Cult of Tarot Forum

I know of at least three decks that can be used to craft spreads, and I like the one I have very much. That doesn't mean I'm not curious about the others out there.

When I just started out with tarot, I collected spreads. I bought spread books and wherever I found a spread on the Internet, I copied it into a growing collection of spreads. Later, I used Evernote to continue collecting spreads. I tried out a lot and some worked, some didn't. (I linked to my old threads here on CoT - I knew I talked about this before!)

Then I started thinking. Why should I look for a specific spread that someone else created when it was so much easier to create the spread myself? I started making spreads for the questions I had.

But the nice thing about other peoples' spreads is that they think about problems that I don't see. And maybe that's exactly where the dog is buried, as we say in German (and Hebrew).

The ideal solution is to use a deck with cards for questions I always wanted to ask but never got around to, and questions I should ask but never even noticed I should.


The Deck of 1000 Spreads


As far as I remember, this deck was the first of its kind on the market, and it comes with a very good book. You don't actually need such a deck to create your own spread or spreads, but I really like the way the creator organized the different perspectives. She colour-codes the cards: person cards, problem cards, outcome cards, timing cards etc.

I used to use it more than I do now to learn and make exercises, but also to read the cards. (By now I read professionally and I'm in training all the time so I need these exercises less - but I should take them up again).

I put up quite a number of ideas how to work with the deck on the creator's site.


Roughly at the same time, this deck was published:


Dynamic Spreads Kit

It's the same basic idea but presented in a nice recipe box, and it contains much more cards. From the pictures I've seen, there are also more abstract cards included, for philosophical discussions with our tarot decks. Looks interesting, and I'd love to see how it works in practice.


The newest and probably most beautiful is the Spread Machine deck - I love the name

Spread Machine


If the Deck of 1000 Spreads is a more practical, problem-oriented deck, and the Dynamic Spreads Deck goes more in-depth with more options, the Spread Machine looks great for personal insight readings. But since I have only the first one, I really don't know.

Do you know more such decks? Which would be worthwhile to buy? The Spread Machine deck looks so lovely.

These are the only ones I know of. I'm on the fence about the Spread Machine, too! I think I'm going to go for it eventually.

I have 1000 Spreads and used to have Dynamic. About the only way I used the Dynamic was having fun sorting the cards into categories different than those of the author!

I like the idea of using the spread deck for random spread positions and then random cards for them. For when you really don't have a a question! I've tried to do the same kind of thing with astrological houses cards, but I haven't been having much success with that recently. I actually dug out my astro deck for this purpose when thinking about the Spread Machine. I already have a 12 position spread deck right here! But, blah so far . . .

I like making up spreads, usually based on a theme or shape. They're like small, manageable creative projects that someone else can then actually use! So I don't know how much I would actually use a spread deck. But I want it just the same! And, as you said, it might bring forward an issue you hadn't thought of in relation to your question, which would definitely be helpful.

Good luck with your spread quest. Maybe if/when we decide to jump on the Spread Machine, we can do exchanges or something!

Nemia wrote: ↑04 Apr 2021, 14:32 When I just started out with tarot, I collected spreads. I bought spread books and wherever I found a spread on the Internet, I copied it into a growing collection of spreads. Later, I used Evernote to continue collecting spreads. I tried out a lot and some worked, some didn't. (I linked to my old threads here on CoT - I knew I talked about this before!)

Thank you for starting this thread and digging up old thread links. Spreadcrafting is something I really enjoy and put a lot of thought and research into what kinds of spreads people find (or don't find) useful. Those are some great resources to pick up when finances allow.