Help with Spreads

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

bellesmybaby	01 Jun 2002
A little background info first, when I first got into tarot, I was impatient and wanted to jump in and bit off more than I can chew by relying on book explanations and availability of lots of spreads. I'll get stuck for an hour just trying to find the appropriate spread and end up frazzled and not doing a reading at all. 7 of cups depicts perfectly how I am about tarot. Through this website, I found Joan Bunnings Learn the Tarot and for quite awhile I didn't even bother to look at her info on the Celtic Cross which I have never been able to understand fully. With card placements saying "This covers you, this crosses you, you know all the traditional meanings of placements, none of it seemed to pull together for me into any sort of insight or answer. Then after seeing how she does CC, with all her keywords and explanations for all the card placements, I see how there could be complete and well-balanced answers and insights to just about any question or no question at all. I'm rediscovering the Celtic Cross(and I know some of you don't like it, maybe for the same reasons I dont.) So what I want to ask is for some encouragement possibly to just do my daily one card readings to get to know the cards on my own and go back to square one where I started with the Traditional Celtic Cross and leave all the other layouts alone for awhile, because when I start messing around with all that other stuff I get in that 7 of Cups frame of mind and let me tell you, one get's absolutely nothing accomplished like that. Help, Suggestions, anything....anybody. I feel so stuck in a rut, and maybe this is a way out and a way to get more focused? Sorry this is such a long post and I seem to be rambling, its that damn 7 of Cups in me I guess! ;-) Thanks for any replies. Dee

Mermaid	01 Jun 2002
Dee - If you're sick of 1 card readings but feeling a bit overwhelmed by the CC, you could try doing some 3 card spreads. They might help you make the jump between pulling daily cards and working out a whole CC spread. Maybe something like: 1 Overview of last week 2 Overview of this week 3 Overview of next week if you're doing the spread on a regular weekly basis, or: 1 What caused the situation 2 What's happening now 3 Advice for the future if you're doing a reading on a specific issue. And don't be afraid to post in the 'Your Readings' forum if you're having trouble interpreting a spread - people here are always happy to help sort out tricky spreads! Good luck :)

mooncat2	01 Jun 2002
Dee, if you go into the 'Tarot for yourself' group study forum you'll find some great posts on the CC. I haven't got the book but worked with the exercises the group was doing and found it very helpful for interpretating the CC which I'd always struggled with before. Prior to this I stopped trying every spread I could lay my hands on and worked with one 5 card spread - it always seems to work so you might like to try it. 1. Situation & Task 2. Problem 3. Solution 4. New Insights 5. Conclusion/Summary

The Help with Spreads thread was originally posted on 01 Jun 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.