How do you a 3 card spread?!

Quest85

Hi AE's ..
I was curious to know how you like to read your 3-card spreads?
I tend to swich every now and then...although the PastPresentFuture has never really worked for me..
When I started to mainly read 3cards, I had no positions in mind..however sometimes that makes it a bit harder to connect the dots ;)
So then recently I got a reply on my thread of a AE member, who explained that they read as an anchor: the middle card as the centre and the 2 flanking cards as clarifying the central card. I was very interested to try this, and I basically used this way with all my recent spreads to see if it works for me ...and IT DOES!!!

The thing for me, with positions though is that sometimes I find that cards are in the wrong position and/or switched. I would feel very strongly that, for example, the left flanking card is representing the 'centre' card instead of the actual middle card, which would be a clarifying one.

So how do you do it? looking forward to read your experiences :)

EDIT: maybe this thread shoulve been placed in talking tarot, I'm not sure...if so, I apologize, will it be removed to the other thread ?
 

Grizabella

The way I normally see it is: Do I want to know my own view in this or do I want to know what the cards advise? My best thinking isn't able to give me clarity and good advice, so that's why I've done the reading. Therefore, the way the cards fall is the way I should read them. That's what works for me, but something else could very well work for others, though. :)


There's an exception to this, though. I do switch the cards around in the case of 1 Major and 2 Minors or in the case of 2 Majors and I Minor, though, just see how it influences the reading. I put the third card in the middle in these cases just to reflect on what the message might be that way.
 

rwcarter

What you're describing sounds like a take off on Elemental Dignities, which is a way of reading odd numbers of cards without positional spread meanings. The interaction between the central and flanking cards is determined by the elemental interaction of the two cards. Take a look at
Elemental Dignities Study Group Discussion & Index Thread for more info and links to some threads where the method is demonstrated.

Rodney
 

Barleywine

I don't read the three-card line as literal past, present and future, I'm after what I call "situational awareness." The center card is normally the situation, the left-hand card shows influences that are passing away and the right-hand card reveals those that are emerging to take their place. I also pay attention to any obvious facing to see whether the situation is likely to progress smoothly or whether it is subject to resistance, either internal or external. That resistance could come from any of the cards, either holding back or pushing back. Elemental dignities also play a part in the ease or difficulty of development. Generally, I read the spread left-to-right as a narrative, but sometimes I treat each position as a separate focus area.
 

Quest85

The way I normally see it is: Do I want to know my own view in this or do I want to know what the cards advise? My best thinking isn't able to give me clarity and good advice, so that's why I've done the reading. Therefore, the way the cards fall is the way I should read them. That's what works for me, but something else could very well work for others, though. :)

Nice ..This is very much how I approach readings, with no specific positions, aswell.
I think about what information do I need from the cards?..it's also depending on the question though. Or better said: most of the time it depends on the question as to how I'll read my cards.

There's an exception to this, though. I do switch the cards around in the case of 1 Major and 2 Minors or in the case of 2 Majors and I Minor, though, just see how it influences the reading. I put the third card in the middle in these cases just to reflect on what the message might be that way.

Yes I can see what you mean. I do tend to see Majors as being a centre card.. when paired with 2 minors. And I actually realize just now that I got stuck on a few recent readings with 1 minor 2 Majors... so guess I could try and shift them a bit more then :)

Thanks for sharing :)
 

Quest85

What you're describing sounds like a take off on Elemental Dignities, which is a way of reading odd numbers of cards without positional spread meanings. The interaction between the central and flanking cards is determined by the elemental interaction of the two cards. Take a look at
Elemental Dignities Study Group Discussion & Index Thread for more info and links to some threads where the method is demonstrated.

Rodney

Thank you very much for this link Rodney, as I'm very very interested in elemental dignities since 2 weeks or so ;) ...as I found that something's missing doing the readings... So you're quicker to know what I am looking for here haha ... right on target :)
Thanks!!
 

Sharla

I just throw down as many cards as i feel to, could be 1,2,3.....5,7,9.

And UNLESS im doing a specific spread where each card would have a positional meaning, whatever cards i put down, i just let them flow and talk with eachother.....and take the reading from there.

Like rwcarter has mentioned about Elemental dignities, i use these too religiously. So some cards may not get along being next to eachother and are in friction with eachother etc...or some might be fine, or some might be just damn lazy and nothing much is going on etc. Id see these more as all the same sign i.e all water.

So yes use as many cards as you wish, it is better to use an odd number as then you have a central focus card....and then just read the energy through them all. If you feel like you need more then pull more.
 

Quest85

I don't read the three-card line as literal past, present and future, I'm after what I call "situational awareness." The center card is normally the situation, the left-hand card shows influences that are passing away and the right-hand card reveals those that are emerging to take their place. I also pay attention to any obvious facing to see whether the situation is likely to progress smoothly or whether it is subject to resistance, either internal or external. That resistance could come from any of the cards, either holding back or pushing back. Elemental dignities also play a part in the ease or difficulty of development. Generally, I read the spread left-to-right as a narrative, but sometimes I treat each position as a separate focus area.

Interesting Barley-Wine, thanks for sharing your reading tactics :) I like your take on 'situational awareness' as you describe...its a very nice addition to pff readings, will try this :)

I also pay attention to 'facing directions'....actually what happends is ; it seems to attract my attention right away, I dont necessarily go and look ...most of the times this jumps out to me.

I want to incorporate the ED's to my readings now, as I feel thats the missing piece.
I'm only just studying this part, and I find it very interesting.

I think (aspiring)tarotreaders in general, want to explore all 'possible' ways and angles to make reason of the cards, to read them. It's just so magical to see how sometimes I do these readings where everything fits ...The spread, the Quint, The base, the ED's, the numbers.. as I'm still learning/beginner of 2 years, I know I like to see this kind of confirmation that I've read my spread right. I guess if you are an experience reader you'll see the connections much faster, with a trained eye ;) I hope that will happen with me and my readings.
Thanks for your input!
 

CoffeeBlood

Since I'm a beginner, i do only 3 card readings. they seem to work well for me.. for now.

I used to have an oracle deck with which i used to lay more cards in certain order, and the layout had a meaning [like past-present-future-solution..]

the 3 card layout, i generally try to see if there is a past/present/future possibility. sometimes there is, and at times there isn't. sometimes, most usually, there is a past influence, current situation, and outcome [future], with a general advice from all the cards.. the general message is more of the pragmatic or 'hidden in plain sight' type of thing..

sorry, i can't explain well.. i guess i let my intuition guide me instead?
 

Quest85

I just throw down as many cards as i feel to, could be 1,2,3.....5,7,9.

And UNLESS im doing a specific spread where each card would have a positional meaning, whatever cards i put down, i just let them flow and talk with eachother.....and take the reading from there.

Like rwcarter has mentioned about Elemental dignities, i use these too religiously. So some cards may not get along being next to eachother and are in friction with eachother etc...or some might be fine, or some might be just damn lazy and nothing much is going on etc. Id see these more as all the same sign i.e all water.

So yes use as many cards as you wish, it is better to use an odd number as then you have a central focus card....and then just read the energy through them all. If you feel like you need more then pull more.

Yes I tried this a couple times to just let the cards flow and stop when feeling got the info I needed.. but I got very nervous for some reason. Maybe this is something to try again when I'm more confident en experienced with reading the cards...I still need some structure I guess ;)
Glad it works for you though :) I think it's master if you can just basically "shake them up your sleeve" so to speak.

I was wondering though, how do you shuffle? do you shuffle before each draw? or maybe pull them from a fan?