Tarot Spread e Book

You will need

★ Your choice of tarot or oracle deck

★ A journal for recording your reflections

★ A comfy and safe space to practice.

★ Your favourite type of tea

★ Anything else that helps you get in the mood!

www.stateofwildgrace.com

What is this book and who is it for? Hey - welcome! That’s a great question. This guide contains a number of tarot spread ideas that I have designed to encourage insight, foster (self)compassion and show how flexible tarot can be. My intention is that this e-book should be accessible, useful and fun - no matter what level of experience you are. So if you are a beginner, have no fear. And if you have years of experience, then I hope that this gives you extra tools to add to your own personal repertoire. I offer these readings as self-reflection exercises but they can easily work for others.

Why should you use spreads when working with tarot? That’s another great question. You’re on fire. Tarot contains a holistic grand narrative of human experience. You don’t need to even do any specific readings of any kind to get something out of it. You can study your deck linearly, never shuffling the cards, and learn an immense amount. In certain phases of development working with a deck in a systematic and linear way is a good idea. This helps you to gain understanding of the


implicit narratives contained within the tarot. So that when you pick a card, you understand the meaning of that card specifically - and you also know how it relates in terms of the big picture. This particular knowledge becomes fixed by regular exposure, long term study and practical application. An example of practical application is working with tarot spreads. When we shuffle the cards and lay them out intentionally, we create a specific context that clarifies and refines our focus. Drawing cards from the deck with vague or non-existent intentions or questions can be a springboard for insight, but it can be confusing and lead quickly to overwhelm. A good goal for any time you read tarot cards is increased clarity. So it’s better to be specific and intentional; to shuffle, draw/select our cards and put them into positions. The positions are our parameters that usefully limit the myriad of potential meanings that a card can represent. This begins the process of meaningful interpretation. It starts to tell us specific stories. Using a tarot spread is a bit like following a recipe. Except instead of cake, you’re cooking up a storm of insight. Your key ingredients are the cards, your questions, your knowledge and your intuition.


Generally the best way to approach to approach a reading (or cooking) is with a light touch. It’s too easy for us to take ourselves and the process too seriously and end up getting stressed out about right answers or best outcomes. Tarot can certainly provide potent and pertinent advice, but it can also be inspirational, playful and light. Some of the readings in this e-book touch on profound topics and are worth taking your time to dream into. Others are really designed as quick thought experiments to encourage free association. No matter how serious the topic seems though - do try to relax and have fun with it. Overwhelmed by a card meaning? Make a note to do extra study and reflection on whatever that card is. If you find yourself getting stressed out, it’s time to take a break. My hope is that these reading ideas illustrate how plastic the tool of tarot can be and maybe even spark ideas for your own spreads. Please feel free to take these readings and combine them or adjust them to your own needs.

Can I get started now? Go on then! Get grounded, have a good shuffle of those cards and let’s get on with it.


Janus We start simple with a daily draw idea. Janus is the two headed Roman God whose name is the origin of the name of the month January. He looks both backward and forward. This is a good quick spread that works very well for journalling

1. This card represents the lesson from yesterday

2. This is the gift offered today. Or some advice on how to approach the day.


Action Insight

This reading has 4 cards to represent the energy of the Emperor -a confident decision maker. If you’re feeling compelled to make a move but there’s an uncertain vibe in the air, then this can be a useful quick spread to play with. It offers a suggestion for approaching the situation and potential positive outcome you might not be quite seeing.

1. What you’re bringing to the situation. This is your particular energy or attitude that is influencing events.

2. An action to avoid. Or, a perspective that you need to drop that is preventing the best

outcome from occurring.

3. The best course of action to take or perspective that needs to be developed. The action or perspective that is in alignment with the highest purpose of what’s happening.

4. An unexpected Bonus resulting from that action or new perspective.


Yin Yang Find the Magician and High Priestess cards within your deck and spend some time contemplating these two images as opposite forces. Within yourself and the world at large. The Magician is said to embody Yang energy - creative, active, atomistic, asserting personal will, externalising.. The High Priestess can be said to embody Yin energy - receptive, adaptive, holistic, the dynamics of relationship, internalising… At their best these energies complement and reinforce each other’s strengths. Sometimes adjustments need to be made to maintain and restore harmony. Both modes are important and the inter-relationship of these forces can have major impact on your effectiveness and enjoyment of life. Draw a card to represent the Yin and Yang qualities with yourself at the present time and reflect on the recommended action, or the perspective that may need to be integrated. Take your time with this one. Really feel it out and keep a record of your insights. Do it again every once in awhile and track your development. You could also do this with the Empress and Emperor cards.


Super Powers

It can be hard to acknowledge or even see our own gifts. This spread is designed to reflect them to you and and is meant to be performed quickly. This gives you a chance to practice free association and also encourages you to move past any resistance that blocks you seeing yourself in a positive light. Or at the very least will make you aware of it. Life is a strange beast and our powers may show up in the disguise of something that seems negative. This might also be a chance to reframe something that appears to be a challenge as part of your personal bounty. Trust in your imagination to guide you.

Each pair of cards represents a personal gift. A superpower.

I suggest selecting 5 pairs of cards for a total of 10. This is to tune you into the energy of the Wheel of Fortune.


Cost Benefit This is a bang for buck 2-card draw for a situation that you are looking for some quick clarity on the pros and cons of.

1. Cost - What is the limit of the situation? Is there anything negative that I need to be aware of?

2. Benefit - What is the upside? What is the bonus on offer here? Are there any positives

that I’m not aware of? You could pick as many cards as you like to represent different costs and benefits. You could also create some other positions to add on to provide deeper or more specific or longer term insight to the other cards.

Justice as a significator helps us to see clearly through illusion,

and weigh the pros and cons.


Wise Wound

This petite 2-card spread uses The Empress as a significator to tune into those sensual feminine vibrations. Use this card as a meditation aid and consider how she relates to the creative

feminine fertility cycles. The number 2 is linked to the insightful High Priestess. Sorry, guys - but this one is for the ladies. Certain schools of thought link the ovulation/ menstruation cycle to a cycle of creation and destruction. Receiving and releasing. Spend some time thinking about this idea and then select a card for each of these aspects. What gifts are you receiving this cycle? What needs to be surrendered or released? This is another good one for the journal as it’s one you can do regularly.


Action Insight for relationships

An adjusted Action Insight reading for when a situation involves more than one person. 6 cards represent the energy of the Lovers card to promote communication and resolution.

1. What you’re bringing to the situation. Remember this is about a particular energy or

attitude that is influencing events. 2. What the other party is bringing to the situation 3. Action or perspective to avoid or surrender. 4. The best course of action to take or perspective that needs to be developed. The action

or perspective that is in alignment with the highest purpose of what’s happening. 5. An unexpected Bonus resulting from that action or new perspective. 6. A card to provide insight on the highest purpose of the relationship at this time.


A-B-C The ABC method in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a process that is used to determine and modify behaviour patterns. The ABC stands for the Activating Event (the trigger), the Belief (what we think/feel about the situation) and the Consequence (the result of our beliefs). This can be useful if you are experiencing a situation that brings up strong emotional reactions. (It’s worth bearing in mind that emotional reactions come in a whole spectrum. They can be loud and fiery but it can also be stony and dissociative...). If you have a good idea about the trigger of the situation then feel free to select a card for position A. For example if it is about something that happens often in a relationship with another person you could select a court card that represents that person. Alternatively you could select a card to represent the trigger and just keep it to one side - face up - as a significator. And then still pick a card as normal for position A to provide deeper clarification. The first part of the reading goes like this:

A. Activating Event/Trigger. This card reflects and clarifies the situation and reflects information about the underlying issue.

B. Belief. This card reflects and clarifies the belief that is held about the situation. Thoughts, feelings, etc.

C. Consequence. This card reflects and clarifies the consequences that occur because of those thoughts and feelings that are held.

continued on next page


A-B-C continued

After this you select two more cards:

A. B. + This is the belief that would better serve you. A way to reframe the situation that will

lead to more positive and constructive consequences. C. + This is the consequence of the new belief.

This really is a reading that is worth taking your time with, reflecting on and journalling about. This is getting into shadow work territory and having a record will pay dividends towards your personal growth.


Ancestral Gifts This is a reading designed to cast insight over your family inheritance. It will help you face a particular gift, a challenge and provide some advice for how you can best work with this side of yourself. Keep that journal close by.

The Empress and Emperor act as significators for the family lines through Mother and Father; 6 cards represent The Lovers (communication and integration)

1. The Blessing 2. The Challenge 3. Loving Advice - a perspective or a positive action to take


Chain Breaker Another reading that’s well worth keeping that journal close at hand while you perform it. Also, maybe think about doing this reading just before the New Moon when la Luna is at her darkest. This is a good time for surrender and release. You don’t have to wait though. Do it anytime that you feel courageous enough to face down some shadow material.

The Devil card as significator helps to focus our energy on addressing negative habits that keep

us trapped in disempowering circumstances.

1. Avoidance - What truth am I currently avoiding? 2. Advice - What action do I need to take? What perspective do I need to adopt to work

with this constructively. 3. What is the benefit of engaging with this avoidance and following the advice card. 4. Attachment - What am I currently clinging to? 5. Advice - What action do I need to take? What perspective do I need to adopt to work

with this constructively. 6. What is the benefit of facing this attachment and following the advice card.


Panorama This spread is designed to challenge you. It’s slightly less specific than prior spreads. 3 rows of 3 cards each create 3 statements. The spread will provide an overview of 3 different planes of situational experience.

1. Highest potential of the situation 2. The situation at face value. 3. What is operating in shadow, or under the surface.

9 cards represent the Hermit: the light bearer who listens as hidden aspects of the psyche and the world speaks

Initially it might be a good idea to have the cards all turned over and only turn over row 2 first. It can be easiest to first connect with the situation at Face Value before examining other aspects of the situation. This reading might be challenging if you don’t have a lot of experience with cards but it is great to practice. What we are doing with this spread is making space to let the cards tell us key storylines in a situation. Let yourself free associate. You can write down a few words for each card and come up with sentences if that works better for you. Eventually as your confidence increases and your understanding develops, you may find this a very useful spread to use when reading for other people.


Thanks for playing!

I hope that you find any or all of these readings handy.

Please feel free to share your readings on Instagram if you’re on there and tag me.

I’m @stateofwildgrace there.

Peace x


Tarot Spread e Book

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