Choose your spread

1

The card of the day, or an answer to a simple question.

1. 1Today

The shortest spread: one card for the day, or for a simple question. It is also the best way to learn: one card a day, and in the end you know them all.

1

You ask a yes-or-no question and draw a card: it answers yes, no or not yet, then tells you what to do with that answer.

1. 1The answer

The spread for settling things when you're torn between two options. Ask a question that can be answered yes or no, about what you yourself can do.

1

2

3

Where it comes from, where it stands, where it is going. The easiest spread to read.

1. 1Past
2. 2Present
3. 3Where things are headed

The most widely used spread, in every tradition: a clear view without getting lost in detail. Choose it for a situation in progress, when you want to understand where it comes from and where it is heading.

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2

3

4

Σ5

This is the classic Tarot de Marseille spread: it shows what's working for you, what's working against you, what dominates and where things are headed. The fifth card, the synthesis, is worked out by adding up the numbers of the other four.

1. 1For you
2. 2Against you
3. 3What dominates
4. 4Where things are headed
5. 5Synthesis

The classic spread of the French Tarot of Marseille tradition. Choose it to weigh a decision: what helps you, what holds you back, what wins out. The synthesis, computed from the four cards, sums up the answer.

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2

3

4

5

6

7

Seven cards in an arc: the past, the present, what is hidden, the obstacles, the people around you, the advice, where things are headed.

1. 1Past
2. 2Present
3. 3What is hidden
4. 4Obstacle
5. 5Others
6. 6Advice
7. 7Where things are headed

Seven cards in an arc, a classic of cartomancy. Choose it for a situation with a history, where other people play a part: it shows what is hidden, what depends on others, and ends with a piece of advice.

1

2

3

4

5

You, the other person, what unites you, what divides you, where it is going.

1. 1You
2. 2The other person
3. 3What unites you
4. 4What divides you
5. 5Where things are headed

A spread for two: a couple, a friendship, a business partner, a parent. It sets the two people face to face and looks at what flows between them. Choose it when the question is about the bond, not only about you.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

The big spread: the situation, what stands in the way, the roots, the past, what you're aiming for, what's taking shape, you, the people around you, your hopes and fears, where things are headed.

1. 1Situation
2. 2What stands in the way
3. 3Root
4. 4Past
5. 5What you're aiming for
6. 6What's taking shape
7. 7You
8. 8Others
9. 9Hopes and fears
10. 10Where things are headed

The big Rider-Waite-Smith spread: Arthur Edward Waite published it in his guide to the deck in the early twentieth century, and it has become the best-known spread in the world. Choose it for an important question, when you have time to read ten cards.