Versatility in Spreads

It’s not uncommon for one spread to be applicable for many different topics. Think about three-card spreads, how the meaning changes depending on what the reader assigns to it. Mind-Body-Spirit, Past-Present-Future, Action-Inaction-Outcome. There’s so much malleability within just a few pulls.

This is by design. The cards have set, sometimes rigid-feeling meanings, because its the context that softens them. A card placed in the Internal Influence position of a Celtic Cross will have a different effect than the same card in the Conscious Thought position.

Some chalk it up to the vague nature and adaptability the cards have. But how do we use the cards? If it to just look at the meanings, surely we wouldn’t even need a deck. Just a book would do! But we focus our energy on the question, we put the cards in a spread. The spread is the roadmap, the cards are the landmarks. There isn’t one without the other.

So it makes sense, then, that if the cards are flexible and changeable, than the spreads should be too. When a spread is created, it may be made for a specific reason, but the best spreads can cover a wide variety of reasons.

Not only that, but it can be sometimes beneficial to get a strange point of view. Needing advice on an action? Try a spread designed more for reflection. How does the insight change the way forward? Looking for some light cast on hidden things? A wheel-and-spoke spread to show how things are moving may shed a little wisdom on what is already seen.

The next time you consult the cards, try using an unexpected spread. The outcome may allow you to flex your intuition muscles and grow as a reader. When the bridges to connect meaning to knowledge are ones you need to build, what other discoveries can you make?