Three Card · 3 cards
The workhorse spread. Fast, readable, and hard to over-interpret.
Use it for almost anything. Also works as Situation / Action / Outcome.
Tarot spreads
Where the cards go, what each position means, and when to use which.
Each layout, and a free draw: three card spread, celtic cross spread, yes or no spread, love spread, career spread, three card reading, celtic cross reading, yes or no reading, love reading and career reading.
Celtic Cross · 10 cards
Ten cards, the most detailed traditional spread. Rewards a specific question and punishes a vague one.
Use it when a situation has several moving parts and you want them separated.
Yes or No · 1 card
A single card read for direction rather than detail.
Use it sparingly. A yes-or-no question usually hides a better question underneath.
Relationship · 5 cards
Five cards separating your side, their side and the thing between you.
Use it when you are tempted to read the whole deck as being about one person.
Career · 5 cards
Five cards on work, aimed at a decision rather than a fantasy.
Use it at a crossroads — leaving, applying, negotiating.
The spreads compared
| Spread | Cards | Level | Time | Positions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Card | 3 | Beginner | 5–10 minutes | Past, Present, Future |
| Celtic Cross | 10 | Experienced | 30–45 minutes | Present, Challenge, Past, Future, Above — conscious aim, Below — unconscious, Advice, External influences, Hopes and fears, Outcome |
| Yes or No | 1 | Beginner | A minute | The answer |
| Relationship | 5 | Intermediate | 15 minutes | You, Them, The connection, What helps, What hinders |
| Career | 5 | Intermediate | 15 minutes | Where you are, What you bring, The obstacle, The opening, Advice |
Which spread for which question
A quick check-in or a first reading: the three-card spread, read as past, present and future or as situation, action and outcome. A simple decision: a single card, but only when a yes or no is really what you need. A relationship: the relationship spread, which keeps your side and theirs apart. Work at a crossroads: the career spread. A complicated situation with several moving parts: the Celtic Cross.
Almost every published spread is modern. Card reading for fortune-telling dates from the eighteenth century, but fixed position layouts became widespread only after A. E. Waite published the Celtic Cross in 1911, and most of the spreads in use today were designed by twentieth-century writers and readers — which is also why it is perfectly legitimate to design your own.
Designing your own spread
Start from the question, not from a shape. Write down the three to five things you would want to know, turn each into a position name, and decide the order you will lay them in before you shuffle. Keep a note of the layout so that you read it the same way next time.
Choosing a spread
More cards is not more insight. A ten-card Celtic Cross laid over a vague question produces ten vague answers, and the reader ends up assembling a story from noise. Three cards on a specific question beats ten on a fuzzy one every time.
The most useful discipline in tarot is writing the question down before shuffling. It stops the question quietly changing to fit the cards that turn up.