Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings

The tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore’s personal and professional lives for over two decades. In college, the tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, and history. Today she continues her tarot journey, both by learning from others and by sharing her ideas through writing and teaching. Indeed, this erstwhile Hermit is discovering that she is enjoying traveling all over the world to share her love of tarot.

Barbara enjoys the challenge of giving a voice to tarot decks. She has had the good fortune to write books for several decks, including A Guide to Mystic Faerie Tarot, The Gilded Tarot Companion, The Mystic Dreamer Tarot, and The Steampunk Tarot Manual.

Copyright Information

Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings © 2012 by Barbara Moore.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition © 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738729664

Book design by Rebecca Zins

Cover and interior art credits—grunge design strip: iStockphoto.com/Jamie Farrant;

background: iStockphoto.com/loops7, iStockphoto.com/LongHa2006;

tarot cards: Lo Scarabeo Tarot ©Lo Scarabeo, artwork by Anna Lazzarini

Cover design by Adrienne W. Zimiga

Appendix B, Elemental Dignities, was previously published in Tarot for Beginners (Llewellyn, 2010)

Tarot cards on page 31 from Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot; page 87’s cards are Rider Tarot illustrations based on those contained in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite, published by William Rider & Son Ltd., London, 1911; and page 176’s cards are from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s Shadowscapes Tarot

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Special thanks to Katie McBrien and Amy Glaser for perspective and encouragement, and Becky, as always, for the sparkle. Sometimes it takes a village.

For Lisa, because it was, after all, her idea!

contents

List of Spreads

Introduction

chapter 1 Tarot Spread Basics

chapter 2 Design Principles and Layouts

chapter 3 A Collection of Spreads

chapter 4 Techniques to Add to Any Spread

chapter 5 How to Modify Spreads

chapter 6 Do-It-Yourself Spread Design

chapter 7 How to Do a 78-Card Reading

Conclusion

Spread Cross-References

Annotated Reading List

Appendix A: Curious Old Spreads

Appendix B: Elemental Dignities

Appendix C: Significators

spreads

note: Page references in this section refer directly to the page where a spread layout is pictured, if it is pictured. Each spread’s text is located nearby (usually on a facing page whenever possible).

78–Card (life overview/2½-year forecast) 198

Abundance Profile (financial) 109

Achieving the Impossible (achieving a goal) 190

Acorn to Oak (achieving a goal) 170

Action Plan (problem-solving) 71

Answer the Call (spiritual journey) 112

Astrological (life overview) 40

Barbara’s General 52

Big Picture (general/situation) 64

Bouquet (relationship) 103

Celtic Cross 30

Celtic Cross with Significator 36

Chakra (life overview) 44

Challenge–How to Handle It–Best Advice (general/situation) 49

Choice A–Deciding Factor–Choice B (deciding between two choices) 51

Choices 4

Circle of Advisors (general/situation/advice) 58

Create a Meditation 139

Create a Vision or Mission Statement (create a focus for self or business) 140

Do This–Don’t Do This–Outcome (general/situation) 51

Elemental Advice (general/situation/advice) 60

Facing a Challenge (problem-solving/advice) 67

Generic Basic 55

Guiding Star (general/situation) 56

Halcyon Solstice 126

Harvest (life change) 179

Healing Heart (getting over a relationship) 100

Health (general health overview) 111

Heart vs. Head (decision making) 68

Horseshoe (general/situation) 160 (modification, 162)

A Journey (life change) 176

Live Each Season (being in the moment) 124

Looking for Love 94

Making Love Better (relationship) 99

Mary K. Greer’s Yes/No 87

Maslow’s Hierarchy (life overview) 133

Modern Mathers Variation, Part I 217

Modern Mathers Variation, Part II 218

Modified One 164

Modified Horseshoe 162

Money Profile (financial) 106

Pantheon of Your Life (general/situation/advice) 131

Past–Present–Future 49

Past–Present–Future (Expanded Version) 76

Past–Present–Future with Options 79

Prediction (general/situation) 220

Royal Advice (general/situation/advice) 63

S. L. MacGregor Mathers (general/situation) 214

Situation–Advice–Outcome (general/situation) 49

Situation–Obstacle–Outcome (general/situation) 50

Situation–What Is Hidden–Advice (general/situation) 50

Situation–What Matters–What Doesn’t (general/situation) 51

Spirit Guides 136

Spirit Guides Extra Information 137

Star 42

Susyn Blair-Hunt’s Yes/No (yes/no questions) 89

Tarot for Two (relationship) 92

The One (relationship) 97 (modification, 164)

Three Gates (decision making) 72

Three-Card Relationship #1 (relationship overview) 90

Three-Card Relationship #2 (energize love life) 90

Three-Card Relationship #3 (understanding partner) 91

Through the Shadows (for times of fear and confusion) 115

Tree of Life (life overview) 46

True Magic (achieving a goal) 173

Variation of Generic Basic 55

Walking the Talk (spiritual journey) 121

What Person A Wants–Compromise–What Person B Wants (relationship) 50

What to Keep–What to Cast Aside–What to Learn (general/situation) 50

What You Have–What You Need–What You Get (general/situation) 49

The Wheel of Fortune (major life change) 118

The Wheels of Your Life (life overview) 80

Will He Come Back? (relationship) 93

Winds of Change (general/situation) 75

Yes/No Aces (yes/no questions) 88

Yes/No Oracle 84

Your Private Myth (analyzing discontent) 128

[contents]

INTRODUCTION

Fairly early on in my journey with tarot, I had the great good fortune to have a private reading with Rachel Pollack. Rachel is the author of some of the best-loved books on tarot, including Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom and Tarot Wisdom. She is something of a legend in most tarot circles and is one of the people who modernized tarot. She was, and still is, a hero to me. I approached this first opportunity to meet with her with stars in my eyes. We sat down, and she told me to talk about the situation that I wanted the reading about—not What is your question? but Talk about the situation. As I talked, she jotted notes on a scrap of paper. When I stopped talking, she continued making curious marks on that scrap of paper. After she was satisfied, she showed me the paper, saying, This is the spread I’m going to use for your reading. Rachel proceeded to explain the spread and asked me if it seemed fine to me.

I don’t think she knew that while my voice calmly and quietly said, Sure, that looks great, my mind was exploding in three different ways. Hey, she can’t just make up a spread! Hey, she made up a special spread just for me! Holy crap! I’m getting a reading from Rachel Pollack! And as quick as three thoughts, my world changed. Without knowing it, Rachel opened a door to a world that I never knew existed—the universe where spreads are created. My heart pounded as promises of freedom, structure, creativity, patterns, and possibilities ran through my soul like blood through my veins. Yep, I thought, This is where I belong.

When I first began studying tarot, there weren’t many books of spreads, and the ones that were available were mostly just that … collections of spreads, with no explanations or directions. I had so many questions: Why are they laid out like that? What does it mean when the cards are in a vertical line? Why would we cross the cards when that makes it hard to see them clearly? Why aren’t they all just straight lines? Why do they have to be in shapes—is that just for fun or is there a reason? I believed spreads were special, even sacred in some way, and I wanted to understand them as thoroughly as I understood the cards. Back in 1990, the Internet wasn’t what it is now, so online communities, blogs, and websites weren’t options for learning or bouncing around ideas. All I had were books and a need to understand. My experience with Rachel opened up so many possibilities and gave me the gentle push I needed to start exploring spreads and spread design on my own.

To this day, creating spreads is one of my favorite parts of my tarot work. People tend to like to do what they are good at, and I seem to have a natural talent for creating spreads. In addition, one of the things I love about tarot is looking for patterns. Spreads are part of the pattern-creating process. They also play a role in providing answers. I enjoy analyzing questions and figuring out the best ways to discover answers. Creating spreads provides a creative opportunity as well. After reading this book, maybe you will discover a love of spread creating, too. However, even if you never create a spread in your life, or try it once or twice and decide it is not for you, there is still benefit in understanding how they are designed. Spreads are a tool that every reader uses. And, as any craftsman or artisan will attest, the better you understand how a tool functions, the more skilled you will become at using it. No one spread will be the be-all and end-all; all spreads have inherent strengths and weaknesses. You’ll learn to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of any spread you consider using. You’ll be able to see how far you can push it. You will more clearly see what you have to tweak or modify in a spread to get certain results. You’ll gain the confidence to use it in new and different ways, perhaps with spectacular results. And if you wish, you’ll be able to create your own effective spreads.

Our journey into the wonderful world of tarot spreads begins with examining the role of spreads in a reading. After we establish the importance of a spread’s job, then we can discuss how layout design influences a reading by affecting interpretation. Paying attention to how design affects the eye and the brain will bring a new level of understanding to your readings.

A book about spreads wouldn’t be complete without, well, a bunch of spreads. I’ll give you plenty of examples and varieties so you will have lots of material to play with, use, or modify. Or perhaps they will cause you to say, Bah! She calls that a spread? I can do better … If so, do it! As long as you are having fun and getting the results you want from your readings, the world of spread design is yours to create.

In addition to various spreads, there are ways to make the reading experience more uniquely your own. By incorporating special techniques into any spread, you can add depth and precision—or even mystery and fun—to your readings. Play with some of these ideas, and mix and match them to your own reading style.

Learning all the parts of a spread and seeing how the parts work together can give you the confidence to modify any spread. It also lays a great foundation for creating your own spreads. We’ll take a step-by-step journey through analyzing and modifying a classic spread. Once you’ve tinkered with a classic, you’re ready to try your hand at creating your own spread. We’ll go through the process together, creating a spread from the ground up.

May your journey through the incredible world of spreads be as exhilarating and fulfilling as mine.

[contents]

Chapter 1

Tarot Spread

basics

A reading is an event. Creating that event requires a few tools and participants. First there must be a reader and a querent. The reader is, of course, the person reading the cards. The querent—sometimes known as the seeker or the client—is the person asking the question. If someone is reading for herself, then she is both the reader and