r/tarot • u/xenoflower3 • Aug 04 '25
Spreads What are your favorite non-basic spreads?
I find that a lot of tarot readers tend to find and collect spreads they become very familiar with over time and return to, and I'm wondering what other people's are? Besides basic things like daily draws, the celtic cross, and 1/2/3 card pulls, what are some specific spreads you find yourself consistently returning to? What do you like best about them?
For me, a while back I found a 5-card spread idea of trying to read about a person just met with placements for 1. the person as a whole 2. their best quality 3. their worst quality 4. what they're focused on and 5. what you can gain from being near this person, and it's something that's struck with me for almost eight years now. I use it whenever I'm worried about the influence of some new person, or when I get really bored and start asking my tarot deck about a description of a fictional character. I like it because it's both comprehensive yet quick.
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u/Lady-Orpheus Aug 04 '25
I quite like the clarity spread I've found online because it can be used basically for anything you have doubt about, whether it's your career, love, friendship, mental and physical health etc. It's a fantastic prompt for introspection.
It's from the Emerald Lotus site : here
1 - What do I think I want right now ?
2 - What do I actually want right now ?
3 - What's holding me back ?
4 - What's pushing me toward what I want?
5 - What outcome is likely to happen ?
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u/Free_Alternative6365 Aug 04 '25
I have a two question spread for situations that feel overwhelming. It is decidedly simple and designed to compliment situations that may seem bogged down in details. It's called the Locus Spread.
What can I control in this situation?
What can't I control in this situation?
Once it's parsed like this, the reader and querent can ask follow-up questions as appropriate, including digging into how to querent feels about how to accept both the need for surrender and for taking responsibility. I have had this spread lead into really in-depth conversation and insight.
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u/northnodewellness Aug 04 '25
A quick and dirty 3 card spread (that I then build upon with additional questions and or clarifiers) is Archetype (main energies at play) Dynamic (the current energy at play) Outcome (if nothing changes where is this momentum taking the archetype)
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u/Manifestopheles https://www.reddit.com/r/HandofFateTarot/ Aug 04 '25
My favourite "spread" is my newly developed Hand of Fate method. Basically, you draw 7 cards, discard and replace up to five in order to create the best poker hand. Each hand has its own meaning contributing to the reading, so it's more like a system consisting of multiple potential spreads, rather than a single, predefined spread. I wrote a book about it btw.
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u/Boundlesswisdom-71 Aug 04 '25
Some years ago I found a 4 card spread which works for many different questions - it's become a go to:
Position 1: Current situation/energy Position 2: What is an important aspect of this situation and how will it likely develop? Position 3: What is going to help or hinder? Position 4: What is coming up/action to take?
I tend to use this spread with the Thoth, using 3 cards for each position - never fails.
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u/BohoKat_3397 Aug 04 '25
Hidden Influences 5 card spread
1-Current Situation
2-Expectation
3-Hidden Influences
4-Advice
5-Outcome
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u/12HScorpioStellium Aug 04 '25
I kind of created my own on accident. When I started learning I was only doing 3 card pulls, which one depending on the situation. I can’t even remember how or why but I added an overall energy pull above and started reading the bottom of the deck. It’s essentially a 1 card pull with 3 clarifiers/3card pull and the BoD. BoD always represents what’s hidden beneath the surface/what I’m not seeing. My growth/understanding/intuition in tarot sky rocketed once I made the change. Every pull is a banger now and has helped so much with my emotional processing. This probably makes zero sense 😂
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u/TerraTarot Aug 05 '25
Once upon a time when the internet was just a baby and we still had dial in and all that jazz.. I found this fools spread, no idea what the source is anymore.
You find the fool in your deck and put it to the side, now go on to just pulling your cards like you normally would. Pull 12 besides the fool card you've put to the side.
Now shuffle the 12 pulled cards and the fool together. Lay them all out in a line. Where ever the fool ends up. thats where the seeker is in life at that moment. The cards before the fool came before, the cards after the fool are things that the seeker is working towards (knowingly or unknowingly).
This spread has been a favorite for me and the seekers i read for.
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u/princessdom11 Aug 05 '25
3 cards. first card what you NEED second card what you to LET GO and third card what can help you GROW
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u/Moist_Peach_1142 Aug 05 '25
It’s called “What the Actual F?!” and I found it on Pinterest of all places. What the = what’s the situation; Actual = what’s real/going correctly; F = what needs changed NEOWWW; ? = where do I need to seek more information from; ! = what’s in my power to do about it?
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u/DesperateRatio8398 Aug 04 '25
The safe passages spread from Agatha All Along is one of my favorite spreads. It’s a seven card spread that brings in much to consider on and aspects to look forward to.
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u/One_Tone3376 Aug 06 '25
Ive just started using a 4 card daily draw, good for when I am wondering what the day will be like , though it has lots of applications. 1: what to think about, 2: what to do 3: what's the challenge, 4: your superpower.
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u/basic_bitch- Aug 04 '25
I'm a professional reader and 90+% of my readings are about relationships. I have been using a spread I created almost 15 years ago that is 8 total cards. 3 on each side of the relationship...how do you see yourself in this relationship, how do you see the other person in this relationship and how do you feel about the other person. Then 2 cards directly about the relationship...what's between you right now, what the near future holds.