As a tarot reader, I create new spreads all the time, but there are a few I come back to over and over again. I’ve collected my top ten tarot spreads here for you to try out.
Tarot spreads for personal direction
1. Your Tarot Personal Compass – ten cards
Everyone needs a compass – something that gives their lives direction…or if it doesn’t do that then at least lets them know in which direction they’re heading, and where to go next. This spread is based on the importance of examining the present in order to find your own personal compass.
2. The Two-Card Challenge Spread – two cards
This zappy little reading takes the two central cards from the classic Celtic Cross spread and suggests this is all you need to get the the heart of your situation and take action.
3. Full Moon Tarot Spread – seven cards
A friend of mine had a question about whether or not she was on the right career path, so I created a spread to look at the energies that were waxing and waning in her life, going back two weeks to the last new moon, and looking forward two weeks to the next.
4. The Celtic Cross – ten cards
It’s really hard to beat this classic spread for looking at any situation from pretty much every angle you need – time and again I return to these ten familiar positions when working through my own issues, and often when reading for clients.
5. The Spring Cleaning Tarot Spread – eight cards in four positions
I created this spread last year when I wanted something that would serve as a spring clean for my life – addressing the junk I’ve got kicking around my flat and clearing it out, and redecorating with shiny new ideas to brighten things up.
Tarot spreads for work and projects
6. The ‘Lead us not into procrastination’-kick-up-the-ass Tarot Spread – seven cards
Perfect for when you have something important to do which you *just* can’t seem to manage to get round to. This spread is a little ol’ conversation with yourself, and hopefully by the time you reach the end of it you can see either just how silly you’re being, or else you’ve realised you never wanted to do that damn thing anyway. Either way, it’s gotten you out of doing it for half an hour longer… oops.
7. SWOTting Up – a tarot spread for business – eight cards
Atarot SWOT analysis for your business or project. This simple spread looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in your current approach, and provides proactive advice for supporting or overcoming each.
8. Your Business Elements – seven cards
This spread examines how the four elements are playing out in your business or project. The earth element gives us meat and bones. Air helps us to gain mental clarity – this is the analytical part of the business. Fire is our inspiration, our spark. Water is the soul of the business – it is here that we bring our heart and emotion into our work, how our intuition can inform our decisions.
Tarot spreads for tarot readers
9. Interviewing a new tarot deck – six cards
In this post, I’m meeting the Mary-el Tarot, but this spread is a great way to get to know any new tarot deck (or maybe one that’s been hiding in a cupboard for a while). It looks at the deck’s strengths and weaknesses and discusses how you will be able to work together.
10. The Readers’ Reading – six cards
Get to know your strengths as a tarot reader and how to approach your journey with tarot. Based on the spread above for meeting and greeting new decks, this one’s about you/me as a reader and your/my special skills.
Have you tried out any of these spreads? I’d love to hear how you got on!
I’m a 30-something writer, artist, tarot reader, and perpetual explorer of the space between thought, feeling, and action.
I believe that spirituality and ritual are for everybody. I’m about the journey, in all of its messy, non-linear, chaotic iterations. I am excited by anticapitalist business and living with my whole entire self present. I use tarot cards to bring forth hidden truth, and ritual to affirm my commitment, over and over, to my ever-shifting path.
Thanks for this list. Great repertoire of spreads! There’s lots to work with here.
Thanks Kim! Enjoy, and let me know how you get on 🙂
Loving the SWOT spread!
Clara xx
Thanks Clara! Sometimes the best approach is the most obvious one… when I designed my first business spread I tried so hard not to make it a SWOT (seemed like such a busman’s holiday as I was a community development worker at the time and did SWOTs with community groups regularly)…but I tried it and what do you know, it worked. Then I got greedy and added the four extra cards for a little more pro-activity… but it would work fine as a quick four-card spread if you were short on time 🙂
Just tried the Personal Compass spread with a friends reading! This was PERFECT for her adventurous situation!