Rachel's Magic Square Spread

rachelcat

Several discussions that have been going on around here (about 9-square spreads, quint cards, and other things) prompted me to brush this one off and finally complete it. I’ve worked ridiculously long and hard on what should be a simple spread, so I hope you enjoy it!

Very short intro: A magic square is a square arrangement of numbers in which all the rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same number. A 3x3 magic square is called a Saturn magic square (with larger squares assigned to other planets). (The 3x3 square is also called the Lo Shu diagram in feng shui.) It uses the 9 basic digits, and all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 15 (or 10 if you leave out the center 5). I think a magic square is a perfect basis for a 3x3 spread because, well, it’s magical!

Without further ado, here is the spread (which has plenty of ado of its own). A one-page version is attached.

Rachel’s Magic Square Spread
Rachel Mann
April 11, 2016

There are several versions of this spread, using tarot and/or oracle decks.

1. Simple: Lay out tarot or oracle cards in number order and read the groups of three, leaving out the sums.
2. Three or Four Decks: Using tarot or oracle decks, lay out 1, 2, 3 from one deck, 4, 5, 6 from another, and 7, 8, 9 from another. This gives you one card from each deck in each row and column. Leave out the sums, or use a fourth (tarot or majors-only) deck for the sums. (If you use sums, the oracle decks you use will need to have numbered cards, such as Lenormands.)
3. Tarot with Sums: Use a full tarot deck for the number order cards, and then search through the deck for the majors for the sums.
4. Separated Tarot with Sums: Separate a tarot deck into majors and minors. Lay out minors as the number order cards, and use the majors for the sums.
5. Oracle and Majors: Use an oracle with numbered cards, such as a Lenormand, for the number order cards. Use tarot majors for the sums.


----4--9--2---S4
----3--5--7---S5
----8--1--6---S6
S7-S1-S2-S3-S8

Lay out cards in number order.

Read columns first:

Left – 4, 3, 8: Past
Middle – 9, 5, 1: Present
Right – 2, 7, 6: Future

Read rows next:
Top – 4, 9, 2: Questioner
Middle – 3, 5, 7: Issue
Bottom – 8, 1, 6: Advice

Then read diagonals for another angle on the reading:
Right to left – 2, 5, 8: Indirect influences
Left to right – 4, 5, 6: Direct influences

For best results, the groups of three cards should be read together with one “position” meaning, but it’s also possible to read a card individually as a combination of its row and column: Questioner in the Past; Issue in the Future; etc.
For versions with tarot cards as the number order cards, you can choose to use elemental dignities, with the focus on the strength or weakness of the middle cards of the groups of three.

Sums: If using sums, for each group of three cards, add the numbers of the cards, and, if greater than 22, add the digits until you get 22 or less. Place the tarot major of that number in the corresponding sum position.
22 = Fool.
For court cards, use consecutive numbering (pages 11, knights 12, queens 13, and kings 14) or kabbalistic numbering (pages 10, knights 6, queens 3, and kings 2).
In all versions with sums, there can be repeated majors in the reading.

Read the sums as summaries of the columns, rows, and diagonals in the same order and with the same position meanings as above.

Please let me know how you like it!
 

Attachments

  • Rachel's Magic Square Spread.pdf
    21 KB · Views: 399

rwcarter

I don't have time to wrap my head around this right now, but I've downloaded it to refer to later. Thanks rachelcat!
 

Neely 222

This is interesting! I'm usually a simple 3 card kind of reader, but this is intriguing. I've copied and pasted it into my tarot journal. I don't have a particular question in mind at the moment, but I just know when the right question hits me, I'll know when to use this spread.

Thanks for sharing!
 

witchfawn

I used this with my newest deck, and it was brilliant - especially as I'm learning my cards, so it really helped like, look at them from different angles. I really enjoyed it, thank-you, it was very illuminating~
 

rachelcat

Thanks for the interest, folks!

It's been many years since I used the three decks version. (I used the Celtic Animal Oracle, Druidcraft Tarot, and Green Man Tree Oracle, all by the same artist. I used tarot for the middle three, 4, 5, and 6, because they seem to be the most important positions--and they're consecutive, and "direct influences.") I want to try that again and see if it still works for me!

I've been using (Piatnik) Lenormand and (Hanson-Roberts) majors, and it's been helping me with my still-on-training-wheels Lenormand reading a good bit! I also found out that using a Lenormand is cool because you can get very large sums that reduce down to some of the higher numbered majors.

Let me know how it goes for you!
 

Luna's Crone

this is really interesting except i have figure out the sums part. math is only a dream i have been trying to attain for 50 years. sigh
 

rachelcat

Sorry for being so slow in replying!

All you have to do is add the numbers on the cards and then add the digits together. Several times. In several groups. So it's not so much the math that's confusing, it's probably my directions . . .

And I can see how the magic square numbers might be confusing. You don't use them for anything except the order of the cards. They don't have anything to do with adding/sums of the card numbers. I hope that helps!

I'm now using Pixie's Astounding Lenormand with Smith-Waite Centennial in a Tin majors. The cards aren't exactly the same size, but close enough. (But the tins ARE exactly the same size . . .) They look very cute together!

Since I'm mostly using the Lenormand and majors version of the spread, I typed up simpler instructions just for that, and I thought I'd share. Here you go!
 

Attachments

  • Rachel’s Magic Square Spread for Lenormand and Tarot Majors.pdf
    66.4 KB · Views: 333

CosmicBeing

So the diagonals will be Sum 7 and Sum 8

Each sum will equate to A major arcana card if I understood correctly.

Everything else makes sense to me.
 

rachelcat

Yes and yes!

Yes, sums 7 and 8 are sums of the diagonals.

Yes, in the simplified version, the sums are tarot majors, so after you add the card numbers, add digits until you get to 22 or lower, with 22 being Fool. (There's no subtraction, so we can never get 0!)

I'll do a reading over the weekend and post a pic so you can see what the layout looks like with actual cards.

Thanks for your interest!
 

CosmicBeing

Yes and yes!

Yes, sums 7 and 8 are sums of the diagonals.

Yes, in the simplified version, the sums are tarot majors, so after you add the card numbers, add digits until you get to 22 or lower, with 22 being Fool. (There's no subtraction, so we can never get 0!)

I'll do a reading over the weekend and post a pic so you can see what the layout looks like with actual cards.

Thanks for your interest!

I much look forward. I used a spread of yours a year before I joined the site. It was very helpful...I did it for a friend. So I look forward to see how your new creation looks in action.

:)