Spreads worth knowing
The three-card spread, position by position
The three classic positions, two alternatives that work better for specific questions and how to read the whole row instead of card by card.
3
The Celtic Cross and its ten positions in order
What question each of the ten slots asks, in what order they are laid out and how to stop the right-hand column from swallowing the reading.
10
Five-card spread for a decision with two paths
A V-shaped layout for comparing two options: which card describes each branch, which one holds the base and why there's no card that tells you which to choose.
5
Includes the positions, a full example and what to write down at the end.
The cards, one at a time
The Fool: setting out without a plan and the price of not looking
What arcanum zero usually signals in a spread, how it changes depending on position and what readings it has when it comes up reversed.
The Tower: what falls because it was badly held up
Why arcanum sixteen frightens more than it deserves, what it actually tends to describe and how to read it without announcing disasters.
Ace of Cups: the start of something that has no name yet
How the Ace of the Cups suit is read in a spread, why it doesn't always speak of romance and what changes when it appears reversed.
Five of Pentacles: lack and the door nobody looks at
What this five describes in material and emotional terms, why the lit window detail changes the reading and what it adds reversed.
Knight of Swords: speed, argument and haste
How to read this Swords court figure, what it adds when it describes a person and what it usually indicates reversed.
Three of Wands: waiting for what you set in motion to come back
What stage of a project this three describes, how it differs from the Two of Wands and how its reading changes when it comes up reversed.
The High Priestess: what you know without being able to explain it
What arcanum two adds to a spread, why it usually signals withheld information and how to read it reversed without turning it into a mystery.
Notes
How to record a spread in five lines
A short record format, what to always include and what you lose by writing down only the spreads that went well.
Choosing a deck: Rider-Waite, Marseille and illustrated decks
The practical differences between the three most common styles, which makes learning easier and what to look at before buying your first one.
One card a day for ten weeks
A slow learning plan based on the structure of suits and numbers, with the five-minute daily exercise that sustains it.
Phrasing the question before shuffling
Why a closed question leaves the spread mute, how to rewrite it in descriptive terms and which questions are best left out.
Where to start
A random draw in your browser. Nothing leaves this page.
Reviewing the day in three cards
A short reading for the evening: what weighed, what helped and what's left open, with the recording format that goes with it.
One card on waking, five minutes
The shortest practice there is: a single card in the morning, how to use it during the day and how to check it at night.
What stays and what goes: a five-card end-of-month reading
A monthly review in five positions, designed to be done with the month's journal in front of you.
Two paths: a reading for a decision that has been open for weeks
Five cards in a V to describe two options without the spread choosing for you, with the preliminary step of writing out both alternatives.
A four-card relationship reading, without reading the other person
How to look at a bond from your side: what you bring, what costs you, what the bond shares and what conversation is missing.
A full Celtic Cross on a long-running situation
Ten cards read in two blocks, with a pause and notes in between, for a matter that has been open for months.