What 3-card spreads do you use?

TidalMac Julia

What's up for today

I like a three card spread of:

1. What will I face today

2. What should I do about it

3. What should I look out for

Depending upon what I get, sometimes I expand it.
 

paperwhite

My go-to 3 card spread is 1...2...3

1.Seen (what we know)
2.Unseen (what we don't know)
3.Outcome (self explanatory)

I'm still learning and this spread is simple enough for me to not need to follow along with a set of instructions, but it's informative enough to be useful.
 

shininglion

I tend to refer to 2 back and forth.

1. Problem
2. Advice
3. Solution

This one is good for a specific question like, "How can I ensure I have enough money for my expenses this week?"

and

1. Situation
2. Advice
3. Outcome

This is very similar except its more geared towards the sort of all-encompassing or situational questions like "How can I keep my past from repeating itself?"

In essence they are the same spread. I just find that the terminology of one might work better for certain questions than others.

Another really cool spread I recently saw on here is the Traffic Light Spread.

1. Red Light - Don't do this
2. Yellow Light - Be aware/cautious of this.
3. Green Light - Proceed with this.

I've only used it once, but it was very effective and very cool. I'm sure I'll refer to it again.
 

rachelcat

Help Needed!

I'm reading at a Halloween happy hour tomorrow, and I need three-card spread first aid!

For a "situation advice outcome" type spread, I always feel like I want to make it "situation OUTCOME ADVICE"! (I'm also thinking about putting a "you" (querant) card at the beginning.)

What do you think? Should I read outcome and then advice? That way, if the outcome is not what we like, the advice can be how to avoid that outcome. And if it's a desireable outcome, the advice can be how to achieve it.

Otherwise, the outcome would be saying what would happen if you take the advice???

(Obviously, I've been reading only for myself for about 10 years too long!)

Help! And thanks!
 

paperwhite

I think that's a good alteration to make to that type of three card spread. I agree, Outcome does feel like it should come before Advice. Have fun reading! :)

ETA: I also think adding a querent card is a good idea. Sometimes a little bit of background info can be really helpful!
 

rachelcat

paperwhite, thank you for your input. At least I'm not TOTALLY off the wall here then!

I was thinking of a spread like this:

---2---3
---1---4

1. You
2. Issue
3. Outcome
4. Advice

The lower cards are "inner" and in the control of the querant; the upper are "outer" things affecting the querant. (S/he can influence them, but doesn't have complete control over them.)

Now I have to think if 4 cards is too long for a shorty reading!
 

paperwhite

rachelcat said:
Now I have to think if 4 cards is too long for a shorty reading!

Nope, I think four cards is just fine for a short reading. There are enough cards to give a proportionate amount of information, but not so many that you'll get bogged down. I wouldn't go any higher than four and no lower than three. Three-four cards for a short reading is just right :)
 

Saker

Heart, Mind, Reality

I do a three-card spread that I call the Heart, Mind, Reality spread. I use it to assess a particular situation. The first card is where my heart lies in this situation, the second what my mind is telling me about it, and the third card is the reality of it. Interesting to see how far off I am sometimes in my heart and/or mind, or how close I am. It's more of a clarification spread.
 

linnie

three card readings can be really insightful

Namaste :)

I devised (or rather, it devised itself) a three card reading called the A'HA Layout, because it was immediately relevant to my deck. It works so well because the querent is reading themself, by selecting the cards that beckon, face up! I know that this is not a common usage of cards, but this deck is all about symbols reaching out to the querent's Higher Self, soul, what you will, and so the querent looks at the majors and chooses (spontaneously, without too much pause or thought) three cards based on

1) which card sings to your spirit, makes you smile inside
2) which card feels uncomfortable, feels inharmonious, creeps you out, like fingernails on a blackboard
3) which card just intrigues you... no love/hate, just "Wow!" or "Hmm???".

I read them in that order, and they represent

1) your soul aspiration
2) what blocks you from getting there
3) how to bridge the gap.

This layout is amazingly accurate with A'HA, and I can't see why it wouldn't work well with other cards, either, if the cards are of a pictorial/symol nature. :) :) :)
 

nisaba

Maxamillion said:
Anyone else have a favorite 3-card spread?
I somehow think I'll be abandoning all those traditional three-card spreads for this one, for a good while.

<grin>