Barleywine
From time to time I see mention of the different ways people lay out the cards in a spread. For most of my long journey with tarot, I've been laying all of the cards face up so I can get an immediate "gestalt" perspective on the spread, a carry -over from how I've always read astrological charts: look for the main themes first, then examine the less prominent features. I don't read that way, of course, preferring a narrative flow from start to finish. But it does help me focus on the major message as the smaller details emerge. An example is immediately seeing that there is a complete lack of one element in a spread, or that the spread is "mostly Cups" or "mostly Majors." These are big-picture tip-offs.
Since coming to AT, I've found that many people like to lay all of the cards face down (hence the interest in fully-reversible backs), and than turn them up one at a time to read, doing the broad overview at the end. Personally, I've found this takes me too much time and locks me into a kind of "compartmentalized" reading style; I much prefer to see card interactions "on-the-fly," sometimes a card or two ahead.
Since I returned to professional reading last year, I've been using what I call elements of "the theater of tarot." One of these is leaving the outcome card face down to create a sense of drama and anticipation in the reading; the rest I deal face up as usual.
Although my old tarot books didn't make much of how the cards are dealt, I've seen newer books that promote the "face down" method, which is where I suspect many people here got the idea. Although it probably doesn't merit a poll, and it really is personal preference, I'm curious if there is a consensus on this.
Since coming to AT, I've found that many people like to lay all of the cards face down (hence the interest in fully-reversible backs), and than turn them up one at a time to read, doing the broad overview at the end. Personally, I've found this takes me too much time and locks me into a kind of "compartmentalized" reading style; I much prefer to see card interactions "on-the-fly," sometimes a card or two ahead.
Since I returned to professional reading last year, I've been using what I call elements of "the theater of tarot." One of these is leaving the outcome card face down to create a sense of drama and anticipation in the reading; the rest I deal face up as usual.
Although my old tarot books didn't make much of how the cards are dealt, I've seen newer books that promote the "face down" method, which is where I suspect many people here got the idea. Although it probably doesn't merit a poll, and it really is personal preference, I'm curious if there is a consensus on this.