Comte de Mellet spread - the oldest ever recorded for divination with the Tarot cards

Sayuri

Interesting!! I'm looking for a "help in jobhunting" spread, and I think this could be a great one, as it's so variable and applicable to any question! I'll try it out and post any results...
 

nisaba

This is my spread-of-preference in the TdM exchanges as some of you know, but until today, I'd never quite dared to use it on a face-to-face client.

I mean, how do you explain to a stranger who's paying good money, that you're going to do a spread which might take up all the time they've paid for, or much more or much less, that might have many cards on the table or only two (or none!)?

But I've wanted for *ages* to do it face-to-face. So today I did.

I was reading Tarot in the local new-age shop, and the proprietor is friendly with me. I'd suggested to her previously that I might try out the spread on her (whom I've never read for), and today I had a deck with suitably unillustrated pip cards even if it is a bit modern, Monica Klimpton's Tarot of the Dead.

So we separated it into Majors and Minors, she shuffled both piles, and I did the counting-and-pulling-out-pairs thing. Contrary to my last exchange, where I pulled out only the one pair, we drew quite a lot of cards.

Now I know this woman fairly well, and although she doesn't bring her problems to work, I've had a shrewd suspicion that her home life has been - er - less than ideally perfect for some time. As well as a husband she also has two kids, a teenager and a very much younger child, which immediately complicates any changes she might want to make.

I looked at the pairs.

It was a rough reading.

I got a bit coy, basically because I knew her. Endings everywhere. Broken hearts everywhere (except hers). The need for tact, justice, fairness.

All that came out of it was that everything I'd suspected about her personal life was true, and she had already been contemplating leaving for longer than I would have thought. It was kinda tricky - I do readings in her shop, and her clients have the right to expect $XX.xx worth of time and attention. Yet with her reading I skimmed across some parts of it, telling her frankly that there were some things I was uncomfortable saying to someone I knew, which I wouldn't have a problem with had she been a stranger. I also did the whole "The decisions are all in your hands" thing.

Wow.

I am really impressed with this spread.

It's good in an exchange.

It's great face-to-face. Even if it made me squirm. Especially as it made me squirm.
 

dancing_moon

Nisaba, thanks for sharing your experience! I love this spread too, have been using it often lately, and like you, I was wondering if it was any good in actual face-to-face readings. So now I know. :D :heart:
 

firecatpickles

:heart: I love this (new-for-me) method!!! :heart:
 

3ill.yazi

I just discovered this spread, on page 73 of "A Wicked Pack of Cards," and had to try it out. I love it. It's great because I am concentrating so hard on staying in order, that the mind empties/focuses. If I get the nerve I will post the results to the Readings forum. I highly recommend people try it.
 

nisaba

I've made it the standard spread that I use in the TdM exchange circle. Well, if you're using older style cards, why not an older style spread with them?

I shy away from doing it with paying customers, because it's hard to explain why it's such an adventure to start drawing cards without knowing how many you are going to draw. That being said, I wanted to do it with at least one face-to-face client, so I used it to read for the woman whose shop I do readings in <grin>. She enjoyed the process (didn't enjoy what came out of the actual reading much).

I love the counting and the turning cards over. I think in all the times I've used it, the smallest number of pairs I got was one, the largest was eight. Even readings which consisted of one or two pairs seem to deliver what the clients need to hear - I tend to get quite positive feedback from this spread.

I don't know how I'd go using a modern deck. To me that feels wrong, somehow - I even feel a little uncomfortable using a modern Marseilles deck. It seems to like and be natural with the older decks, even the Viscontis.
 

Sar

Where is this spread?
 

Chiska

It is described in the opening post - about mid-way down - under the heading, "*** So here is how it works: ***"

it isn't a "spread" so much as it is a method, so there is not a specific schematic for it, just instructions for performing the method.
 

Sar

It is described in the opening post - about mid-way down - under the heading, "*** So here is how it works: ***"

it isn't a "spread" so much as it is a method, so there is not a specific schematic for it, just instructions for performing the method.

Hmm....Ok, need to read once more and take out the TdM.
 

Pandora'sBox

Whoa

This spread was so neat. The first time I tried it, I drew six pairs, covering pretty much every aspect of a situation I had been (perhaps not healthily) emotionally involved in, and gave me a gentle suggestion on alternate paths to take. I did the spread with the Lunatic tarot, which is probably one of my favorite decks.

I did get the sense from my spread though, that the ending cards (which I considered the final outcome cards) were heavily dependent on all the cards before them, just like a story would be. If one thing was changed, those final cards would have been very different. I've never had a sense that powerful from a spread before. Definitely fascinating, thank you for sharing this.