The Four Seasons Spread
I use Ellen Cannon Reed's Four Seasons spread from her book "The Witches Tarot," which is an 8 card spread her husband devised. It seems a bit confusing at first, because the cards are not read in the same pattern that they are laid out, but this spread really does work, I swear
. It is worth the mild grief of learning it initially.
The Four Seasons Spread (by Ellen Cannon Reed):
Eight cards are laid out in a circle, with card one being on the left hand side (The spring card), card two just above it, three at the apex of the circle (the summer card), four on the right hand side just below three, card five positioned opposite card one (The autumn card), six below five, seven is opposite card three at the bottom of the circle (the winter card), and eight falls between one and seven. (If someone can make this into a usable diagram pleeeeeeeze do! My lame attempts have failed so far to format it properly so that it comes out in the post correctly.)
Position One, the Spring: This is is the heart of the matter, where everything begins; the seeds of the present and the future are sown here
Position Eight: Comment or modifier for the Spring card. Just gives more information or comments on the situation.
Position Three, the Summer: How the seeds planted in the spring are coming into fruition; how they are growing, and what they're growing into.
Position Two: Comment or modifier for the Summer card.
Position Five, the Autumn: The matter brought wholly into fruition. What is the ultimate harvest of the seeds planted in the spring.
Position Four: Comment or modifier for the Autumn card.
Position Seven, the Winter: What should be learned from the matter and/or what action should be taken.
Position Six: Comment or modifier for the Winter card.
You can continue to draw comment cards on each of the seasons until you're satisfied of course.
It may really seem rococo at first, but once you've worked through it one time, everything falls into place, I ***swear***, lol.
I love this spread because it just makes intuitive sense to me to see most situations this way, as having a root cause that can be traced through it's growth to its final outcome. I also love it because I can actually remember all the positions, as opposed to my luck with the Celtic Cross. I know that some folks looooove the CC, with good reasons I think, but I could just never remember all the meanings of all the positions, and so I abandoned it for good a few months ago.
Good luck!
--Sobe
