Welcome to the 1st edition of Tarot Playtime, these will be posts dedicated to the worlds, themes, and inspirations that come from different Tarot and Oracle cards. Their authors and the spreads that I have either discovered, or created myself.
If you are just joining me, then why not take a look at this post first...
On the previous page, I discussed and demonstrated the card of the year spread, on this page I am going to look at variations and conclude this post. The Card of the Year and Birth Card spreads can be found in Your Tarot, Your Way by Barbra Moore.
Let's wrap up the first Tarot Playtime post, by looking at ways in which both the Card of the Year and Birth Card spreads can be tweaked and so that you can in a sense 'make it your own'.
Before You Begin...
To do this spread effectively, you will need the following:
- A Deck of Tarot Cards
- A Journal to Make Notes
- Time to Practice
Step 1: Divide the Cards
The Major Arcana have 22 cards, if you are not certain which is the major and minor, here is a good rule of thumb to go by:
- Major Deck: 22 cards starting with The Fool and ends with The World.
- Minor Deck: 56 cards featuring Ace to King in Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles.
Step 2: Shuffle the Major and Discard the Minor
Shuffling is important for a few reasons:,
- It mixes the cards together to prevent them being in chronological numerical order, this is a purely practical reason, but it is functional and effective.
- Clears the energy from any previous card reading sessions. It is important for the cards to be clear of any influences, as you want a clear channel and a clear reading.
- Gives you time to set an intention and connect with the deck. It is important to connect with the deck, you are looking for an answer either for yourself or another, without an intention or connection, the cards will be aimless, and you'll not get a good result.
Step 3: Preparing to do the Single Card Spread
1. Begin by adding the Date, Month and Year.
Similar to the Birth Card Spread, it begins with adding your date, month, year together. Only this time, instead of the birth year, we use the current year. So using the date I wrote this as our working example: 05/01/2022, as a mathmatic sum it looks like this:
0+5+0+1+2+0+2+2 = 12
The answer is above 9, so add the digits together, which as a mathematical sum would look like this:
1+2=3
2. Card of the Year Alternative Methods.
It is possible to make use of the corresponding card. Where in place of just a single card, there are two, so using our working example above,
we have 12 & 3.
Method 1: Using a similar idea as the Single Card Draw the third and twelfth card would be taken from the shuffle.
Method 2: Unlike the Single Card Draw, the thrid and twelfth cards are taken from the chronological order as shown below.
3. The Major Arcana List
01/10: Magician/Wheel of Fortune
02/11: High Priestess/Justice
03/12: Empress/Hanged Man
04/13: Emperor/Death
05/14: Hierophant/Temperance
06/15: Lovers/Devil
07/16: Chariot/Tower
08/17: Strength/Star
09/18: Hermit/Moon
01/10/19: Magician/Wheel of Fortune/Sun
02/20: High Priestess/Judgement
03/21: Empress/World
0 - The Fool: If you have a situation where there is no corresponding card, for example your data adds up to 22 and above, then your buddy or corresponding card should be the fool.
Before You Begin...
To do this spread effectively, you will need the following:
- A Deck of Tarot Cards
- A Journal to Make Notes
- Time to Practice
Step 1: Divide the Cards
The Major Arcana have 22 cards, if you are not certain which is the major and minor, here is a good rule of thumb to go by:
- Major Deck: 22 cards starting with The Fool and ends with The World.
- Minor Deck: 56 cards featuring Ace to King in Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles.
Step 2: Shuffle the Major and Discard the Minor
Shuffling is important for a few reasons:,
- It mixes the cards together to prevent them being in chronological numerical order, this is a purely practical reason, but it is functional and effective.
- Clears the energy from any previous card reading sessions. It is important for the cards to be clear of any influences, as you want a clear channel and a clear reading.
- Gives you time to set an intention and connect with the deck. It is important to connect with the deck, you are looking for an answer either for yourself or another, without an intention or connection, the cards will be aimless, and you'll not get a good result.
Step 3: Preparing to do the Single Card Spread
1. Begin by adding the digits.
Add your date, month and year together, let's use the date I wrote this as our working example: 05/01/2022, as a mathmatic sum it looks like this:
0+5+0+1+2+0+2+2 = 12
The answer is above 9, so add the digits together, which as a mathematical sum would look like this:
1+2=3
The final answer should be a single digit between 1 & 9.
2. Finding the Corresponding Card.
In the Birth Card Spread, the final card between 1 & 9 has a buddy or corresponding card. In certain circumstances there may be two cards.
Original Method: In our working example above, we have 12 and 3. Unlike the Single Card Draw from the previous page, its not the third and twelfth card from the shuffle, but rather the third and twelfth card in chronological order (see below).
Alternative Method: Using the working example above, we have 12 and 3. In this method, the third and twelfth card are taken from the shuffle, rather than the chronological order below.
So you would deal the third card, and then continue counting until reaching the twelfth card.
3. The Major Arcana List
01/10: Magician/Wheel of Fortune
02/11: High Priestess/Justice
03/12: Empress/Hanged Man
04/13: Emperor/Death
05/14: Hierophant/Temperance
06/15: Lovers/Devil
07/16: Chariot/Tower
08/17: Strength/Star
09/18: Hermit/Moon
01/10/19: Magician/Wheel of Fortune/Sun
02/20: High Priestess/Judgement
03/21: Empress/World
0 - The Fool: There will be situations where there is no corresponding card, for example using the original method and the data adds up to 22 and above, then your buddy or corresponding card would be the fool.
You may still wish to add the third card in the alternative method, in which case you may wish to elect either the first or last card of the shuffle as the fool.
Single card spreads are useful tools, and I'll admit the new spreads that I have been introduced to, will prove useful for blogging in the coming months.
They are also very useful for Events, and Demonstration evenings as well, however I have a sense that I would most likely end up making use of the variations, in place of the original or traditional versions.
I guess this is because I like to make these things my own, as I find 'reading' or interpreting them easier that way, than trying use someone elses method.
That said when you are just starting out, doing it as the author suggests usually helps when understanding the basics, and as I said earlier there is nothing wrong with this in the slightes.
Just remember that the interpretation is from that authors understanding, and you may find another author has a different idea of the cards mean to them. Sometimes the only way to learn is by collating meaning from different authors and bringing them together.
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