Reading for others - most useful spreads or methods?

[Saskia]

Hello everyone, I have a question about the spreads or techniques you use when reading for others.

I read mainly online, where spreads are determined by the website, but I also have in person-customers; then I mostly use an intuitive style where I pull 3-5 cards at a time and keep repeating this as many times as there are questions or the sitter wants to keep receiving more information. Sometimes I do a Celtic Cross.

I'm wondering are there some really useful go-to-spreads or reading styles you often use when reading for others, in particular when people ask for a general reading?

I've noticed that men are more reluctant than women to ask a question out loud and they seem to hope the answer pops from a general reading, and now I'm wondering how I could best glean the most out of the cards for the client? Any thoughts, tips and ideas welcome! Thank you!

Btw another observation. I get most sitters during the full moon or new moon, has anyone else noticed this?

 

[HeatherRose]

When my customers want a general reading I always start with a spread I think I found online years ago. I don't even know if it has a name.
I lay six cards left to right, then add two cards below each of those, so there are 6 rows of three cards each.

The first row represents an overall feel of where the person stands at this moment. A sort of look at what is going on with them at the time and where their energy is.

Second row is what they are wanting.

Third row is their fears.

Fourth is what is working in their favor

Fifth is what may be working against them

The last row is where it looks like things will be heading in the near future taking into account the current energy/circumstances. And also if they take any advice noted in any of the other rows.

This will usually bring up the most important factors in their life at the time and covers pretty much all they are looking for. But sometimes they want to go into more depth about a subject, and then I would either do another spread or just add on to any of these rows depending on their question.

Also, there are times when I will just take the cards and pull one after the other and let them tell the story of what they want to say until it feels right to stop drawing cards.

But my go-to spread is the 18 cards.

And more times than not, after this tarot reading I will let them draw a card from any of my oracle card decks that seem to fit with the person, and that will usually wrap up the most important message of the entire reading for them.

 

[Citrin]

I'm not very fond of general readings nowadays. If I'd be ask to do one I'd try to ask for at least a focus area or similar.

But if I were to do a general Reading like that I think I'd pull 2-3 cards for each of the "life areas" I find most people as about, like career, love life, home situation, etc.

I almost always create a spread based on the client's question/focus area and the details given. Mainly because I really want to answer the question asked and not start digging into other stuff (which can happen if I use a spread someone else has made). When I want to go into more detail I often choose to read cards in pairs. As an example, if I do a "past" position I will draw 2-3 cards for it, instead of just one card.

 

[Saskia]

I like your take Heatherrose, sums it all up and gives the most important factors of all areas, thank you very much for sharing!

In my readings, the most important elements do pop up from those 3-5 card draws I keep doing but the issue is I can't know for sure if the element that came up relates to love, overall life, work... as I mentioned, men in particular seem reluctant to tell if they have a love related question and it only comes up during the reading when I draw relevant cards. But having areas to focus would make it much more pinpointed and faster from the start.

Citrin, I'm of two minds about general readings. In a way it's more difficult and scattered because usually the sitter has an area in mind they'd want to focus but feel embarrassed/reluctant to tell, so general reading is a bit of shooting in the dark. On the other hand, a general reading can give aspects that wouldn't have come up in a love reading, and the sitter can potentially get more out of the session.

Good point Citrin for pulling more than one card for positions. Sometimes one card is not enough. Thanks heaps for sharing your style!

 

[Saskia]

Just to add Heatherrose that I tested your spread on myself and it gives very clear answers. Thank you!

 

[azucena.alev]

In general, my go-to spread is the Opening of the First Key (from the Golden Drawn). It picks up a lot of details and is absolutely wonderful for general readings. It's not bad for readings with specific questions either.

 

[Saskia]

In general, my go-to spread is the Opening of the First Key (from the Golden Drawn). It picks up a lot of details and is absolutely wonderful for general readings. It's not bad for readings with specific questions either.

Thank you Azucena, I looked up this spread which was unfamiliar to me and I might give it a test spin In general, I'm not into spreads that combine elemental dignities, astrology etc. but maybe it's just a matter of familiarising myself with it.

 

[Barleywine]

The Celtic Cross is tried-and-true, and I've used it successfully for general readings for over four decades now, mainly because of its excellent versatility in exploring situational aspects. (Eden Gray's layout from "The Tarot Revealed" is the one I use, with a few tweaks of my own.) I have by far the most experience with it. But I've also created a couple of other spreads for this purpose that are less rigidly positional than the CC.

One is a 10-card square (3x3+1, with a "root" and "covering" card in the central position) that I read in columns (past/present/future, left-to-right) and rows (a kind of action/reaction/resolution structure read from bottom to top). It's kicking around in an old post here on the forum somewhere.

The other is an exhaustive 23-card life-reading spread adapted from Eden Gray's "Three-Dimensional Tree" model in A Complete Guide to the Tarot, but without her idiosyncratic revisionism.

I've also used the first three steps of the Opening of the Key method (elemental focus, counting and pairing), but mainly as a preface to the CC - a kind of preview of the life area the main reading is likely to illuminate.

Beyond that, I've created a series of spreads that are designed to explore specific areas of life: relationships, career changes, money matters, and a range of decision-making scenarios.

I'm not a fan of small spreads; I like detail and substance, and prefer not to have to fill in too many gaping holes with intuitive guesswork.

 

[Saskia]

Thank you Barley!

The responses I've got here have changed my view quite a bit about large spreads. I don't like filling gaps with guesswork either, but I personally like concise spreads or even one card draws, just repeated as many times as needed. However, this requires the client to reshuffle regularly (I usually ask them to reshuffle after some 12-15 cards have been read). So opening with a large, detailed and comprehensive spread would work better. This has really helped me, thank you everyone for sharing your methods!