HOW TO DESIGN A TAROT SPREAD
HOW TO DESIGN A TAROT SPREAD
A layout/spread is a blueprint, a set of logical sequences to follow. If you have ever drawn one card to represent the energies of the day, you just created a layout/spread in its simplest form! The card can answer a single question or give you an idea of what the day's energies will be like. No one particular layout will do for every situation. Do you want to use a layout/spread for a one-time use to answer a particular question, or to use again and again for general purposes? Whichever you choose, the layout will describe an issue, what it is that you want to know about.
Why use a layout/spread? A layout/spread organizes your reading in a logical sequence or pattern so that you can more clearly see the possibilities and act accordingly to prevent or produce the desired outcome.
Begin designing your layout/spread by writing a list of issues you think are relevant to the question, as many as come to mind. Go over the list and keep only the ones that are especially relevant and ignore the others. You should be left with about three to twelve issues that you will organize into a plan. The plan consists of taking the list of issues and making a shape that follows a sequence. Each card is called a position, and you will decide what the card's position means in relationship to the question.
The sequence needs to be in a shape that you can comprehend and follow easily. Position the cards in a shape that is functional and pleasing to look at. (Is every card still relevant to the question?) Basic patterns for the layout include linear, circular, rectangular, star and cross. My personal favorite is a seven card elipse V shape. Horseshoe, rainbow and triangle are other options that are relatively simple to design.
The Three- Card Spread is the quickest and easiest layout/spread to begin using as it is just three cards in a single row across. The most common use of the three- card spread is for past, present and future. The positions can mean what events led up to the present, how the current situation is being influenced from the past, and what the most likely outcome will be based on the other two cards.
One thing to keep in mind is the relationship between the cards' positions. Look at the overall layout/spread and see what card may have a bearing on another. This allows you to see layers within the cards that help you go deeper into answering the question you are working with. For instance. in a three card spread. cards 1 and 3 have an influence on card 2, and card 2 has a bearing on card 1 and 3 individually.
