Reading and Asking Questions of the Tarot

card spreads

ONCE A PERSON has prepared for Tarot reading by studying the deck and learning the symbolism of the cards, the next step is choosing a card spread, or layout configuration. Because of the independent nature of the practise of reading Tarot, card spreads can vary from reader to reader, although there are a few more popular card spread formats which are known to most practitioners. For the most part, the reader dictates the nature of the card spread based on personal preferences. The style of card spread presented first here in this documentation is a simplified layout meant to avert confusion as much as possible, while still providing more detail than a one-card Tarot spread might reveal.

Perhaps the easiest card spread to read (even easier than the single card draw) is a four-card spread referenced in this text as the Four Realms (or Spread of the Four Realms). This Tarot card spread consists of only four cards, which represent the Significator (the subject of the reading), the subject’s Family & Kinsfolk, the subject’s Friends & Local Community, and the subject’s Global Community, and the depictions of these Four Realms are patterned after the Four Kabbalistic Spiritual Realms: Atsiluth, Beryah, Yetsirah, and Asiyah, respectively. The first card, that of the Significator, is not normally drawn randomly but rather deliberately chosen from the Minor Arcana Court Cards according to the subject’s natal astrological sign. The other three cards are dealt afterward in order, drawn randomly from the deck. These four cards are then the only input from the Tarot deck in a reading of this type; the information is perhaps not as detailed as in other readings, but the level of detail is not the major concern insomuch as is the accuracy of the reading itself. Below is a table given to detail the types of relationships found between the cards in this spread as they might be perceived in a reading:

general category kabbalistic emotional psychological sociological
1 Significator Atsiluth self-esteem id personal goals
2 Family & Kinsfolk Beryah attachment ego family role
3 Friends & Local Community Yetsirah reputation superego occupation
4 Global Community Asiyah liability collective unconscious cultural identity

Other card spreads are also used, such as the Celtic Cross (which is modeled after a technique engineered by the Golden Dawn), which uses ten cards (Significator + nine randomly dealt cards), as well as a Single Card Reading, where a single randomly-selected card is dealt and constitutes the entire ‘spread’. There is also apparently a Tarot spread format used by hermetic (G.D.) adherents which apparently utilises much or all of the entire seventy-eight-card deck. Although some may find this technique useful, the process of laying out even half of the deck in a single spread may generate more confusion and questions that it might effectively answer; for that reason, it has not been included in this documentation. In studying the Tarot, it is important for the student to formulate one’s own technique with regard to the configuration of the card spread, and to create an entirely new method if so desired.

Additionally, there are some considerations which should be introduced here, namely with regard to superstitions about the Tarot. Some practitioners may maintain that one cannot read one’s own cards, but this myth is unfounded. In truth, a Tarot reading done for oneself is thought to be the most accurate method of revealing insight from the cards. Another concern regards the orientation of a card dealt right-side-up as well-dignified, and a card dealt upside-down as ill-dignified, or negative, much in the same way as the retrograde motion of an astrological body is thought to carry with it a negative or opposing aspect in an horoscope. It is clear from the information gathered in my research that no such duality of disposition should be acknowledged, as the disposition of a card’s effect in a spread is governed solely by the nature of the card itself, as well as the cards around it. Truthfully, the physical orientation of a particular card depends solely on the manner in which the cards are shuffled and then dealt from the deck, but it does not affect the disposition of the card itself in the reading. Most practitioners who embrace this understanding will automatically right a card which is dealt inverted, in order to better recognise the symbolism of the card and its significance.

a non-linear method of inquiry

In performing a Tarot card reading, part of the process in deriving information from the cards involves an inquiry made by the reader, on behalf of the subject of the reading. As a vital element of the Tarot reading, however, there are no officially established guidelines regarding how to make such an inquiry, or even what form or character the inquiry should take when it is made. Most practitioners avoid making inquiries regarding specific dates or times, as the time factor is generally not a concrete aspect of a reading, but rather is only useful when describing a series of events. In this regard, time is a relative consideration, but in general, a Tarot reading will not produce a specific time index for a given inquiry. It can, however, provide information regarding a sequence of events.

Inquiring of the Tarot is best accomplished by asking about a specific issue or aspect of life or family and friends, but it is generally best to avoid probing questions which demand a particularly precise answer. Some approaches to reading Tarot may make use of a series of inquiries, in which each successive question is predicated on the previous question’s answer, in a linear or progressive fashion. Problems regarding these sorts of methods include the coherence of the line of questioning, as a single incorrectly interpreted answer will likely adversely affect all successive inquiries for a particular reading. One would do well to remember to differentiate between a Tarot inquiry and a police interrogation (my personal comparison for the linear method of inquiry). The basic theory of Tarot inquiry explained here is properly understood as a non-linear mode of questioning, whether seventy inquiries are made during the course of the reading, or only two.

derivation vs divination

Tarot has been popularly described as an instrument of divination, in which unknown past, present, and future events or information can be mysteriously ascertained. This use of the Tarot violates the Hebrew prohibition against various methods of divination, as articulated in the Torah. However, with relatively minor adjustment to the practise of reading Tarot, the technique can be modified to derive significant information from truths which are immediately verifiable by the subject of the reading. In this fashion, the significances of the cards in a reading can be used to present an illustration of what a sound course of action might be, or the reading may be interpreted as a means of providing additional insight regarding a particular scenario from a novel point of view. In this respect the Tarot serves as a medium of counsel, rather than as a tool for divination.