Reading Tarot Cards Without Spreads

Reading Tarot Cards Without Spreads

I’ve been putting off writing this post for a while because every time I go to draft it I realize that I don’t have fully have words to explain how I intuit cards without spreads. Normally, when I suggest it to students, they come up with their own unique way so I think it’s totally possible to learn by just diving in and trying it. I’ve taken some extra time lately though to really dig into what it is I do but I still feel like I come up short. So I present this as best I can and I might come back and add notes or revise it later as I have new realizations. In the meantime, here are my thoughts.

Drawing 1 – 4 Cards

For me, when I’m only drawing a few cards, there’s no real placement to read. I almost always take them as “This is what’s going on” or “This is what you need to know”. I use these more as a dialog between me and a spirit or me and the universe. So, for instance, I might pull 3 cards for “What’s going on?” and realize I’m neglecting my physical health and the reasons why. Then I can either stop and problem solve on my own with that new perspective or pull another set with a new question like “What do I need to do?”

It’s conversational and I like it because it really breaks the idea of one card answering one question that you get used to when you read with spreads. I think that’s really vital, especially if you’re doing lengthy interactive readings for querents who might request follow up cards or clarifications cards. When you get out of the “1 card for 1 question” mentality, that process becomes much more intuitive and smooth.

So there’s not much to add here. I really see drawing a few cards like a conversation with a person. They’re not going to always sit there and tell you a story in order – they’re going to highlight how they felt, what it meant, the why and the how. It’s very similar in my experience with pulling a few cards without a spread.

Drawing 5 + Cards

This is where I realized I’ve built up a combination of frameworks in my head for when I pull a lot of cards with no spread. A lot of people will say look at where the characters in the cards face to draw connections, count the major arcana and court cards to know how many people are involved – and I think that style can be really fruitful but it’s not what I know so I’ll let others speak more to that.

I do recommend pulling cards and not flipping them over until you’re done laying as many as you feel are needed for a question, just to prevent yourself from trying to make the story as you lay them down, but it will work just fine usually either way.

This is a rough diagram of how I interpret them.

Observant readers may note similarities between this diagram and my spiraling spread. It’s true they both inform each other, but the difference is that I’m not drawing a card for every “spot” on this diagram. I lay out the cards and then determine their meaning relative to each other rather than the numbered spot they occupy.

For instance, spreads done this way are often bottom or top heavy, pointing toward either a lot of outside influence or a lot of deeply rooted shadow self/unconscious blocks. They’re often left or right heavy too, meaning either the past was particularly relevant to the present or the universe is gearing up for some big shit in their/your life. There might be several cards in the self/present spot which might point to leading a double life or the strain of conflicting roles. I will generally let the suit of the present/self cards determine the area of life the reading is most relevant to.

If a querent is more interested in what to do at the end of a spread like this, then I might use one of my quick diagnosis spreads to gain a little more insight. Or draw 1-4 cards conversationally like I described above.

Conclusion

The real pro of reading without spreads is the flexibility of it. It really helps develop intuition and pattern regconition. It’s also super helpful for developing your own regular spreads. Several of my quick diagnosis spreads were patterns I kept seeing so I codified them into an actual spread. I really hope you try reading without spreads. Borrow from this method if you like, but I think developing personal systems works the best.

Best of luck!

*I do not claim my way is the one true way so take what is useful and leave the rest.

**If you wind up using this stuff in another setting, please credit me. This stuff is my art. Don’t steal, please credit. Thanks!

A Spread for Cards that are Hard to Read

Do you have any of those cards that when they turn up they make you really uncomfortable and you never feel like you can properly describe their meaning to someone you’re reading for? I know I do – The Lovers, The Queen of Wands, and The Emperor have haunted me since I started reading. Cards that are difficult to read can teach us a lot about ourselves and can help guide our shadow work.

I’ve been toying with this spread a little and I wanted to put it out there for others to try out. The idea is that you let the deck speak to what’s blocking your understanding of a given card – which if you’re interested in shadow work, often highlights areas of ourselves that need to be given attention.

The spread is laid out as follows.

Method

Shuffle the deck and find your chosen card. Place it in the first position. Take the cards immediately following it or proceeding it depending on which will have enough cards to fill every position in the spread. An alternative is to draw the card, put it in first position, shuffle how you choose, and draw the top cards to fill the remaining spots.

Positions

The first card is pretty straight forward. Choose a card that’s giving you trouble, that makes you uncomfortable every time it comes up. I think people tend to pick major arcana cards here but don’t be afraid to pick a minor card. All blocks have something to teach us

The second card is how your past influences how you read this card. It could be an event, a belief, an unresolved fear – anything really. Our past often dictates our expectations of the future. So when a card is difficult to read it often points to an expectation we’ve picked up from our past and it either challenges that expectation or confirms something uncomfortable.

The third card is how your perception of yourself is influencing how you read the first card. Similar to the second card, when a card is difficult to read it often challenges our image of ourselves. It may make us feel like bad people when we think highly of ourselves or vice versa, highlight an area we’ve struggled with, or make us question the narrative we tell ourselves.

The fourth card is how others in your life inform your reading of the first card. Often we see other people in the cards, ones we like and ones we don’t. Our feelings for or about that person will often undermine how we read this card in relation to ourselves and to other people.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh card are all what those influences can teach us about ourselves. The lessons they highlight can also offer clues as how to unblock your reading of the main card.

Conclusion

I hope folks find this spread helpful. I’m still tweaking it and toying with it. If you use it to create something new or come up with a different way to do a similar task, please reblog and/or let me know! I’d love to boost more materials on this.

As always, take the best and leave the rest and if you have any questions let me know!

Learn the Court Cards Fast: Reading Court Cards as Dualities

I’m not sure how helpful this post will be to others as it’s based very much in my own personal understanding of the court cards. I struggled for a very long time until I just abandoned most of what I’d read about them and began to understand them in the context of the rest of my own frameworks.

I think a common understanding of them is that you start as a Page and work your way up to being King. They often get read as “How much have you mastered the ideals of the suit?” with page being hardly at all and the King being the absolute best. It’s very hierarchical, top-down, and it’s not only sexist with regards to the Queen, but more generally invalidating of what the other cards have to offer in their own right.

I have come across alternative readings of the Court Cards but none of them really clicked until I started reading them as dualities.

The first duality I see in court cards is between the material/work and the ideals of each suit. Pages and Knights are focused on the work of each suit. They are carrying out the functions of their court, each with different advantages and disadvantages.

Unfocused vs. Focused Work

Pages, while perhaps less experienced, don’t engage with the work with the same ferocity of the Knights. Their lives tend to be more balanced, they tend to be more of the Jack of All Trades.  There’s a real trade off with not being specialized. They’re versatile, flexible, ready to learn and change. But they can’t execute to the degree that a Knight can, might get easily distracted or side tracked. When not showing up in a signifying role, or showing up specifically in an action position, they can also sometimes point toward gossip or rumors.

Knights, on the other hand, are fierce to a fault. They are specialized, focused, and honestly kind of terrifying to me personally. They are the ideals of the suit, weaponized, constantly in motion. They are coming to fuck your shit up. They’re not balanced though. They’re rigid, don’t change course easily, and are stubborn to a fault. But they are also undeniably effective. They do what they set out to do, they are reliable, they will fight until the battle is won. When not showing up in a signifying role, or showing up in an action position, they can also point toward news or a reversal of luck.

Internal vs. External Ideals

Regents embody the ideals of the suit in their highest form. They are twin forms of mastery. And much like real regents, they’re often unattainable. I find in readings they serve as reminders, lessons, or status relative to other people in a situation. We might be a page of wands in an art class but a queen in our own families. I find that the lessons of the regents are much less absolute than the Major Arcana.

Queens symbolize the internal mastery of the ideals of the suit, people who’ve attained a deep understanding of the suit as it applies to themselves and those closest to them. They often work behind the scenes and their mastery isn’t always given its fair due by others. Their skill is no less refined and important though. Queens perform the kind of work that can only be done in private. They are masters of growth, healing, and wholeness in terms of their suits. For these reasons, they’re not less dangerous or effective than Kings. Their work may not always be seen but it is always deeply felt.

Kings symbolize the external mastery of the ideals of the suit, people who are publicly lauded and recognized for their expertise, passion, and skill. They are leaders, influencers, and tastemakers. They set the pace and the terms of engagement for the group around them. They often receive praise or scorn for their actions regardless of the work they actually do because their reputation proceeds them. They are undeniably skillful, especially with regards to groups of people rather than individuals. While Kings derive it from different sources, their influence is what makes them truly formidable.

Conclusion

Again, these are just my thoughts. They’re just another framework to smash up against what you already know and see what sticks. I find the duality or dualities model for the court cards to really help me and I’ve had much better luck interpreting them in readings for myself and others since building it. But it’s by far not the only way.

Another note – I’m nonbinary and I don’t consider the Queen and King to represent feminine and masculine energy of a suit like a lot of people write about. Even without the binary being alienating, I think it’s important to develop frameworks that challenge conventional gender “energy” interpretations when it comes to court cards. I’m definitely interested in how others have worked on this as well.

As always – hope this helps and if you have any questions please let me know!

*I never claim my way is the one true way. Take what is useful and leave the rest.

**If you wind up using this stuff in another setting, I’d really appreciate it if you could cite me. This is my art. Don’t steal, please credit.

Quick Diagnosis Spreads

I have a long form post in the works about my philosophy when it comes to spreads so keep an eye out for that but I thought it would be helpful if I shared some of the spreads that I work with. 

I’m much more likely to use these spreads listed here when I’m drawing cards for myself or someone close to me. That’s usually because I’m pulling them in response to a particular situation where the bulk of the information I need is already present and I’m just looking to uncover what else I might need to consider. 

Most recently, I used the first one listed here when my girlfriend lost a stone that was very important to her at a Beltaine celebration. She felt that it was significant and not merely an accident but wasn’t sure how to figure out what had happened and why. So I used the first spread I’ll show here to figure out what had happened from the perspective of a deity she works with and how to resolve it. 

So I recommend these spreads for similar situations but I’m sure they would also make for good quick spreads when reading in social situations too where you don’t want the reading to be to lengthy but you want to give people something interesting and meaningful. 

The Story 

1: Past

2: Present

3: Future

4: Resolution/Ultimate Outcome

This is spread is very action oriented which is why I used it in the situation with my girlfriend - I already know my girlfriend and who she is in that situation. What I needed to know was what had happened more precisely. Also the resolution card here was very helpful because it showed us when the issue would be resolved which is separate from the future/what is going to happen next. It let us know what she had to do in order to make amends in the situation. 

The Character Arc

1: Signifier 

2: Past

3: Present

4: Future

I’m not a big fan of doing third party readings (though I totally respect people who do it ethically) so I don’t often use this for anyone other than myself. It helps me understand how I might be seen in a situation or what I’m bringing to the situation along with the actions that resulted. Times I’ve used this spread are after a bad date, after fighting with a coworker, and trying to locate the source of sudden anxiety. 

The Present (Elemental) Self

1: Current Financial/Material Situation (Earth)

2: Current Intellectual/Academic Situation (Air)

3: Current Career/Passion Situation (Fire)

4: Current Relationship/Emotional Situation (Water)

Optional 5th (not shown): Whole Self/Spiritual Situation (Spirit)

I mostly use this one when I want to check in on myself or when I feel out of balance. It’s a good weekly spread and I might go back to doing it on Sundays like I used to. It’s a good quick scan to see what’s going well and what needs some more attention. I’ve also used this spread to open with a querent at a party or social situation and then followed it up with one of the above ones when they ask “okay well how do I fix that?” It’s a little less overwhelming than bigger spreads, goes a little faster, and stays more focused which definitely has some pros when you’re trying to get through the like 10 people who’ve all decided they want readings from you and they’re going to get progressively more intoxicated as you go. 

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of the quick diagnosis spreads I use. Use them for others, use them for yourself. These have been working well enough for me to keep them around for almost 10 years so they’re well tested. Try them out yourself and let me know what you think! 

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, let me know!

*I never claim my way is the one true way. Take what is useful and leave the rest.

**If you wind up using this stuff in another setting, I’d really appreciate it if you could cite me. This is my art. Don’t steal, please credit.

May Tarot Challenge - Self Awareness

I wanted to develop a challenge that helps diviners develop core skills that sustain long term practice. Or in less clinical terms, there’s a ton of stuff for newbie card readers but you, my friend, are in this for the long haul. You’re gonna need a strong foundation for when you’re reading cards ten, twenty years from now.  This month we focus on self awareness.  I have trouble putting into words just how important this skill is. Knowing how your perception is colored and limited is key to giving good readings. A reader needs to have a sense of when their personal bias is creeping into a reading. Just went through a break up? You need to know when you’re projecting that unhappiness onto other readings. Just got a new job? You need to know when you’re feeling unreasonably optimistic given the cards in front of you.  For this challenge, you’ll pull two cards. One you select and one you shuffle/draw at random. The goal is to see how closely your perspective of yourself aligns with your deck, to give your deck a chance to check you. Feel to start this challenge whenever you feel like it, well after May even. If you post this somewhere else, please credit me and link to my tumblr if you can. Use the tag “#hillbillyoracle may tarot challenge” for posts so we can all support each other.

1 T – What is your current situation?  2 W – Who are you in your situation? 3 T – What happened leading up to this situation? 4 F – What will happen in the immediate future? 5 S – What is the root of the situation?  6 S – What advice are you getting from gods/spirits/the Universe? 7 M – What talents do you bring to the situation? 8 T – How do the people around you see the situation? 9 W – What are your hopes? 10 T – What are your fears? 11 F – What have you been ignoring lately? 12 S – What should your next action be? 13 S – What lesson are you learning from your situation? 14 M – Who in your life should you make amends with? 15 T – How should you make amends with them? 16 W – What’s the state of your friendships? 17 T – How can you improve them? 18 F – What’s the state of your relationships with family? 19 S – How can you improve them? 20 S – What’s the state of your romantic life? 21 M – How can you improve it? 22 T – What’s the state of your relationship with yourself? 23 W – How can you improve it? 24 T – What’s the state of your relationship with the world around you? 25 F – How can you improve it? 26 S – What the state of your relationship with spirits/gods/The Universe? 27 S – How can you improve it? 28 M – What is holding you back in your spiritual path? 29 T – How can you break free? 30 W – What has changed over the last month? 31 T – What lessons did you take away from the challenge? 

How to Take Notes on a (New) Tarot Deck

This is less of a definitive guide and more documentation of how I take notes on decks I work with. I’m always interested to see how other people do it so I wanted to show my process. I hope some of these ideas will inspire folks to develop their own systems and share! 

Why Take Notes

I don’t take notes on every deck I own. For some, I received them at a time when there wasn’t much free time to dig into them or I just knew it wasn’t going to be a deck that would see heavy usage so it wasn’t worth the time. 

But every now and then I get a deck and immediately know I’m going to relying on it. In those cases, I find it really valuable to study the deck as deeply as I can. There’s a learning curve with any deck, but studying it head on really makes that go easier in my experience. 

But more than that - it’s just fun! 

For those of us who don’t use Books of Shadow and the like, divination notes and a divination journal can be a really rewarding way to spend time with our spirituality.  My Microsoft OneNote System

This is the system I’m currently working on with the Numinous Tarot I just got. I’m incredibly in love with deck and wanted to do something more involved for it. Also, my disability has been flaring up again and greatly impacts my ability to use my arms and hands so I needed it to be digital so I could update it more consistently. 

As you can see, I set up a new notebook just for this tarot deck. I have a tab for general notes and then one for each of the major sections of the deck. 

This is one card I finished my first pass with. I took a picture of it with the best light I could manage on my phone and then pulled it into here. I put my personal references in clearest view. I do that so I can begin to make and trust my personal associations. Since it’s digital I can update this as I do more readings and make more connections. 

This deck also came with a digital guidebook, so I copy pasted the information here so I can compare it to my evolving understanding of the card. 

Further down are where I have a few prompts I use when I’m trying to dig deeper into a card. They’re not filled out yet because I’m still in the beginning stages with this deck. But if I see this card turn up a lot in my readings, I’ll come back and do the journal prompts. 

My Microsoft Excel System

I’ve written before about using an Excel sheet to make notes on tarot cards. I’ve played around with it some since writing that post but I will admit that it doesn’t produce nice neat notes so here’s a screencap of a blank Rider-Waite one. The download links on that post are still good by the way so you can still save yourself a little work if you want. 

The major pro of this system I’ve found is that it forces me to keep notes brief. It’s makes me boil cards down to a few keywords. I use this more for decks that I already know and just want a reference for or for decks I don’t think I’ll be working with much. 

I really like the visual nature of this set up. It fits more with how I picture the deck in my head when I’m working with it and that’s really helpful. It’s also pretty easy to search this set up for cards but also for keywords which is nice when I’m doing certain types of readings where I need to select a signifier ahead of time. 

My Handwritten System

My dream handwritten system would be to hand bind a booklet and fill it with the same information I have in my OneNote system. But I’ve yet to have a situation that allows for that. So I mostly use my handwritten system for SOAP Journaling and daily draws. Since I do this mostly in my bullet journal, I can look up readings I do in the index of by day if I did them as a daily. 

Note: Lots going on here, I know. It’s my personal diary, be kind. <3

It’s not perfect and I think I’m going to try putting them in a dedicating tarot journal just to see if I like that any better. I’m still figuring out what place a bullet journal has in my life at this point so that’s part of why my tarot journaling is kind of muddled at the moment. 

Well to be fair, I’m still figuring out what place tarot journaling has in my life too. Everyone extols the virtue of doing something everyday but as someone with a chronic disability, ADHD, and other sensory processing issues that’s just Not Going to HappenTM. I really like doing a couple prompts in a challenge at a time and then putting it aside and then picking it up again when I can. 

Conclusion

I hope this helps spark some ideas! I really do believe that deep study of a deck is worthwhile. Not mandatory by any means. I do just genuinely enjoy doing it. Give it a try! Write down what information you want to have on hand for each card and put together a system to collect it. Tag me in any experiments! I’m looking for more inspiration myself!