London Tarot Study Group

Combining Cards
Looking at the combination of cards in a reading, and not just individual cards in isolation, can give a clearer, deeper picture and can offer much more information and insight to the reader. Card combinations enable us to take into account the very rich and wide-ranging facets of each card:

Elements Courts Minors Reversals

Colours

Majors

Symbolisms

Qabbalah Astrology Pictures

Keywords Numerology

Card combinations can be useful to link together the cards in a spread, or provide more depth of meaning for one (or more) particular card(s) in a reading. There are no right or wrong answers, only endless possibilities.

2010 Annie Andrews & Jane Britton http://www.meetup.com/London-TarotStudy-Group/

Clarifiers Clarifiers can be used to provide more meaning for one particular card in a spread. For example, The Tower in the Outcome position on a spread:

What sort of sudden shocking event might this relate to?..... Patterns in the Spread For example, a three-card spread Past, Present, Future. Each card is equally important and brings its own message. Card combinations can be used to weave them together into a coherent story. To do this, look at the pattern of cards in the spread what aspects of the combinations are you drawn to? For example, proportion of majors, minors and courts; mix of suits, are any dominant? Are any suits missing? Are there any relationships or similarities between the numbers on the cards? Depending on the spread used and the positions of the cards, which positions are inter-related and how might this be reinforced or underpinned by the characteristics of the cards in those positions? Looking at the various aspects of the cards can start to give you a sense of what the reading is about overall. For example, a recent reading for a client asking about her financial future:

The card dropped when shuffling

Next month

Next 6 months

The next year

2010 Annie Andrews & Jane Britton http://www.meetup.com/London-TarotStudy-Group/

What combinations do you notice here? What story do they tell you? Handle with care There are some websites out there with card combination meanings that can be helpful and informative, although beware of those that are too prescriptive and havent left room for intelligent interpretation by the reader. For example: 8 of Pentacles & Justice doesnt necessarily mean someone starting out a career in legal work (e.g. A barristers pupil). Justice doesnt always mean legal, it can mean balance. The 8 of Pentacles & Justice might actually be about someone working too hard, someone who is new and still learning but is putting work above everything else. (No work / life balance). Astrologically, the 8 of Pentacles is the Sun in Virgo and read astrologically might be indicating someone who is very ordered and disciplined and is putting something (or things) into order (Justice). These are just suggestions, it would depend on the context, the Spread, the question asked, other surrounding cards etc. Some resources which you might like to look at: Reading Card combinations. The handout from our November 20009 Meetup discussion on this topic: http://files.meetup.com/1429330/Reading%20Card%20Combinations%20%287%20pages%29.pdf Tarot Eon website, A Guide to Tarot Combinations: http://taroteon.com/how-to/a-guide-to-tarot-card-combinations/ Tarot Combinations: Metaphysicalworld website http://www.metaphysicalworld.com.au/?page_id=66 Tarot Card Combinations by Dorothy Kelly (1995). Published by Weiser Books.

2010 Annie Andrews & Jane Britton http://www.meetup.com/London-TarotStudy-Group/