Using spreads or not

[Anouk]

I've been watching Youtube tarot readers doing pick-a-pile and astrology tarot readings. I find it really educational to see how they interpret card interactions. But I've noticed that most of them read an assortment of oracle and tarot Cards, and don't use specific spreads or interpret cards depending on their position.

I'm interested to know what other readers think of this informal style of reading cards.

My concern is that using that technique allows for very broad interpretations that could be too easily slanted towards positive outcomes (which is beneficial to a youtube reader because the viewers don't want to hear negative news).

However, there have been times when I've felt drawn to a string of cards without a specific layout, in such a way where the cards speak a sentence in the order they've appeared.

What do you think about it?

[Charlie Brown]

Great framing of the question. I agree with you that I often see this style of reading being practiced by undisciplined readers who are more interested in hearing what they want than they are in looking to the cards for guidance. On the other hand, one of the problems with spreads where each position is hyper-meticulously defined is that it can become in effect a series of one-card readings in which the cards don't have an opportunity to interrelate and influence each other. One thing I like about the Celtic Cross is that in addition to the ten individual card positions, you have mini-spreads embedded within it: past-preset-future across the horizontal axis, for example.

[BlueStar]

I've had more success using spreads than not, generally that I can get a clearer interpretation when using a spread. So even if I'm just using 3 cards I will assign meaning to the position (e.g. past. present, future, or something else etc.). Laying cards out like a sentence, or a story unfolding can be useful too.

I'm inclined to agree that laying cards informally could lead to perhaps broader interpretations or even that it is easier to misinterpret (depends really on how the question is asked too), but that's a personal preference. I wouldn't like to suggest that someone else isn't able to read well doing that.

It can be interesting to see how others read, but don't feel that reading the same way is a must. I think you have to explore what you are most comfortable with, and what works best for you, and that may change over time too.

[Diana]

To back what's been said and to add a bit, I would think that if one is just wanting to tell a story, it's okay to not do a spread. But still, even then, one needs to have something in mind for the story. You can't just start writing a story without some kind of plot in mind. There has to be an INTENTION before the drawing of the cards. Is it an overview we're looking for ? Just a snapshot ? Or are we looking for advice ?

Once one knows the intention, we can decide what to do. But it's so much easier to read with a spread - whether it be a tried and trusty one like the Celtic Cross that Charlie Brown mentions, or a simple Past/Present/Future (just to take two examples). One needs to know where one wants to go. What is the goal, the desired destination ? It's easier to read the cards when one has the schedule of the journey - we're not just wandering off like the Fool into the unknown.

[Genna]

I always use spreads when I read. I don´t think I could read without them.

[Grizabella]

Technically, anytime we lay out cards to read it's a spread, whether we name the positions or not.

I advise people who aren't very experienced to have a specific question and named positions because it make the cards so much easier to read. I'd even go so far as to say that writing down the question and the named positions is a good idea because then you have those to refer back to if you start to waiver on the meanings of the cards.

Named positions will also help the reader know whether a card is to be read in the upright or the reversed meaning, too.

Even a past, present, future spread can have three cards per position if you want the interplay of multiple cards against each other. Or you can even add three cards per position to a Celtic Cross if you want to, if you want a great big spread.

[Amoroso]

I usually use spreads of my own devising, like I plan the questions beforehand so I can assign positions for each of them. I'll sometimes use established spreads like the Celtic Cross or triples like Past-Present-Future, etc.

I do sometimes just read as is, drawing a certain number of cards and gleaning whatever message they're trying to show as a whole. I guess I have an easier time with spreads tho.

[AstralPasta]

I thought I was worse at reading than I am until I experimented with having a clear question. Turns out, I'm alright actually. It's kinda like putting glasses on.

I don't really know where to start with the YouTube readers ...so I won't, haha. Well, okay, sometimes I think they're interesting as a phenomena, or cute idk, and sometimes I get peeved because I can't find actual discussion about tarot using the search function unless I'm really damn specific. Haha.

But I think if you're intuitive you have a better time than folks like me when not using spreads. I think you can kinda find the string or the spacetime breadcrumbs or whatever and make it relevant. It also smells of magick to me. Are you weaving what you've learned in this intuitive otherworld into this reality and co-creating a new future, or have you found the true answer to the seeker's questions in the evershifting woods of this dream world....is it both? It's probably both. Or maybe it's just a hunch in your gut and I'm overcomplicating it.

For me I'm like ...SCALE??? RANGE??? SCOPE?? How cosmic are we getting here?! Or how hyperfocused? Like the "madman drowns in the sea the mystic swims in" or whatever, that's how I feel, hahaha. There's no form or definition so it could kinda mean anything. It's pure information without a sieve or container.

But a part of me is also resistant to spreads because I don't like capping or limiting possibility. The commitment stresses me out. I feel like I'm shutting avenues or pathways down that could have brought me something interesting. Like I'm damming a river.

Generally how I read, if I'm being good and not lazy, or not letting myself recover from my tiredness before attempting a reading, is I'll think hard about what I want to know and frame or word it properly and then I'll ask a question and receive the answer and respond with a follow up question... The conversation style. I do spreads rarely and generally out of curiosity.

But I feel like I've not put a great deal of focus on understanding how to ask the right questions, or on using or creating spreads. I almost feel like this is the most powerful part about learning how to read tarot. And so I feel like I'm sort of at the starting line here in that regard Hehe, ah well.

I'm more interested in the Celtic cross now though because of a conversation here, so that's nice. I guess one way to learn and understanding framing is practicing with different set-ups and "frames"

[BlueStar]

I thought I was worse at reading than I am until I experimented with having a clear question. Turns out, I'm alright actually. It's kinda like putting glasses on...

I'm more interested in the Celtic cross now though because of a conversation here, so that's nice. I guess one way to learn and understanding framing is practicing with different set-ups and "frames"

Oh yes I think a clear question is very important

When I first got back into tarot reading I was a bit daunted by the Celtic Cross, and wasn't very confident with it. But the the more I use it the more I feel it is an excellent spread and I've had a lot of good results with it, and it actually isn't as hard to get to grips with as I thought it would be because each card is position is assigned a meaning. Sometimes I use it as a basis with some slight changes too, and that works fine. I even wrote a little blog post on it: https://tarotjourneying.blogspot.com/20 ... cross.html

[Joan Marie]

I thought I was worse at reading than I am until I experimented with having a clear question. Turns out, I'm alright actually. It's kinda like putting glasses on...

Oh yes I think a clear question is very important

I just got a tarot book i haven't started reading yet but I was thumbing through and read something about the importance of a clear question and the author compared it to doing a google search and said to imaging the difference between googling "car" and googling "BMW 600 series 1985-88"

I thought that was a pretty good analogy.

Like Amoroso, I usually make up my spreads on the spot, and having a good question helps me do that. Although I have a couple of interesting go-to spreads I've found along the way.

I get my best results with a solid question and a solid spread. For me that really takes a lot of energy.
I would love to develop a looser style that worked, something faster, not for all the time but for sometimes, for fun.
It happens for me once in a while, I throw down and BOOM something shows clear as a bell. But I can't count on that to work all the time.

[Libra]

I don't use a defined spread for reading for myself most of the time, but I ALWAYS do when reading for other people. But, reading for myself, I usually only pull a single card and let it steep through my life for days or weeks, giving deeper and deeper guidance as I allow it's energy to interplay through the situations I face. I'm rarely asking about a single specific thing for myself, but for clients, I am and this use a spread to endure that I'm hitting all aspects of their question.

[BlueStar]

I just got a tarot book i haven't started reading yet but I was thumbing through and read something about the importance of a clear question and the author compared it to doing a google search and said to imaging the difference between googling "car" and googling "BMW 600 series 1985-88"

I thought that was a pretty good analogy.

I've used that analogy too, it really describes well for me how tarot readings work, the more careful and precise my question is the better the reading.

[AstralPasta]

I guess it's pretty cool that tarot can answer any question so long as you ask it one.

(pictured here is the existential and impractical tarot nerd - see as she attempts to trick God into revealing how the void "do").