Laying down the Cards

Card Spreads

A spread is when the reader selects or deals cards from the deck and places them on a flat surface, usually a table, so they can combine the meanings of each card with the position that it is placed in. Each of those positions has a specific meaning or description based on the type of spread you choose to use for that reading and question. So if for example my client asked me "Will she get the new position in the job she has applied for?" She has requested a simple Yes/No answer as she is fairly certain she will because there is nobody else who has applied and have the skills required. Basically the client just wants some reassurance and so a two card Yes/No spread is fine.

The card position meanings would now be:

Card 1=Yes Card 2=No These two cards would be laid side by side.

So a two card spread would suffice for the question asked, but it's not all that simple you also have to consider the meanings of the two cards and they may both show negative aspects towards the question.

That's another lesson... and this is only an example.

There are hundreds of spreads that can be used but I recommend you stick between 5 to10 spreads of your own choosing. There's enough spreads around to choose from these days. I always recommend that when you start to learn the Tarot you should always use the spread that you are most comfortable with.

For the beginner, just trying to remember every card meaning in the deck is enough, so having to learn a spread using every card in the pack could just make the whole point of learning too difficult for some. So try and keep to what you can handle, because before you know it, you will be designing your own spreads.

A selection of spreads from my "Teach Yourself Tarot" presentation. As you can see they can be quite varied in size and shape. Some are used for general readings (most subjects or issues) and others can be used for specific questions such as relationships.