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Tarot Spreads and Reading

Hopefully, you now have a basic understanding of the 22 Major Arcana. Now we move on to reading the cards.

Before you can read anything, you have to choose a deck. I have chosen to interpret the Rider-Waite deck as I said in the first article, so it may be better to buy this deck to learn with. Once you are confident, you can move on and choose any other deck which you feel drawn to.

There are lots of myths about the Tarot, one being “you must never buy your own deck”. I have never adhered to this (or any other) superstition. I have bought my own decks since I was 14 and nothing bad has ever happened. I also wonder how anyone else can choose a deck for you? Surely you know which decks you feel drawn to and which you don’t? How would anyone else know this?

There are other myths too about wrapping them up in cloth and not letting anyone else use them. If you feel you want to follow these things then that’s fine, but I never have. I see the tarot as a tool to help me connect and I don’t believe they hold any inherent power themselves, that has to be covered up or protected. However, you must come to your own conclusions on this.

Once you have your deck, the first thing you need to do, is get used to handling them. They are slightly bigger than playing cards and feel awkward at first. Remove the 22 Majors and put the minors on one side for now. With the Majors, start to practice shuffling and handling them cards.

Spreads

We call the pattern we lay out the cards in, a tarot “spread”. The most simple spread is the three card, past, present and future spread (see below).

From left to right, lay the cards out as above. As you deal the cards, take hold of the card by the bottom left corner and turn it over from left to right.

Try and read these three cards as a story, by linking each card to the next one.

For example, let’s look at these three cards:

I would interpret this as, in the past this person has felt stuck and unable to move in a situation (which I would think is work) – in the present a new opportunity has arisen for success (star) but as they are used to being “stuck” they have become a “stick in the mud” not daring to try anything new.

If they don’t take this new energy and run with it, they will find they are forced to make changes in the future, whether they agree to them or not (tower).

Don’t try too hard and don’t keep referring to the “book” interpretations – look at the pictures and see where your eye is drawn, then let the ideas flow. At this stage we are working on the flow of ideas, not so much on whether the reading is accurate or not! Don’t be too hard on yourself either - tarot reading is quite hard to begin with as we are all self conscious and don’t like to just say what we think! But try just to let the idea form, then say it, without thinking about it too much.

Try and practice on your friends and family, and even yourself! See how you get on for the next month.
In August, we will move on to more complex spreads.

Have fun !

© Sue Treanor
www.spiritus-uk.com

The first card represents the past and shows the context of the reading.  The second card is the present, and where the focus lies. The third card is the future outcome of the situation.

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