Cult of Tarot Forum

I started collecting spreads a long time ago, in books and on the Internet.

Most tarot books have a spread section, and some are such wonderful sources for spreads that they'll be mentioned here, too. Benebell Wen's "Holistic Tarot" and Katz/Goodwin's books are especially rich in interesting spreads. But I want to start with spread-focused books.

My first book about spreads was "Power Tarot" by Phyllis Vega and Trish MacGregor. I bought it many years ago and it's very useful. Unfortunately, the authors felt the need to add card meanings to the first part of the book - there is such an abundance of card-meanings-books on the market that I feel this part of the book is a bit superfluous.

They give for every card a short introduction, the meaning in a reading, and specific meanings for work, romance, finances, health and spirituality. They finish each card of with an affirmation and that's nice too.

The spread part is much more interesting and imo they should have focused on this part. It's why people buy the book after all.

They sorted the spreads according to the number of cards used, and that's a surprisingly useful. You go from the simple to the complex and complicated. Over time, I found that the four-to-seven cards spreads work best for my but ymmv.

One of my all-time-favorite spreads is from this book.

Desire spread

1
2
3
4

1 - what you have
2 - what you desire
3 - what you need
4 - what you get

What is lacking in this book? It gives you fish but doesn't teach you to catch your own fish. There is no instruction on basic building stones of a spread, and how to make a good one yourself.

Nevertheless, this is a good book to have, and I have used mine pretty well over the last 16 years!

Barbara Moore's "Tarot Spreads: Layouts and Techniques to Empower Your Readings" provides what Vega/MacGregor are missing. This book really has everything. Moore's intelligence and passion really jump from the page in this book. Just look how it's built up:

• Tarot spread basics
  Design principles and layouts
  A collection of spreads
  Techniques to add to any spread
  How to modify spreads
  Do-it-yourself spread design
  How to do a 78-card reading

There are appendixes about curious old spreads and elemental dignities.

After reading this book, you really feel empowered to make up your own spreads - and this book offers so many good spreads that you'll want to try them all.

One of the most useful spreads in this books is called Barbara's General Spread, and here it is.

________1_________

2_______3_________4

________5__________

1: General overview of the situation
2-4: The experience or what will happen
5: outcome

This is such a nice and versatile spread. You go from focused (1) to broad and narrative (2 to 4) and back to focused again.


I have a soft spot for Tierney Sadler's Deck of 1000 Spreads. (I added some of my ideas how to work with that deck to her website). It's a brilliant idea and really useful, and there are many ways of using this deck.

A simple linear spread designed using the Deck of 1000 Spreads


The deck of 1000 spreads spreadcards used in a reading for a friend

Here, I want to tell you what I think of the book that comes with it.

Tierney shows you how can you best use her deck in order to design tailor-made spreads to every question and problem - but you can use her ideas without her cards, too, once you understand how spreads work and how they work for YOU.

She starts with basics about spreads and her spread cards. There are lots of ideas for "re-tooling" classic and traditional spreads, crafting new spreads, and divining new spreads. The book is concise, well-written and well-illustrated.

Her website (linked above) gives you more ideas how to work with spreads. I read her book before I found Barbara Moore's broader and more analytical book, but I still find it useful and inspiring.

Whether you buy the Deck of 1000 Spreads or design your own spread maps (as I did, again before I found her deck) or spread cards, you make life easier for yourself, especially if you read for others or repeat the same spread regularly.

Making spread maps is not difficult at all. I took an old art calendar, painted the pages in gold and left colourful spots for the cards. But you might use any nice paper, draw the spread positions and go ahead. That doesn't give you new spreads but helps you get your old ones used regularly


I made a number of such spread maps for the spreads I use most often

Liz Dean has a book entitled the “Ultimate Guide to Tarot Spreads.” What I like, in particular, is that the book is grouped by subject of inquiry...spirituality, love, career, etc.

But I really like this deck of spreads you are describing. I think I may have seen it for sale somewhere. Your own notes cards that you made reminded me of a suggestion made in Beth Maidens’ “Alternative Tarot Course.” There was a specific week when the lesson involved designing your own spreads and she suggested something like this. It is amazing the creativity that index cards and post-it notes can unlock!

I checked out your posts on the Deck of 1000 Spread sites and I really enjoy your enthusiasm. It seems like you benefit from the sources you interact with (books and decks) and I equate that with your follow through. I think that rewards are proportionate to effort (though not precisely). You put in effort and the results demonstrate themselves very clearly through your proficiency.

Thanks for sharing this...I wish I had found it before it went out of print. But I have a ton of post-it notes. (And I’ll likely buy a copy anyway).

Victoria

Yes, I was enthusiastic when I found it and I still use it regularly. It's a great tool. I like Tierney's approach. There are other similar decks that also look good. But basically, you can simply use index cards, that's fine, too. Sometimes though with Tierney's cards there's a nice colour play and I like the aesthetic aspect too. When I see old pictures of readings where I used these spread cards I immediately "get into" the reading again.

Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen and The Tarot Bible by Sarah Bartlett has a ton of useful spreads.