The "Five W's + 1" Spread

Barleywine

Over the years I've occasionally talked about how well (or poorly) tarot can answer the "Five W's" that used to be taught as part of basic creative writing lessons - originally, "Who, What, Why, Where and When." Although they were aimed at narrative structure, they also imparted a rudimentary acquaintance with deductive reasoning (for example, if "Who" is discovered at "Where" with a smoking "What," and "Why" is lying dead on the floor, that immediately suggests something.) I believe tarot does reasonably well with "What" and "Why," which - with the addition of "How" - form the core of how many of us read. We can sometimes identify "Who" if the cards (and especially the court cards) pinpoint other people involved in the situation, and once in a great while, "When," with uneven results, but can seldom manage "Where" beyond a suggestion of environmental conditions.

With this in mind, I created the attached spread, which wraps the "Five W's" around a decision-making sequence.
 

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Krystophe

Over the years I've occasionally talked about how well (or poorly) tarot can answer the "Five W's" that used to be taught as part of basic creative writing lessons - originally, "Who, What, Why, Where and When." Although they were aimed at narrative structure, they also imparted a rudimentary acquaintance with deductive reasoning (for example, if "Who" is discovered at "Where" with a smoking "What," and "Why" is lying dead on the floor, that immediately suggests something.) I believe tarot does reasonably well with "What" and "Why," which - with the addition of "How" - form the core of how many of us read. We can sometimes identify "Who" if the cards (and especially the court cards) pinpoint other people involved in the situation, and once in a great while, "When," with uneven results, but can seldom manage "Where" beyond a suggestion of environmental conditions.

With this in mind, I created the attached spread, which wraps the "Five W's" around a decision-making sequence.

Barleywine, your spreads always resonate very intensely for me!

I commented recently in a thread on preferring to use fewer cards in a reading, but that's mainly because so many large spreads seem (to me, at least) to consist of more or less disjointed lists of loosely related cards/positions that ultimately seem increasingly chaotic the more cards they involve; too scattered to really "grab hold of" in a useful way. Your spreads, on the other hand, are the epitome of what I really want from a Tarot spread...well-structured, focused creations with strong internal cohesion that can be read from a variety of perspectives to really gain the most insight.

I'm quite eager to begin exploring the possibilities with this one!
 

Barleywine

Barleywine, your spreads always resonate very intensely for me!

I commented recently in a thread on preferring to use fewer cards in a reading, but that's mainly because so many large spreads seem (to me, at least) to consist of more or less disjointed lists of loosely related cards/positions that ultimately seem increasingly chaotic the more cards they involve; too scattered to really "grab hold of" in a useful way. Your spreads, on the other hand, are the epitome of what I really want from a Tarot spread...well-structured, focused creations with strong internal cohesion that can be read from a variety of perspectives to really gain the most insight.

I'm quite eager to begin exploring the possibilities with this one!

Thanks! I feel the same way about all spreads, large or small. But the largest spreads can become a shambling mess if they aren't kept under tight control. Above all, there has to be a coherent flow to them that gets from Point A to Point B while saying something intelligible in the process.