Barbara Moore, wrote in her book Your Tarot, Your Way "The Major Arcana cards represent major events in your life..." 

It wasn't a concept that I had actually considered until I read that statement. Which, then got me thinking about the Tarot Legend of the Fool's Journey. 

If its not something that you are not familiar with, then in brief the story explains the patterns, numerological sequences, and meanings of each card.

So in this first blog for Tarot Playtime, I am going to explore the Single Card Spread, looking at three variations of the Single Card; The Single Draw, The Birth Card, and finally The Card of the Year.

Lastly, I will look at how you can tweak the Card of the Year, to look at the Day, Week, or Month ahead. Each of the spreads discussed on this page, will be explored in a bit more depth on the following pages. 

I was first introduced to the concept of the Single Card Spreads when I was around 17/18...

It was actually part of my job interview/try out for being a Tarot Reader with a Company in the city. 

I will be honest here and say until that evening, I had never done platform in any capacity before. The person in charge of proceedings, gave all the assurance that it would be really easy... 

The Single Draw…

All I needed to do was stand up in front of this crowd of around 30 - 50 people, use the small projector at the side of me, to display the card selected.

Sounded really simple, it was don't get me wrong; however, when your a complete newbie and couldn't even work the projector properly without being shown, it didn't feel like it. 

So there I was with my favourite deck in one hand, and projector at the other side, I launched into it.

• Background on the Single Card Spread...

The single card spread doesn't use the full 78 cards, it only makes use of the 22 Major Arcana, which as you'll remember from the start of this post, deals with major life events and experiences.

• Don't Forget to Shuffle...

It may sound daft, but it is wise to give the Major Arcana a shuffle before you start working with it, otherwise there is a chance that you'll end up working with a deck in its chronological order, plus if it has been used for readings and spreads, the previous energies may still be present...

The following single card spreads, are from Barbara Moore's Your Tarot, Your Way. 

Birth Card Single Card Draw

I've been a bit of a closest fan both of Cairo Marchetti and Barbra Moore for a few years, ever since I picked up the Gilded Tarot by Barbra Moore and Cairo Marchetti, which is also part of the Easy Tarot: Learn to Read the Cards Once and for All! by Ciro Marchetti and Josephine Ellershaw.

So when I received the Your Tarot, Your Way set I gave a bit of a fan boy squeek. Although most of the information isn't that new to me, I did discover the first of two new spreads, that are news to me.

• Background to the Birth Card Spread

This spread uses the 22 Major Arcana and has links to some of the principles from Numerology. Where the full birth date is reduced down into a single numerical value, for Day, Month, Year or Month, Day, Year for the USA.

• Single Digits and Grouped Pairs

While there is connections between Numerology, Astrology, and Tarot; the purpose of Tarot Playtime is to keep things simple, and build an understanding as the posts continue.

So in this variation of the Single Card Spread, the each aspect of the birth data is reduced to a single value between 1 & 9, in most cases there will be two cards. 

Although in exceptional circumstances there can be a single card or a group of three cards depending on how the numbers from the birth data work out.

The last of the Single Card Draws is Card of the Year, this single card draw is featured in the Your Tarot, Your Way.

Finally, the last of the single card spreads that I have decided to explore is the Card of the Year, which is another variation of the Single Card Spread, but it is focusing on the year ahead.

It is making use of the same principles from Numerology, which are to reduce the numeric value from the year data into a single value.

• Background to Card of the Year

Again giving focus on the 22 Major Arcana, this spread is focused on the themes and patterns that may play out in the year ahead. 

• Singular Focus

Where as the Birth card gave pairs or in some cases individual or a group of three cards, this variation will produce only a single card, based upon the data used.

The spread uses similar information, in that it requires Day, Month, and Year or Month, Day, and Year. However, in place of the birth year it is the current year that is used. Which, at the time of publishing would be 2022.