← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 97/121
Spreads and positions
A spread is the pattern in which the cards are laid out for a reading. Each place in the pattern — each position — has a meaning of its own, such as "the past", "the obstacle" or "what will help". The card that falls there is read in the light of that question, so the same card can say quite different things in different places. Choosing a spread is really choosing which questions the reading will ask.
How positions work
A position narrows a card's meaning. The Tower in a "past" position may describe an upheaval that has already happened and is now part of the story; in an "advice" position it might suggest letting a structure that no longer works come down. Readers look at each card in its place first, then at how the cards speak to one another across the spread: which suits and numbers recur, how many Major Arcana appear, and whether neighbours strengthen or weaken each other.
One card and three cards
The simplest spread is a single card, drawn as a focus for the day or as a short answer. The three-card spread is the most widely used: its positions are often past, present and future, but they can just as well be situation, challenge and advice, or you, the other person and the relationship. It is quick, flexible and easy to read clearly.
The Celtic Cross
The best-known larger spread is the Celtic Cross of ten cards, which Waite published in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911) as "an ancient Celtic method of divination". In his form, a significator is laid down first. The first card covers it — the general atmosphere — and the second crosses it, showing the obstacles. The third crowns it, the aim or the best that can be achieved; the fourth lies beneath, the foundation already made; the fifth is behind, the influence passing away; and the sixth is before, what is coming into action. Four more cards are set in a column to the right: the querent's own attitude, their surroundings, their hopes and fears, and the final outcome. Waite advised giving special attention to that last card. Modern versions vary the order and the names of the positions, and many leave out the significator.
Other spreads
There are many others: spreads laid out by the twelve houses of the zodiac, by the months of a year, by the elements, or designed for a single question about love, work or a decision. Waite himself gives two more methods. A good spread is one whose positions fit the question being asked.
In a reading
A spread works best when its positions are clear before the cards are turned, and when the reader reads the whole picture as well as each card. An outcome card is usually understood as where things tend to lead if nothing changes — a direction, not a sentence.