Your Cards
Let’s assume a piece of wisdom or an answer you need is hiding in front of you. Use this spread to uncover it. Cast far apart in the vein of your expanding consciousness.
1. What answer is right in front of me?
2. How do I cultivate hidden truths?
3. What limiting belief must I release?
4. Am I willing to change?
5. What would I embrace if I allowed myself to?
6. Can I look at myself and see what the universe sees?
7. What possibility exists that I can’t possibly imagine or comprehend at the moment?
Frieda Harris’s Painter’s Palette Spread
On This Day
Although Harris took notes from Crowley for the Thoth deck, he offered her full credit. He said it was Harris who kept the deck’s momentum afloat. She insisted he consider each and every card as a masterpiece, able to stand on its own, independent from the rest of the deck.
Artist Frieda Harris passed away on this day in 1962. Harris collaborated with Aleister Crowley, and she painted the Thoth tarot deck.
Summation of Spread
The Empress card, ruled by Venus, is the embodiment of creativity. Symbolized by wheat, pomegranates, and pregnancy, her fertility is not only literal but also figurative. She represents ideas and talent springing forth.
Did you know an artist’s paintbox can offer clues to your personality? Frieda Harris used watercolors to paint the Thoth deck. Using her palette as inspiration, this spread is based on the magical significance of color.
Cast Your Cards
Cast your cards as paints on a palette.
1. Red: What energizes me?
2. Orange: What gives me confidence?
3. Yellow: What ignites my imagination?
4. Green: What balances me?
5. Blue: What calms me?
6. Purple: What engages my intuition?
7. White: What helps me find peace?
8. Brown: What grounds me?
Mother’s Day Spread
On This Day
Mothers in the 1700s gave birth to an average of 7 to 10 children; in the 1950s, they averaged 3.5 children; and today’s moms average 2 children. A mother changes 7,300 diapers by the time her baby turns two, and no mother could ever be described as average.
The first Mother’s Day was celebrated today in 1907. Anna Jarvis campaigned for a Mother’s Day holiday in memory of her deceased mother. The elder Jarvis had created Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to improve sanitary and health conditions in burgeoning cities around the United States.
Summation of Spread
The Empress represents the archetypal Mother figure, while the queens represent mothers you’d meet on a day-to-day basis. The Queen of Pentacles represents a chef, decorator, gardener, and crafter type of homemaker.
The mother-child relationship is evident for everyone regardless of form. The Mother’s Day spread examines this delicate relationship in order to better understand it. Doing so, you come a step closer to understanding yourself.
Cast Your Cards
1. What is the state of my relationship with my mother?
2. What great gift has my mother given me?
3. What great challenge does my mother offer me?
4. How am I similar to my mother?
5. How am I unlike my mother?
6. How do I define myself in comparison to her?
7. How can I best honor our relationship?
Exorcism Spread
On This Day
The US yearly average of requests for exorcism comes in at about 400, but only two or three are usually approved by the church. Pope John Paul the Second carried out an unsuccessful exorcism in 2000. It took many more sessions from another priest to “cleanse” the victim.
The ancient Roman Lemuralia—a feast to exorcise unwanted spirits from the home—was held today. It was standard for the head of the family to rise at midnight, walk barefoot around the home, and throw black beans while reciting incantations. Other family members banged pots and pans to rid the home from the wandering, restless spirits.
Summation of Spread
The Devil card represents the demon long blamed for the horrific actions of humanity. People find it easier to blame an external influence for wrongdoing rather than look within themselves.
Let’s hope you won’t ever have to exorcise an actual demon from your life. Every now and then, though, there are habits, people, or situations we’d be better off without. The Exorcism Spread takes a look at issues hindering us so they may be removed.
Cast Your Cards
Cast your cards in the shape of an X.
1. What do I fear most?
2. How am I my own worst enemy?
3. What behavior must be sent away?
4. How do I abandon what doesn’t work?
5. What should I create?
6. What must be reborn?
7. What empowering belief must I incorporate?
8. How do I make the best of who I am?
Rockefeller’s Balanced Budget Spread
On This Day
John D. Rockefeller abstained from alcohol and tobacco all his life. Saving most of his income, he spent it on philanthropy, revolutionizing its modern concept. He thanked his mother for his philosophy, as it was she who taught him “willful waste makes woeful want.”
The philanthropic Rockefeller Foundation was created on this day in 1913. From establishing institutions like the Johns Hopkins School of Health and the American Shakespeare Festival to funding initiatives, fellowships, and scholarships, the foundation is responsible for a dizzying array of philanthropy. Rockefeller himself has been called the greatest philanthropist in American history.
Summation of Spread
Despite the Four of Pentacles’ reputation for being a financial miser, this card represents the essential element of financial balance. The number four represents stability and structure. It is with stability and structure that money and investments grow and flourish.
Looking to balance your checkbook? Rockefeller became the richest man in the world before becoming its greatest philanthropist. His financial books were balanced. Using his inspiration, this spread examines money and balancing your budget.
Cast Your Cards
Feel the abundance and cast your cards.
1. What does money mean to me?
2. What is my relationship to the energy of money?
3. What does money offer me?
4. How can I make the most of my money?
5. Do I have a budget surplus or shortfall?
6. Is there an expense I should eliminate?
7. What is my next realistic financial goal?
8. What will help me reach this goal quickly?
9. What is the best thing I can spend my money on?
Qualities of Mercury Spread
On This Day
Mercury is the ruler of Gemini and Virgo. Its surface is barren, and, like our moon, it is peppered with craters and contains no weather systems or atmosphere to protect it.
The Romans believed May 15 to be the birthday of Mercury, messenger of Zeus, who travels at the speed of thought. The planet Mercury revolves around the sun in a speedy 88 Earth days; this early observation was made by an Assyrian astronomer in the fourteenth century bce.
Summation of Spread
The Qualities of Mercury Spread contains questions based on the astrological associations of the planet Mercury. Using these associations, questions are posed to offer greater clarity in life.
Mercury connects to the Magician card due to his magic, eloquence, and ability to change reality. The Magician’s stance demonstrates the Hermetic concept of “as above, so below.” The microcosm (you) and macrocosm (universe) each lie within the other. By comprehending one, you can understand the other.
Cast Your Cards
Cast in the shape of the Magician card’s upheld wand.
1. Intelligence: How do I best use my intelligence?
2. Language: What needs to be said?
3. Communication: What helps me communicate clearly?
4. Memory: What trick does my memory play?
5. Expression: What is my best mode of expression?
6. The Mind: How do I cultivate mental acuity?
Academy Awards Spread
On This Day
Tickets to the first Oscar event cost $5; 270 people attended, and the ceremony lasted only 15 minutes.
The first Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, was held on this day in 1929. A gala private dinner was given at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. It was a far cry from the pomp and circumstance accompanying its modern ceremony.
Summation of Spread
You are the star of your life. The Academy Awards Spread channels the glitz and glamour of the Oscars to inform its questions. (For a fortunetelling experiment, pull cards to make predictions on who will take home the gold on Hollywood’s biggest night.)
Like an Academy Award winner, the Ace of Pentacles depicts a gold object in hand. Will you walk through the garden gate of opportunity? The Ace of Pentacles signifies financial gain, prosperity, and a chance to begin afresh.
Cast Your Cards
Avoid those pesky paparazzi, don a pair of shades, and cast the cards in the shape of a martini glass.
1. Best Actress/Actor: Who would play me in the movie of my life?
2. Best Supporting Actress/Actor: Who is my most supportive friend?
3. Best Foreign Film: Where must I travel?
4. Costume Design: How should I revamp my wardrobe?
5. Production Design: How should I redecorate my living space?
6. Visual Effects: What new perspective should I embrace?
7. Makeup and Hairstyling: How should I revamp my look?
8. Best Director: What direction should I point my life in?
9. Best Picture: What is theme of my life narrative/story?
Pendulum Spread
On This Day
Golden Dawn member William Butler Yeats was a critic of Poe, finding his work vulgar. Yeats said The Pit and the Pendulum “does not seem to me to have any permanent literary value of any kind...analyze [it] and you find an appeal to the nerves by tawdry physical affrightments.”
Edgar Allen Poe published The Pit and the Pendulum on this day in 1845. Poe’s gothic story of torture at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition appeared in The Broadway Journal.
Summation of Spread
You can use a pendulum for a unique one-card tarot reading. A pendulum is a weight suspended by a freely moving pivot. Purchase one or easily make one by slipping a ring over a necklace chain to create a makeshift pendulum.
The razor-sharp Ace of Swords represents the genesis of a genius idea. Reversed or swung outward, the Ace of Swords becomes a deadly weapon, ready to slice its foes to shreds. It reflects the potential of any person to be brilliant or destructive, and if it appears for you, you should follow through on your most recent good idea.
Cast Your Cards
Prepare your pendulum as you see fit. Some practitioners cleanse it as they would a card deck. Shuffle the cards; prepare and state your question. Select seven cards, placing them face-down in front of you. The pendulum will begin swinging toward the card with the answer. Once you have determined which card, flip it over to discover your answer.
Ask any question you like and answer with one card.
Empress Card Spread
On This Day
The Empress marks the female counterpart to the High Priestess. While the High Priestess contains knowledge, it is the Empress who uses and expresses knowledge. Their duality creates the ultimate female archetype.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most powerful and wealthy women of the Middle Ages, married Henry II of England on this day in 1152. Queen Consort of France, then England, she bore ten children, three of whom would become kings. She outlived all her children except for two.
Summation of Spread
The Empress is complete intelligence expressing itself in every creative aspect. The epitome and essence of femininity, she is the Mother archetype who not only creates life but sustains it.
Eleanor of Aquitaine provides inspiration with which to view the symbols found on the Empress card. These symbols and associations inspire the Empress spread.
Cast Your Cards
Use this spread to answer any question. Format your question before casting the spread or simply let the cards answer the questions posed. Pull the Empress card from your deck. Placing her in the center, cast your cards around her.
1. Symbol of Venus: What do I love?
2. Wheat: How do I nurture others?
3. Waterfall: What emotion is flowing?
4. Zodiac Crown: Who am I?
5. Scepter: What power do I exert?
6. Throne: What stability do I maintain?
7. Hidden Pregnancy: What is being born?
8. Pomegranates: What fertile grounds await?
Marilyn Monroe’s Flames of Desire Spread
On This Day
Joe DiMaggio sent roses to Marilyn Monroe’s crypt three times a week for over twenty years.
Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden on this day in 1962. One of Marilyn’s last public performances, it was iconic not only because Marilyn was the epitome of a sex symbol, but also because of the presumed affair between her and the president. Her tragic death occurred three short months later.
Summation of Spread
The Lovers card contains many symbols of desire, including twelve burning flames, juicy apples, a snake, full nudity, the solar power of the sun, and a phallic mountain rising in the background.
Consumed with the thought of someone? Is desire driving you wild? Marilyn Monroe provoked desire; women wanted to be like her and men wanted to have her sexually. Using this icon of sensuality, this spread examines the nature of desire in our personal lives.
Cast Your Cards
1. Why does this person provoke my desire?
2. Will my cravings for them be met?
3. Will this turn into a long-term relationship?
4. Is this person a soulmate?
5. Should I trust my feelings?
6. What am I projecting?
7. Can I trust this person?
8. What is the worst thing that could happen?
9. What is the best thing that could happen?
10. What does this relationship teach me?
Slow It Down Spread
On This Day
Light moves at 186,000 miles per second, sound moves at 1,142 feet per second, a storm moves 52 feet per second, and a person walks 4 feet per second.
The first speeding arrest was made on this day to—who else?—a New York City cabbie. The year was 1899, and Jacob German was arrested and jailed for driving his horseless carriage 12 mph down Lexington Avenue.
Summation of Spread
The Star card evokes action without physical movement. She is pouring yet moves nowhere, content to focus on the task at hand. This is a reminder that movement occurs within the subtle body. Energetic changes within will affect and color outward actions.
Careening a little too fast? Feeling out of control? A 12 mph speeding ticket is comical in comparison to the rate at which modern drivers fly down roadways—a reminder of relativity and the accelerated speed of modern life. This spread is inspired by questions designed to help you slow it down a bit.
Cast Your Cards
Cast your cards…slowly.
1. What do I need to slow down and pay attention to?
2. What am I trying to avoid?
3. How can I enjoy my ride more?
4. What is my reward for stopping to smell the roses?
5. What will happen if I don’t slow down?
6. What toll does this take on my physical body?
7. What small adjustment shall I calculate on my internal GPS?
Qualities of Gemini Spread
On This Day
Gemini’s ruling planet is Mercury, its primary color is yellow, its lucky day is Wednesday, and the best place for success is high above sea level. Gemini rules the third house of the zodiac, governing elementary education, communication, and sibling relationships.
Today marks the first day of the astrological sign of Gemini, the Twins.
Summation of Spread
Duality is found within the couple on the Lovers card. Soulmates often feel they complement each other—that true love is the heart’s counterpoint in the soul of another. While two come together to create one in the Lovers card, duality and individuality are both essential.
This spread is based on the essential qualities of Gemini: communicative, intelligent, inquisitive, expressive, changeable, flirtatious, playful, and energetic.
Cast Your Cards
The Gemini Spread’s cards are cast in the shape of the Gemini glyph, which looks like the roman numeral for two.
1.What improves my communication with others?
2. In what area am I remarkably intelligent?
3. Where is my inquisitive nature leading me?
4. What needs to be expressed through me?
5. Why is it important to be flexible?
6. What is my most flirtatiously appealing quality?
7. How can I let loose and have some fun?
8. Where is duality operating in my life?
9. What personal relationship should I focus on?
10. What sector of my life requires energy?
Gothic Torture Spread
On This Day
Gothic subculture formed in the eighties as a subgenre in the London music scene and quickly spread. The name is derived from the gothic literary genre of the nineteenth century.
Bring your dark side to the surface, whip out some Depeche Mode, and don some crushed velvet and lace. Today is World Goth Day.
Summation of Spread
The Death card represents the beginning of something rather than its end. Gothic style and substance are based on those things we find moving in the shadows, among flickering candles, and teetering on the boundary of pleasure and pain.
Ready to explore the sublime? The Gothic Torture Spread does not examine literal torture but rather the transcendental experience of darkness through themes prominent in goth culture.
Cast Your Cards
The Gothic Torture Spread’s cards are cast in the shape of the ankh, an ancient symbol of life.
1. Grotesque: What truth have I distorted?
2. Horror: What scares me?
3. Romance: What excites me?
4. Curse: What plagues me?
5. Ghostly: What haunts me?
6. Mysterious: What mystery must be unraveled?
7. Desolate: What makes me feel bleak and empty?
8. Death: What has been lost?
9. Angst: What hope fills me with the sense of overcoming this useless situation?
10. Creativity: What makes my darkness so beautiful?
Mesmerizing Spread
On This Day
Mesmer was discredited when a royal commission investigated his findings and concluded he was a charlatan. Regardless, his legacy persists, and his efforts aided the development of modern hypnosis.
Franz Anton Mesmer was born this day in 1734. Using a theory called animal magnetism, he cured a wide variety of diseases. Animal magnetism was based on the idea that everything in the universe is interconnected. He postulated that when our energy, or “universal fluid,” is blocked, we become sick. His name is the root of the English verb “mesmerize.”
Summation of Spread
Describing optimal health and an open energy flow, the Sun card is auspicious in all matters pertaining to health. Representing vitality and splendor with the enlightenment of the spirit and knowledge, you will succeed.
How are your energy levels? Are you feeling vibrant or drained? This spread uses Mesmer’s theory as a commentary on personal states of energy. It examines what your energy is attracting and how to adjust it for your greatest good.
Cast Your Cards
Cast the Mesmerizing Spread’s cards in groups of three:
1. What is the state of my energy?
2. How can I keep it flowing?
3. What is my greatest energy block?
4. How do I eliminate this block?
5. What keeps me healthy?
6. Does this energy draw others to me?
7. Am I attracting good people into my life?
8. Am I attracting romance into my life?
9. Am I attracting money into my life?
10. What final adjustment should I make?
Celebrate like a Queen Birthday Spread
On This Day
Divination was a popular Victorian pastime. Young women used tea leaves, palm reading, dripping wax, fruit cakes, scrying, and cards, among other objects, in attempts to discover the names of their future husbands and answer all their questions.
Today is the birthday of England’s Queen Victoria, born in 1819. The Victorian era was named for the queen and spanned her reign between 1837 and 1901. Victorians enjoyed the heyday of Spiritualism, when séances, spirit writing, and Ouija boards were all the rage.
Summation of Spread
Tarot queens express fully mature feminine qualities, intrinsic to all women as well as men. Each queen represents nurturing, personal security, and a sense of self. A queen appearing in the past position of a tarot spread can indicate the influence of a mother figure or strong female.
Celebrate your own special day by performing this spread on your birthday. Nine questions have been crafted, as nine is the number of wish fulfillment.
Cast Your Cards
Shuffle the cards. Count down the number of cards to the age you are turning. Place these aside and lay out your spread with the remaining cards like glowing candles on the perimeter of your favorite cake.
1. What was I born to do?
2. What will mark the upcoming year as different?
3. What will I do better this year?
4. What new thing should I bring into my life?
5. Why am I so special?
6. How can I appreciate myself?
7. What gift should I give myself?
8. What is my birthday blessing?
9. What is my birthday message?
Star Wars Spread
On This Day
George Lucas used archetypal mythological constructs to create Star Wars. The film has been compared to the practices and beliefs of many major religions, including Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity.
Star Wars was released on this day in 1977.
Summation of Spread
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda live alone, sequestered in isolation, until Luke discovers them. Their powerful knowledge is unleashed when Luke shows he is ready to learn. The Hermit’s lamp is indicative of all the knowledge he would share with those who are ready—a reminder of the age-old concept that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This epic film uses the Force, described by Obi-Wan Kenobi as the energy field surrounding and enveloping all living things. Like magic, the Force binds all organic beings and the galaxy together. The Star Wars Spread uses the concept of the Force to inquire about the electric, magical energy coursing through your life.
Cast Your Cards
Cast your cards in the shape of an X-wing fighter, the chosen space vehicle of the Rebel Alliance:
1. What is the Force?
2. What energy courses through me?
3. How can I train myself to be more sensitive to my power?
4. What creates a disturbance in my force?
5. Am I tempted by the Dark Side?
6. How do I filter emotions like fear?
7. Can I use my Force for compassion?
8. What is the destiny I must fulfill?
Dracula Spread
On This Day
Bram Stoker and Pamela Colman Smith, illustrator of the RWS deck, were dear friends and worked together at the Lyceum Theater in London.
Bram Stoker published Dracula on this day in 1897. In doing so, he defined the modern form of vampires as we know them today.
Summation of Spread
Artist and author Robert Place created the Vampire Tarot, based upon the novel Dracula. He posits that the vampire’s thirst for blood is a metaphor for the Holy Grail quest—the life-giving substance and fountain of youth for which all philosophers and alchemists strive.
Feeling a touch of bloodlust? Dracula’s bloody tale regales the count’s attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England and the ensuing battle between perceived forces of good and evil. Stoker invoked themes of Victorian female sexuality, immigration, and post-colonialism. The Dracula Spread uses themes from the iconic novel to inform its questions.
Cast Your Cards
Cast the Dracula Spread’s cards in the form of two wooden stakes. Hold tight—they may save your life.
1. Traveler: Where am I going?
2. Intruder: How do I feel like an outsider?
3. Prisoner: What holds me captive?
4. Disguise: What do I pretend to be?
5. Fear: What do I fear and desire?
6. Isolation: Do I feel alone?
7. Sexuality: Can I express my sensual needs?
8. Blood Lust: What do I crave more than anything?
Marie Anne Lenormand’s
Palm Reading Spread
On This Day
In 1807 Lenormand read Napoleon’s palm and predicted his intention to divorce Josephine. He imprisoned Lenormand for twelve days in December while he finalized his divorce. This incident propelled her into notoriety, making her the most sought-after reader of her time.
French fortuneteller Marie Anne Lenormand was born on this day in 1772. Lenormand was a cartomancer and palm reader for more than forty years. Famous in her day, she is enjoying a renaissance among modern card readers.
Summation of Spread
The general questions of this spread are inspired by the lines palm readers look at when analyzing a client’s palm.
All tarot aces connect to the palm. Note the hand on each ace where the symbol of each suit rests. All aces are connected to the number 1 and represent the beginning of a cycle, issue, or chapter in your life.
Cast Your Cards
1. The Simian Line: How do I manage thoughts and emotions?
2. Marriage Line: Will I have a long marriage?
3. Children Line: How many children will I have?
4. Health Line: Will my health be good?
5. Line of Intuition: How sensitive am I?
6. Medical or Teaching Lines: How do I help others?
Freedom Spread
On This Day
Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for securing peace, justice, and security in the world.
Amnesty International was born on this day in 1961. It is the largest human rights movement, with more than 3 million members in over 150 countries. Their mission is to end all grave abuse of human rights worldwide.
Summation of Spread
How truly free are you? Countless people have lost their lives so freedom could be passed on to future generations. We sip tea and read a book while a woman on the other side of the world lies naked in the corner of a jail cell for voicing her political opinion. Our children run off to school in the morning while in other countries a young girl is shot and killed on her school bus simply for wanting an education in a country repressing female rights. This spread explores everyone’s right to basic and essential human freedoms.
The Devil card’s darkest aspect is human rights violations, while the Star card represents ultimate freedom. The seven small stars represent the chakras of the human body, while the large star represents the free flow of cosmic energy.
Cast Your Cards
Cast the Freedom Spread’s cards in the shape of a candle. The candle is Amnesty’s symbol, based on the Chinese proverb “it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
1. Am I free?
2. Do I have my dignity?
3. Do I have basic essentials?
4. Do I suffer at the hands of another?
5. Am I free to speak my opinion?
6. Am I free to leave my situation?
7. Do I have a support system?
8. Can I freely express my political opinion?
9. What can I do to help those who do not have basic human rights?
Einstein’s Examining a Solution Spread
On This Day
After his death, slices of Einstein’s brain were sent to scientists all over the world, who concluded that Einstein’s brain had more glial cells than normal. Glial cells are responsible for synthesizing information.
On this day in 1919, a solar eclipse provides proof of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Summation of Spread
The Page, or Knave, of Swords represents a keen and quick calculating mind that is decisive in action. Diplomacy, grace, energy, and spying are qualities associated with this card. Look to this page for aid in making any decision.
Are you rethinking an important decision? Having arrived at any big solution, examination is the best way to be sure you’ve made the best possible choice. Einstein’s Examining a Solution Spread is inspired by considerations you may have overlooked when first making your decision.
Cast Your Cards
1. Have I chosen this solution to please someone else?
2. Did I choose this because it is what other people expect of me?
3. Did I choose this because it is the way everyone else does it?
4. Did I choose this because it is easy?
5. Have I made the best choice for myself?
6. Is there any last thing I should consider?
Wisdom of Pentacles Spread
On This Day
Pope Benedict recently asked Spanish priests to distance themselves from El Colacho to downplay this Pagan tradition’s connection with Catholicism.
Today is the mysterious baby-jumping festival of El Colacho in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain. Dating back to 1620, all babies born in the previous twelve months are placed on mattresses in the street. Men dressed as devils jump over the babies while crowds watch and cheer. The ritual is performed to absolve the babies from original sin.
Summation of Spread
Pentacles represent the physical and external level of consciousness, acting as a mirror of your health, finance, work, and creativity. Pentacles represent our outer surroundings and how we create, shape, and grow our lives from an external point of view.
This spread is informed by the suit of Pentacles, which represents anything in the material world—and that includes people as well as money, objects, and things. The little babies tucked onto mattresses represent Pentacles.
Cast Your Cards
Cast the cards in the shape of a five-pointed pentagram.
1. Manifestation: What am I manifesting?
2. Realization: What do I realize is true?
3. Prosperity: What brings me prosperity?
4. Health: How do I best maintain optimal health?
5. Finance: How can I attract wealth?
6. You: Who am I?
Yoga Asana Archetype Spread
On This Day
The om mantra is found in Hindu and Tibetan philosophy. It is said to be the primordial sound of the universe and is connected to the third eye (consciousness) chakra.
On this day in 1893, Swami Vivananda began his journey to America from India. Speaking at the Chicago World’s Fair, this was the first time yoga was introduced to America on a large scale.
Summation of Spread
Like a yogi, the Hanged Man’s inversion places him upside down, looking at the world from a new perspective. The Hanged Man is associated with artists, seers, and mystics. He represents arriving at a crossroads and sometimes signals a pause leading to wisdom and prophetic power.
This spread’s questions are based on basic yoga poses to explore the meaning and metaphor behind them. This spread is helpful whether you are familiar with the practice or not. If you do keep a personal yoga practice, you might want to ponder these questions when performing these asanas, or positions.
Cast Your Cards
The cards of this spread are cast in the shape of Downward-Facing Dog, an all-around rejuvenating stretch.
1. Downward-Facing Dog Pose: What helps me turn inward?
2. Tree Pose: Why is it important to be strong yet flexible?
3. Headstand: What helps me to see the world from a different perspective?
4. Eagle: Can I see what is truly important in life?
5. Cobra: Can I rise above the material world and peer into the unknown?
6. Child’s Pose: How do I cultivate a youthful attitude?
7. Corpse Pose: How can I let go of everything?