The Tarot is a powerful tool that can be used to understand oneself, the people around us, or even the world at large. With it you can explore your innermost thoughts and outer reaches of your imagination. The Tarot has been around for centuries and is still being used today by many as an aid in spiritual development. I’m so excited to share this beginning knowledge with you.
The simple tarot layouts that we'll be working with only use a few cards at a time, but they're a great way for you to get to know your cards. Let's get started!
Remember, practicing your small spreads is a great way to learn tarot and find out what the future holds. Whether you're using a five card spread or other tarot card spreads, you're guaranteed to have fun and gain experience as a tarot reader.
One Card Tarot Spreads
A one card tarot draw is great when you're short on time. This spread can give you a snapshot of the current situation or the question that you asked.
- Pull one card from your deck and place it in front of you, face up.
- Look at the image on the card and allow your intuition to speak to you.
- What does the card represent for you?
That's really it. Be sure to use the guide that came with your tarot deck if you need a refresher on what your first (and final) card means.
Two Card Tarot Spread
The two card reading is great for someone who wants a little more complexity with their tarot card reading. There are a few different ways you can set up two card tarot spreads, including:
- One card for darkness, one for light
- One card base, one card to cover
- Past and future cards
- Person, Situation
The Person/Situation layout is great for getting a quick understanding of someone or a situation.
- Situation (the first card) – This card represents the current state of things and what's happening.
- Person (the second card) – this represents the person involved in the situation.
You can also use this layout to ask a question and get an answer.
Three Card Tarot Spreads
The three card tarot spread is a classic and easy way to get started reading tarot cards. This spread can give you greater insight into the past, present, and future of a situation. As you use your tarot cards more, you'll be able to have a better understanding of what they mean.
To do this spread, shuffle your deck and then cut it into three piles. Pick one pile to be your working pile. You can repeat this up to three times and guarantee that you'll get different cards each time.
Some ideas for three card tarot spreads are:
- A tarot reading where you draw a past, present, and future card
- Using your tarot cards to represent: Person, Obstacles, Outcome
- What the tarot is saying about you now, what the tarot says about you in six months, and what the tarot says about you in a year
- The Tower, The Devil, The Lovers
- Your Heart's Desire, What Stands in the Way of Your Heart's Desire, How You Can Achieve Your Goals
Four Card Tarot Spreads
You may be sensing a pattern here. The more tarot spreads you learn, the more tarot practice you'll have. Running through three cards is a lot faster than reading tarot ten cards at a time. Once you get a better idea of what the cards represent, you'll be able to go faster through complex spreads.
For four card tarot spreads, you can do patterns like:
- The four elements (air, fire, water, earth)
- Two person/situation draws
- The four suits in a tarot deck (pents, cups, swords, wands)
Finally: The Celtic Cross Tarot Spread – one of many multi-card tarot spreads
The Celtic Cross spread is one of those most common tarot card spreads you can do. It has 10 cards, with each representing something different. You lay them down in a specific way.
- First card: The querent
- Second card: The obstacle
- Third card: Influences
- Fourth card: Root
- Fifth card: Past
- Sixth card: Future
- Seventh card: Attitude
- Eighth card: Environment
- Ninth card: Hopes and Fears
- Tenth card: Outcome
Every tarot reading expert will have their own inner wisdom and spin on how they read tarot. The Celtic Cross spread is easily customized to what you're looking for.
In conclusion…
We hope this guide has helped you pick a few tarot spreads to give you practice with tarot reading. As you continue to read tarot, you'll find that some tarot spreads work better for you than others. Be sure to keep an open mind, and trust your intuition as you read the cards. With practice, you'll be able to give great readings for yourself and others.
