Last Card

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

ros	15 Dec 2003
I was just thinking lol Has anyone read a spread from the last card to the first? I have never thought of that before & I think it could work . I usually read magazines from the back to front , actually a lot of things that way. Does anyone else?

Jewel-ry	15 Dec 2003
I did actually do this once with a three card spread. I cant remember the cards or even the question but I can remember thinking 'OK lets see what they look like backwards'. It was so disjointed I never tried it again! J :)

TemperanceAngel	15 Dec 2003
My mother-in-law does, she always lays the last card first and so on and so forth, claiming it jolts your consciousness and you still get the same reading as if done the other way around. I am not so sure..... XTAX

Majecot	15 Dec 2003
My friend has done that frequently when there have been a lot of majors in my readings.. she has also done Majors only after a reading the she felt more guidence was needed... I don't think that I have ever done that personally. ( altho the memory seems to be going lately so I could be wrong in that ..lol)

Star Spirit	15 Dec 2003
That is weird. Haha... I should try that sometime. You'd think tarot would read the same no matter which direction you read it in, as long as the cards are in the same positions. Not sure how well I'd do it though :D

casia	17 Dec 2003
My first deck of cards were the Tarot IJJ ( really hard to read, by the way) an the book that came with them said the spreads should be read from left to right. I´ve always read them this way, is there a difference?. I haven´t read them from the last to the first but it sounds interesting.

jmd	17 Dec 2003
The 'last card' will depend if the spread used has a particular ordering. For example, a spread I occasionally use just has cards flicked onto the table (or the cloth covering the table, to be precise). In spreads such as the Celtic Cross, or even in 'timed' three card spreads (past/present/future), then I normally prefer to read one card at a time, allowing the card to be turned upright as the narrative emerges. However, I may also go 'backwards', for the 'last' card often instructs the whole spread. Revising, or reading, from this final card 'back' to its numerous components is something which can not only be useful, but assist in clarifying the narrative already spoken.

TemperanceAngel	17 Dec 2003
I forgot to mention that my mother-in-law takes the cards from the bottom of the stack, as oppossed to top. That is my thinking on what you mean by last card?? XTAX

casia	17 Dec 2003
Sorry... I messed up I meant I read the spread from right to left, and I use a 7 card spread. (Sorry I´m dislexic)

ros	18 Dec 2003
casia: do you use the first card on the right as the beginning card or the end card?

casia	20 Dec 2003
I use it as the beginning card and I go from there 7 cards to the left. I read the spread as if I was reading in hebrew or chinesse. My spread is a a 3 row 7 card spread, I have felt very comfortable with it but I don´t know if that is right....

Dexter	21 Dec 2003
I am left handed and I tend to do alot things from right to left, like read the paper from back to front, leaf through a magazine from back to front etc. When reading the cards I don't use the last card in a spread as the first card. But I tend to think about what the last card means and the result it shows and then go back card by card to see what happened in each to reach that result. I find that the previous card will show its negative aspects even if not reversed if the result is not favorable. I think this may be why I have some difficulty reading by turning one card at a time. I have always preferred turning over all the cards before starting a reading.

The Last Card thread was originally posted on 15 Dec 2003 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.