Written by Avery Woodbury
There are numerous effective tarot spreads that can bring illumination to a querent, or clarity seeker's life. Tarot is a complex and detailed craft that requires a significant time commitment to master. If you are ready to develop your own command of the cards, the Seldom Dreams Apprenticeship is a 1:1 path into the practice — or you can begin with the Invisible Instrument guidebook for a self-paced introduction.
This guide will give you a variety of spreads with varying levels of purpose and difficulty. Use the images and steps below to set up and dissect each reading.
Three Card Spread (Past, Present, Future)
Your first step up from just drawing a card. This spread is perfect for more concise answers. The flaw in this spread is it lacks context, elaboration, and detail.
- Card 1: Place in the middle. Represents where you stand.
- Card 2: Place to the left. Represents the past.
- Card 3: Place to the right. What lies before you.
Consciousness and Competence
A four card spread that helps train the awareness of the querent. It focuses only on the present and doesn't engage outcomes.
- Card 1: Top left. Your conscious incompetence — what you are aware you don't understand.
- Card 2: Top right. Your conscious competence — what you are aware you understand.
- Card 3: Bottom left. Your unconscious incompetence — what you are not aware you don't understand. Your ignorance.
- Card 4: Bottom right. Your unconscious competence — what you have mastered, what you do not need to think about to perform.
The Compass
The compass takes into account the four ceremony items of magick ritual — wands, cups, swords, and disks — which correlate to the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. This reading takes account of the querent's hopes, dreams, and plans across every corner of their life.
- Card 1 — To Will: Place North. The fire in your soul that motivates the querent to achieve and seek victory and legacy.
- Card 2 — To Dare: Place West. The passion in your heart that inspires love, creativity, fertility, and emotion.
- Card 3 — To Know: Place South. The Intellect. The desire to discover, learn, and master.
- Card 4 — To Stay Silent: Place East. The labors and activities available and practical for the querent to maintain life.
- Card 5 — Go: Place in the middle. The action that should be taken. What direction to take.
Six Card Pyramid
This spread covers the mind, heart, and what grounds the querent. One mind, two forces pulling at the heart, and three obligations or tasks grounding the querent.
- Card 1: Top. What the querent is thinking about or focusing on.
- Card 2: Middle-left. One force pulling the querent.
- Card 3: Middle-right. The other force pulling the querent.
- Cards 4, 5, 6: Bottom three, left to right. What grounds the querent — responsibilities, obstacles, resources, or opportunities.
Nine Card Box Spread
A more sophisticated three card spread. The box uses the same past, present, and future but also includes the head space and what grounds the querent.
- Cards 1–3: Head space of the past (1), present (2), and future (3). Left to right.
- Cards 4–6: Where the querent stands in the past (4), present (5), and future (6). Left to right.
- Cards 7–9: Grounding forces of the past (7), present (8), and future (9). Left to right.
Celtic Cross
A popular and powerful spread. The Celtic Cross identifies many factors at play in the querent's present situation and also points to the past and the future. The cross part identifies how the querent is handling life and what will come if they continue accordingly. The ladder shows the steps one will take toward the final outcome after the cross reveals aspects of the self. This spread is great for querents seeking detailed answers.
Part 1 — The Cross
- Card 1: Middle of the cross. Where the querent currently stands.
- Card 2: Crosses Card 1. The environment and psychological factors the querent is dealing with.
- Card 3: Above 1 and 2. The hopes and dreams of the querent.
- Card 4: Right of 1 and 2. The far past — in tarot, time is relative. May be weeks, months, or years.
- Card 5: Below 1 and 2. The recent past.
- Card 6: Left of 1 and 2. The path the querent is heading on if nothing changes.
Part 2 — The Ladder
- Card 7: Starts the ladder. The actions the querent will take going forward.
- Card 8: Above 7. Obstacles and opportunities on the way.
- Card 9: Above 8. What will fill the querent's heart on the journey.
- Card 10: Above 9. The final outcome, or conclusion, of the reading.
Secret of The High Priestess
The Priestess is the major arcana for the Moon. She represents what is hidden, unknown — dreams, intuition, and the subconscious. The Priestess lifts the veil for those who are ready. This spread focuses on how the moon phases affect the querent going forward, with the main conclusion being the next steps the querent can take. Card 9 is a bonus card that reveals a secret only if it is a major arcana. If minor, the Priestess remains silent.
- Cards 1 and 2: Middle, left to right. Where the querent stands along with their thoughts, feelings, and dreams.
- Card 3: Middle of the top row. Energies influencing the querent during the full moon.
- Card 4: Top left. Energies during the waxing phases (new to full).
- Card 5: Top right. Energies during the waning phases (full to new).
- Card 6: Below Card 1 to the left. The darker forces influencing the querent.
- Card 7: Below Card 2 to the right. The lighter forces influencing the querent.
- Card 8: Bottom of the spread. The next steps the querent should take toward the truth.
- Card 9: Middle of Cards 6 and 7. The secret message from the High Priestess — read only if a major arcana. Secrets point to things you do not yet fully understand, know you need, or know need to happen.
The Golden Dawn Destiny Spread
Championed as one of the toughest spreads to learn. This spread was required to be mastered by members of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, a mystic fraternity in Europe during the turn of the 19th century. Deep in detail, it shows the querent on their path toward their destiny. It fashions five different three-card spreads into respected sections and connects them all.
Cards have the strongest influence on other cards in similar placement — center, left, or right. Cards 5 and 12 are likely linked to the causes and outcomes of Cards 2, 6, and 15.
The Center
- Card 1: Where the querent stands, or the primary force they are dealing with.
- Cards 2 and 3: What is beside and surrounding the querent in the present. May be the querent's own energy if the cards astrologically align to their natal chart.
The First Path (Top Right)
- Card 8: Where the querent is heading.
- Cards 12 and 4: Who and what will meet them there.
The Second Path (Top Left)
- Card 9: The fork in the road the querent runs into. Can also elaborate on the First Path.
- Cards 5 and 13: Who and what will lead the querent deeper down the path or influence them to go elsewhere.
Environment and Psychological Factors (Bottom Left)
- Card 10: The thoughts and feelings of the querent.
- Cards 6 and 14: Others' ideas and major events.
Final Outcome and Destiny (Bottom Right)
- Card 11: The fate of the querent.
- Cards 15 and 7: Things, actions, or people destined to be with you.
Regarding the Bottom of the Deck
Different readers use the bottom of the deck in different ways. It can be ignored, used as extra clarity if not enough information is in the spread or overlying theme, or used as the last card in certain spreads. How it is used is up to the reader.
Want to go deeper?
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Deck used in these photos is the Tabula Mundi by M.M Meleen.