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Intuitive Spread Design - A First Hand Experience |
Over the years, a small four-card spread has evolved out of my need for a spread that would be relatively short for group situations, but would contain all the essential information for a total reading. The evolution is quite simple to follow. In an attempt to shorten the Celtic Cross for parties (yes, I use the Celtic Cross and I’m damn proud of it!), I began working only with the first two cards plus the immediate future card (just to the right of the first two cards) and the last two cards. I kept them in the same physical positions on the table that they would hold were other five cards in place, so I ended up this odd, off centered spread that wasn’t very esthetically pleasing. To resolve this design dilemma, I moved card 1, 3, 4, and 5 into a row with the second card crossing the first card on the left. I called these five positions:
1: Current position
2: (Crossing card) Obstacles or guidance
3: Potential immediate future
4: Elements that move you toward the . . .
5: Potential outcome.
This was fine for a while and then I realized that cards 3 and 4 began to feel redundant in many of my readings. They would not really add information. Usually card 3 (immediate future) would have a lesser, but similar meaning to card 5 (potential outcome) and card 2 (Obstacles or guidance) and 4 (Elements that move you toward the . . .) would be identical in meaning. So I took my scalpel to the spread to end up with four cards. I now had a three card row with the second card dealt crossing the first card.
The next transition came one day when I got a strong sensation that the crossing card did not apply to the first card, but applied to the middle card. I physically moved the card to the middle card of the three. Over the next three readings I did, the crossing card seemed to apply more strongly to the second card, not the first. Not being one to fight intuition, I resigned myself to this new design.
In this new middle position, the crossing card laid sideways actually touched all three cards, almost covering them completely. This was kind of neat in that the card began to actually add meaning to all three cards. It was also annoying in that it seemed to always be in the way while I was trying to talk about the other three cards. This is where the final transition took place. I began dealing the final card after reading the first three. I renamed the fourth card the “wrap-up” card - a card which tied the other three cards (current situation, obstacle or guidance and potential outcome) together. I have also found, in readings where the first three cards may offer less than encouraging information, the fourth card always offered an alternative path to a more positive choice.
I wrote this article, not to promote my own ego-spread, (though you are more than welcome to use this spread) but to encourage other readers to follow their own intuition if there “feels” like a better way to design a spread. Follow your intuition and the cards and their positions will literally fall into place.