Another little spread share

Today’s Energy is one of wanting to hide away and not think about “it”. The Challenge is: I still have to do all the mundane stuff but, Gift: it will go quickly.

Spread: Plan the Day, from “Tarot Zine 01 – Everyday Spreads” by Tarot Magpie, available on Etsy.

deck: Hayworth Tarot 

Carto-GPS à la Jase on Cards

An example of Jase's "Here and Now" spread, aka a 'Carto-GPS'. 

"A GPS for taking a quick look at where I’m going and what I need to avoid".

The Sun card (from "22 Arcanos de la Muerte") in the centre was my addition as a significator for "Today".

          Top left: 1 More Of                                        Top right: 2 Less Of

          Bottom left: 3 Head Towards                         Bottom right: 4 Avoid

I'm not giving an interpretation. It's a reading for me. But it was on point, and reminded me what a good little spread this is. So I thought I'd share it. 

deck used: Spolia

Wishing Everyone a Happy & Healthy 2022! 🎉🥂🔮

Click for full-size image

 

Spread - "Doing the Thing" by Shonna Hill (Ace of Stars Tarot)

Click on image to go to Shonna's post

I have been resisting working with my cards. I'd like to know why and how I can push through the resistance.

Eva's Tarot (Таро Евы) by Eva Aus

What am I trying to do? I know what I'm trying to do, so I see this card as my motivation - 

4 of Coins: I'm trying to grasp what's precious to me. My connection with the cards - hold it, feel it, claim it. Grandfather clock: time is my most precious commodity, and I always feel it slipping away.

What am I afraid of?

Knight of Swords: Being too analytical, too cerebral in my approach. All I'm doing lately is translating LWBs, collating meanings and thinking about reading. I'm not actually doing any reading.

How am I resisting?

4 of Cups: I'm doing nothing. Just sitting around feeling dissatisfied, distracted, frustrated. I contemplate but do nothing.

What attitude will help me get started?

4 of Wands: Celebrate where I am now, even if there's more to be done. Enjoyment, appreciation. Take a break from the mental and spend some time on spiritual. 4 + Wands: stable action. 

What first step can I take? 

Ace of Wands: Start the Thing!

What do I have to look forward to?

5 of Cups: Oh!? Isolation? Loss? 5 + Coins: disrupted habits. Moving from 4 coins to 5 coins is progress, I guess. Maybe I'm trying to hang onto outmoded forms/ideas and progress means the loss of those things. She is praying: connecting with Spirit.

Interesting that the two "action" positions are both Wands.

Random Reading - #112

One of the rabbit holes I explored recently led me to Waldfee.net. I found an interesting 3x3 variation there, which I'm going to use for this week's RR. My interpretation of the spread (the site is in German) follows the reading, for those who are interested.

⁘  Bottom row – The answer:
In order to maintain your reputation and influence you need to tap into your "feminine" side – empathy, nurture, receptiveness. (Yes, highly sexist, but you have to work with the cards you've got. Pretend this card is "Yin" if that helps.)

Middle row – Details:
Relying on strict discipline provides only short-term advantage. You can't keep that up…

Top row – Outcome:
… Otherwise you won't get anywhere with others. 

Summary – What you're hoping to achieve requires that you stop being a control freak and start listening to others, or they won't stick around.  ⁘

Waldfee's (Uta Dittrich) Individual Questions or 9-Way Spread 

Shuffle and cut the pack into 3 roughly equal piles. Turn the piles over so that the cards are face up on top

Place the top card of each pile - cards 1, 2, and 3 - across in a row [note that these cards are all "the cut", so the cut provides the answer]

Place the second card of each pile - cards 4, 5, and 6 - in a row above the first row

Place the bottom (not third) card of each pile - cards 7, 8, and 9 - in a row above the second row

The first column gives further explanations and information on card 1
The second column gives further explanations and information on card 2
The third column gives further explanations and information on card 3

Pay special attention to card 5, the middle card, as it is the focal point of the statements, i.e. the main topic

deck used: Petite Clé Lenormand, by Maximilian Eggstein (https://www.librairie-invisible.de/petite-cle/)

Random Reading - #110

I feel my playing cards need an airing. But something a little different this time – a Chien de Pique ("Dog of Spades"), so named for the dog that used to accompany the Jack of Spades in old playing cards. 

Andy Boroveshengra explains the spread here: Seven Days with the Dog of Spades (archived). 

The meanings I use differ slightly, so my master cards are Ace of Hearts for 'home', 10 of Hearts for 'social life', 10 of Spades for 'work', and Ace of Spades for 'surprise'. And my signifiers are, as always, the King and Queen of Hearts. I'll be reading today for whichever turns up first... 

Queen it is!

⁘  Signifier - Our "female" subject won’t be in a good state of mind this week.

Social Life – She'll be invited out, though. Possibly a day out with her best friend (to take her mind off her troubles?), or somewhere fancy where she can glam up and be spoiled.

Surprise – Some minor worry that she wasn't expecting, but it will soon pass.

Work and Home came out together – Working from home, or work on the home.  ⁘

For more details, you can fan the remaining cards and pull one for each pair.

⁘  Our subject's bad mood is prompted by a letter or paperwork she'll receive*. 

The socializing involves a love interest or the hope of meeting one. Maybe her BFF will set her up with someone.

The worry concerns a man she cares about and could be an illness or accident. But still, the 8♣ tells us it won't be as bad as it seems.

The 8♦ as a "business" card reinforces working at home rather than working on the home. The "change" aspect could indicate that this may be starting or ending, or at least that there'll be a change to the normal routine. "Business news", i.e. news about her job or similar activities, could be the subject of that troublesome letter.  ⁘

If all of this turns out to actually describe your week, please do let me know. 😁

*Why do I not see this as her sending a poison pen letter? Because I'd expect to see the Q♣ at the Q♥' back, influencing her. Here it comes after the significator, suggesting a reaction.

deck used: ASS Altenburger Skat cards (French-suited)

Random Reading - #97

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's work with some new (Chrimbo present 😁) cards and a new spread.

Issue - Theft or deception

Question  - How long must I wait before I get what's rightfully mine?

Answer - It will be given to you by a caring, sensitive woman you work with. It looks imminent - shortly into the new year, I'd say. This has all the hallmarks of a job promotion or pay rise that's been delayed or withheld, but it could be an actual theft, or a misunderstanding that needs straightening out, which occurred in your place of work.

⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁖⁘

I'm very annoyed with myself, because again I forgot to make a note of where I found this spread. I would love to credit the creator – I think they came up with a really good spread for homing in on an issue when you're not sure what to ask. Ideal for these random readings. 👍


Deck: RWS 2.0 by James Ricklef , available from Make Playing Cards

Random Reading - #92

I'm feeling the need for a bit of a change from my usual Pull-3-Cards-and-Interpret shtick. I have a folder full of "Spreads To Try", so I dug through it and decided on this one, created by my friend Andrew White.

Addendum: I've since spoken to Andrew, and he doesn't believe he "created" this spread, but despite a thorough search of his library he's been unable to locate the original source. So for now, it will remain "Andy’s Spread" in my heart. 😉

I chose Tarot Mondo Lirondo* for this reading because they're small and don't take up much room, and they're just so darn cute.

The start of the week:
Devil – Hanged Man – Judgement
You'll find yourself embroiled in a situation over which you have little or no control, waiting on someone else to make a decision.

How to navigate the week:
High Priestess
Be patient and maintain a discrete silence. Don't get involved.

The result if card 4 is applied:
Star – Moon – Sun
😳 Yes, the deck was well shuffled!
You can be confident that despite the uncertainty, everything will turn out okay. Probably considerably better than "okay", if XVII, XVIII and XVIIII showing up in order like that is anything to go by.

*Tarot Mondo Lirondo - Iván Saiz Gutiérrez, self-published 2011. Available from Museo del Tarot.

Random Reading - #90

Somewhere in my recent internet travels, I came across a mention of this book –

La Cartomancie - L'art de découvrir l'avenir par les cartes et les tarots
par Mme Zezina

"Cartomancy -  The art of discovering the future through cards and tarot
by Madame Zezina"

Originally published by Bornemann, Paris, in the 30s or 40s, this one is a 1970 edition printed in 1984. 

The book appeared to contain some interesting spreads, and while I'm not generally one for using spreads with playing cards, it was cheap enough 😏 so I thought I'd get it just to check them out and maybe give some a go. 

And so, here is L'Etoile, The Star. With the seeker's significator in the centre (I've used both my male and female significators for this reading) the positions are 1 | top: thoughts/hopes; 2 | left: immediate future; 3 | right: later future; 4 | bottom: surprise, the unexpected. 

⁛ Your thoughts revolve around dealings with a professional person – a doctor, solicitor, someone in an official capacity.

Your immediate future looks to be improving materially and/or physically, and we can relate this improvement to whatever official business is on your mind. And we see this increase from 9♦ to 10♦ going forward - definite profit or benefit for you; things really looking up. 

There will be some unexpected event involving your home or family. Seeing as this reading is quite positive, I have no reason to feel this will be a "bad" surprise. And again, it will be related in some way to the above.

The author's instructions tell us to also look for cards of the same value, of which there are none this time, and to read for the combinations formed by positions 2 and 3 with the significator (not only are there combination meanings for cards to the left or right of a particular suit or card, but also for ones before, after or between certain pairs of cards!).

9♦ to the left of a ♥ = broken engagement
10♦ to the right of a ♥ = honeymoon

Kind of an odd combo, and bear in mind that these are based on the author's core meanings, not mine, but I suggest that something which has been negatively anticipated will be cancelled, resulting in a period of contentment and happiness. ⁛

And there you go. It was fun to work within the constraints of a more structured reading for a change. It did rather stifle any intuition regarding what exactly it's all about, but whatever it is 😁 it's going to turn out well. 

And in case you're wondering, “les tarots” referred to in the book's title is specifically the Grand Etteilla (I). If you click on the book picture and zoom in, you can see some of the trump cards from that deck. This is also of interest to me because the same Etteilla meanings apply to my Book of Thoth Etteilla (III) and, just as with the playing cards, the author gives many examples of combination meanings based on whether a card lays before or after a particular other card. Probably way too complicated for me to actually try to work with in any practical way, i.e. without having to constantly refer to the book, but I'm curious to see what they're like. Maybe one or two will be worth committing to memory. 🙂

There are tarot spreads as well, but they are way too big for me. The smallest uses 24 cards, and the largest 67! And I'm willing to bet, though I haven't translated it yet, that the remaining 11 cards don't just sit there doing nothing.

Random Reading - #85

Dee of DeeVination shared her new WishCraft Tarot the other day and seeing it made me want to use mine for this week's RR. 

Since the deck has Past, Present and Future interpretations printed on the majors, aces and courts, I've gone with that structure for this reading, as "Basis", "Current situation", and "Direction". For the spread, I flipped cards until I came to a "labelled" card followed by a pip, and did this three times.

Basis -

King of Pentacles: "Had been fixated on acquiring riches" + 5 of Cups

To date, your efforts to get on top of your finances or acquire money/security have been disappointing…

Current situation -

Page of Pentacles: "You are young of body - old of mind" + 9 of Cups

… but you've gained enough experience at this stage to start again and make a good go of it.

Direction -

Fool: "A joyful mistake will be made" + 7 of Cups

There’s a good chance that something that didn’t work out before is now worth trying again. Look out for unexpected opportunities. 

WishCraft Tarot Cards with a Secret!, aka Mystical Tarot Cards, by Fantasma Toys (2012)

(not so) Random Reading - #75

Honestly, I'm feeling lazy. Is it worth doing a RR today? 😏

The Answer Deck came to mind for the deck du jour, with a "Small Pyramid" spread as described by Andy Boroveshengra.

The Lesson flew out as I started shuffling, so maybe just sharing this spread is justification enough.

Power + Growth: strong increase
Growth + Fair/Gray Haired Man: as this question doesn't involve another person, I'll go with developing maturity and wisdom.

Power + Growth influencing Hidden Enemy: giving into laziness will just increase its strength.
Growth + Fair/Gray Haired Man influencing Wealth: there's more profit in keeping up with my practice.

Hidden Enemy + Wealth: it's easy to get distracted by all the other time-killing options available to me.

Hidden Enemy + Wealth influencing Faith: misuse of my (suddenly abundant*) free time will snuff the candle of my Faith.

Faith: Stay strong and carry on carrying on. It will be worth it.

And now that the reading is complete, a look at the bottom card of the deck –
Spiritual: … yeah.


*In case you're reading this long after the event, this was during the time of COVID-19. #stayhome

The Answer Deck, by Nicky Zann, published by Running Press (1998).

Random Reading - #74

In an attempt to keep this week's RR from straying into "that" territory*, I'm giving it some boundaries in the form of a Four Aces Spread.

This version consists of flipping through the deck looking for the four Aces, and then laying them down along with the three cards that follow (though for this reading I'm just going to use two). Those cards are then read with regard to the theme of their Ace. The order of the Aces could suggest a hierarchy of importance. Sometimes one Ace will be immediately followed by another and therefore have no cards associated with it, which would have its own significance. Intuit as you will.

Ace of Cups – 10 of Swords + 5 of Cups

Ace of Swords – 10 of Coins + Queen of Swords

Ace of Wands – 2 of Coins + Prince of Swords

Ace of Coins – 7 of Coins + Princess of Coins

The Ace of Cups jumped out, so clearly that one needed to be first!

In the spread we have four Coins (Disks for the Thoth purists), and yet their Ace is at the bottom – material concerns weigh heavily but there is little control; three Swords – significant mental challenges; no Wands – no meaningful movement; no Trumps – personal level; two tens – a time of resetting.

Cups: Relationships and emotions – The only Cup in the spread appears in the top line, with its Ace counterpart: predominant this week are feelings of overwhelm and distress.

Swords: Intellect and challenges – Your greatest strengths right now are your ability to remain clear-headed and creative, and to see through the faulty thinking of others and not be swayed by it.

Wands: Activity and passion – Things are in flux; any attempts to assert control over events are likely to be erratic and ineffectual.

Coins: Material concerns and power – All Coins: despite current setbacks there is the prospect of new opportunities.

Reading down the columns (not standard procedure, but it looked fruitful) – Now is not the time to try to make big changes; keep your heart and your eyes open to unexpected possibilities.

< < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < ◇ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

*I suspect it wasn't that successful. 🙄

Mary K Greer's version of this spread applies a different significance to the order of the Aces, which I would find useful in readings for specific questions. Her post offers other possible sets of suit meanings to work with, as well.


Crowley “Thoth” Tarot – US Games, large-size trimmed

Random Reading - #70

My friend Raven Coyne has published an excellent book on reading playing cards – Cartomancy: What You Need To Know - suitable for those dipping their toe for the first time, to seasoned readers considering going pro.

I'm using Raven's own 6-Card Spread today. In briefest terms ('coz I want you to buy his book to find out more 😉), the two card on the left are the question, the remaining two on top are the state, and the last two on the bottom are the answer.

⁛ You're looking for an improvement in a situation which rests on the advice or actions of a man you look up to and respect. You feel you've messed up somehow and that your position is shaky, and you're reaching out for some words of support and encouragement. Rest assured, this man will be helpful and will get you going again with renewed confidence. ⁛


Skatkarten - German playing cards - 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A only (32 cards). This version is published by ASS Altenburger.

Random Reading - #47

This wasn’t the deck I’d intended to use this week, but I wanted to try out a new spread. New to me that is, as it’s allegedly the oldest recorded Tarot spread*. As such, I thought it more appropriate to use an “ancient” deck.



This is someone in charge of a business, a project, a family.


It’s their responsibility to ensure a fair distribution of resources…


And restore harmony!…



Before moving forward with a new project.







*The “Comte de Mellet Spread”, based on an essay in the 8th volume of “Monde Primitif” by Antoine Court de Gébelin, published in 1781. CdM has been identified as Louis Raphaël Lucrèce de Fayolle, the Comte de Mellet (1727-1804).

Separate the trumps from the pips, and shuffle each pile well. Place both piles face down in front of you.

Now it get interesting, because you’ll be doing two different things at the same time - a bit like patting your head and rubbing your belly.

With one hand, turn over one pip card at a time while counting up from Ace to King. So as you turn the 1st card say “ace”, as you turn the 2nd card say “two”, and so on through the pack. Each time the number of the card you’ve just turned matches the number you’ve said, put that card off to the side. Then continue where you left off - once reaching King, starting again at Ace. Proceed in this way until the pip pile is exhausted.

With the other hand and at the same time as you turn each pip card, take one trump card and place it, still face down, in another pile. Whenever you have a pip that has matched the count, take the corresponding trump you’ve just picked up and place it to the side with that pip. These cards together will form a pair for your reading.

As there are more pips that trumps, once you reach the end of the trump pile, simply move the remainder of that pile over and continue as before until the pip pile is exhausted.

At the end of this process you may end up with no pairs, or a surprising number. If I ended up with no pairs I’d probably take that as a sign that I should reconsider my question. No fixed manner was given for interpreting the pairs, so interpret them as you wish.


Spanish Tarot, published by Fournier - a reproduction of an 18th century Liguria-Piedmontese deck.

Vincent Pitisci - "How to use the three card Tarot spread"

Despite a 3-card spread being my "go to" for quick tarot readings (or perhaps because of it), it's always bugged me that
a) the general consensus seems to be that any 3-card reading IS "Past, Present, Future", and
b) it gets used that way regardless of the question being asked.

Because of this, I've always regarded "Past, Present, Future" (PPF) as unimaginative and pointless, and I never use it.

Enter Vincent Pitisci and his latest video, "How to use the three card Tarot spread".

Now I rate VP, so if he has something to say about it, I'm going to listen.

While he suggests a few different sets of meanings for the three positions, he tackles PPF in depth. And his take on each position is a revelation - an approach far more practical than I'd ever considered.

"A lot of people look at the past, present and future and they're thinking, 'Well this is just the past and I don't care about that; this is the present, I don't care about that; I want to know what's going to happen here'."

Guilty as charged. ✋

Instead -

"... When we look at the Past, we're not just looking at what happened in the past [emphasis mine]. We can put a card in the Past position to give us ideas on what we've gained as far as experience or something else in the past that will help us with this situation. What has happened in the past that will help us as we move forward with what we're trying to accomplish? We're looking back at the past in relation to this question in some way that it will help us."

Same with Present and Future, but I'll leave you to explore the video yourself for those.

You're still going to wind me up if you use PPF for every question. 😉 But I can see now how it could be useful for some questions.

Reading for "A" - 25Feb19

In view of nature of your enquiry, I've chosen to use Tarot, and Ferol Humphrey's "5-Card Spiritual Commentary" spread. The first card is The Short Answer, the next three are The Long Answer, and the final card is the Spiritual Commentary, aka The Kicker.

Crystal Tarot - Elisabetta Trevisan

The short answer is Yes, there is an energetic connection. We are all connected. The intensity of it, however, may be of your own making...

Long answer: Wish fulfilment paired with dissatisfaction and loneliness/isolation. You want this connection to fill a gap in your soul.

Spiritual commentary: It's an unworthy fixation. Get out of your head; get real.

The magick of divination being what it is, I could have completed this reading with a single card. As I was shuffling, the 7 of Cups popped out. Fantasy and illusion. But the audience expects a show, so I spread the cards anyway and endeavoured not to let the jumper influence the reading. Maybe it did. But even if you just look at the final commentary card - it's not a good image for this question.

I'm sorry, A. I hate having to pour cold water on peoples' dreams. But I get the impression the reason you received this message now is that hanging on to this connection is holding you back in some way.

Please contact me as before if you have a comment or question pertaining to this reading.

Weekly Reading - #26

I fancied a change*. 😀

There will be some shake-up at work. It could be a new employee causing discontent, or changes requiring new training.

Whatever the disruption, it will be seen as unfair, but that's the way it's going to be. Use your wits to make the best of the situation.


*I found this spread in Paul Huson's "Mystical Origins of the Tarot". Without going into too much detail, the first card is the significator (I chose 8 of Wands to represent our desire for a swift and timely message), the two minors are essentially Present and Future, and the two majors above provide more detail. The King of Swords was the bottom card of the deck, which, in this instance, I looked to for advice.


Aquarian Tarot - David Palladini, Morgan Press

Free Reading - for Clare 21Sep18

Last week's Friday Freebie winner hasn't gotten back to me with her question yet, unfortunately. So, in order to move things along, I'm going to wing it. 😉

I'm using Cheryl Ann Gardiner's "Spiritually Guided Tarot Spread"*. I like this one for general readings, i.e. those without a specific question, because you can blame Spirit if it doesn't make any sense. 😇

So Clare, if you're reading this, this one's for you -

Firstly, I'd just like to say WOW! You could have ended up with as few as four cards, but you got eight and half of them are Majors. I asked Spirit to be nice as you'd never had a reading before, and they really pushed the boat out.

The first column tells me that there are some competing energies in your life at the moment that you're possibly finding it frustrating to deal with, but you will just have to take a deep breath and let things work themselves out at their own pace.

I feel the next two columns relate to each other, especially as they're both a Major + a Coin. It strikes me that you have a deep sense of what it will take to make you feel established and content. You've reached a point where you can take what you've learned and achieve something you can be proud of. I get the word "accomplishment".

It's my habit not to turn the bottom card, in this case the Queen of Cups, until I've finished the rest of the reading. She is sensitive, intuitive (like the High Priestess) and has a strong talent for self-expression - art, music, dance, drama, creativity generally. She is someone who is, or certainly can be, "accomplished".

< < < < < ¤ > > > > >

Clare, I sincerely hope what I saw in these cards has meaning for you. I confess I'm not a fan of general readings. If you do have a question, or if this reading has generated lots of questions, LOL, please drop me a line and I'll sort you out.


*Rather than pull cards 1, 2 and 3 and then pull any extra cards, I prefer to pull them immediately after the trump/court/ace, before moving to the next position, as these are the cards that were "in attendance" with the first card.

Rider Waite Smith - Rider & Co.