All 78

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

lunalafey	20 May 2004
What could reading the whole deck bring? I don't mean by flipping through the deck and stringing along the first impressions of one card to the next. I was wondering the other day how the card placements of the whole deck after shuffling and cutting might have to say. I say placements rather than order because I want to take into consideration reversals. What I am looking for are ideas one how to 'see' a throw of the whole deck as one. Maybe come up with a group experiment??? I did do this (partway) and all I have looked at so far are percentages, like more majors reversed or not, etc. Those observations are interesting {get to that later maybe} I have the order of the cards- but have not yet decided HOW I can look at them. I'm considering lots of 3 for a few reasons. The whole deck breaks down evenly by 3's, 3 is the breakdown number for my birthdate. But now where can I go with this- besides reversals. I'm currently looking into thier placements & numbers, but I can't figure which way to go next Any Ideas??? anyone want to join in the exploration?

skytwig	20 May 2004
Oh, I see a pyramid spread.... I have also done freehand spreads that basically 'tell' me where to put the cards. I could see you doing that Lunalafey because you are so intuitive..... you will need the whole floor, of course. :)

lunalafey	21 May 2004
pyramid- interesting- wonder if it would come out even? I will have to organize them this way as well as the lots of three. also- about this 'freehand' spread- tell me more about how that worked for you.

skytwig	21 May 2004
Quote: Originally posted by lunalafey also- about this 'freehand' spread- tell me more about how that worked for you. No two readings will appear the same on the table. It requires total detachment from the outcome and total involvement with the 'feel' of the cards as they appear. It is done quite quickly. One just places cards where they seem to want to be. Groups will form, as a result. There may be shapes that evolve, like circles or squares.... just keep going with the flow of the cards until it seems to stop. There will be a sense that the last card has been laid. Then you just look and the 'story' will unfold. (You could even involve several decks in this........ :) )

Phoenix Rising	21 May 2004
Hi Luna Girl Yes I've seen a spread with the whole deck. **************1************** *************2*3************* ************4*5*6********** ***********7*8*9*10****** ********11*12*13*14*15 Although the card at the top was actually the 78th, the outcome at the end of the journey. The Base line I can't remember how many, if I got off my chump and had a look I'd probably know. So starting from the base each line going up will just reduce by 1 card, until you get to the top. The spread started off as past, present, future. But it was trying to discern when the past ended, and went into the present etc. I'll have a look for it, and get back to ya!

jmd	21 May 2004
78 is a triangular number of base 12, so there would be 12 cards in the first line, 11 in the second, &c. Unless, of course, one wanted to design a different triangular spread, where, instead of the cards bridging two of the lower ones, they were set in a fashion such as: ......:OL ...:OL:OL:OL :OL:OL:OL:OL:OL etc. In which case, the base would have to have 15 in the first row, and would also be left with fourteen cards after the triangle was constructed. A different spread, also using triangles, can also be generated by using the latter method, but instead drawing on two triangles each with a base of 11, leaving six cards to form a 'proper' triangle (with bridging cards) above these. The interesting aspect of this one is that the three generated triangles seem to have a 'good' rapport between them, with the smaller one being the over-arching overview which seems to penetrate and explain the other two. Visually, it looks something like the pyramids at Giza: Code: ....................* ................... ** ...................*** .......*............................* ......***..........................*** .....*****........................***** ....*******......................******* ...*********....................********* ..***********..................*********** There is also, of course, the form as presented by Alain (Namadev on Aeclectic), which arranges the four sets of pips as four triangles of base four, the sixteen courts as a square of side four, and the twenty-two majors as an 'hollow square' of side four: all 78 in the arrangement described in the first instance (a tringular number of base 12... but these, once familiar possibly encouraging 'positional' meaning (as the Celtic Cross does).

Ravenswing	21 May 2004
If you add three blanks-- representing the three negative veils-- you can get a square of 81. I've set it up by spiraling in or out. Reading comes in clumps, nothing set. A group of cards just grab you as significant. Then, another group... A tarot mandala so to speak. fly well Raven

lunalafey	21 May 2004
tri- tri- tri! ok-ok-ok I found out that it is a 12x12x12 triangle, which I like the #12. but I started at the top. a pyramid, doubling {1-2-4-8-} the cards each time does not work. What was interesting is that some of the same card & card groupings that stood out in the lots of 3, also stood out in the pyramid. Being that 3 is number of 12, I'm not all that suprised. Mandala- hmmm- that gives me an idea!!! When I tallied up the positives & negitives (upright & reversed) and then divided the cards into thier lots & noted those things that stood out- I could easily see how it tied in with my life/enviroment, so far I have only seen current issues. Possibly because those issues are active did I pick them out right away. anyone else with ideas or experiences?

SongDeva	21 May 2004
The Buddha Tarot companion has a Mandala spread that uses all 78 cards in the shape of a ...mandala! Leave it Robert Place.

Thea Lynx	21 May 2004
There is a spread that uses the entire deck - based on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. It is described in detail in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, starting on page 311. In brief, the cards are laid out by repeatedly placing them in the outline of the Tree of life, this uses 71 cards, plus one for the significator. The remaining 7 cards are for the invisible 11th sephiroth, usuall called Daath (Knowledge) - it is not laid out with the other 70 cards to emphasize its difference and this pile is read after all the others. I have not yet tried this spread or decided which deck I will use when I do. Thea Lynx

ros	21 May 2004
This is just an idea. Majors-22 Minors-40 Court- 16 # of cards=78 Make four piles. Water -emotions Fire -energy or work Earth -money or grounding Air - thoughts You can make these what you like but must have the 4 elements Put in each pile 5 Major cards 10 Minor cards 4 Court Cards 5 Major cards x 4 elements = 20 cards 2 left over 10 Minor cards x 4 elements = 40 cards 0 left over 4 Court cards x 4 elemtent = 16 cards 0 left over The two Major cards that are left over will be the Spirit, Advice or what you need to know at this time because these are the only two cards that are not being used, these will be important because they were not picked. Shuffle each pile separately and then put each separate pile in 4 element piles. Water these 19 cards will be divided into the 4 elements. 4 in each with 3 left over, these 3 will be put on the side for a separate spread The elements will be emotions, work, money, thoughts. Fire (same as above) these 19 cards will be divided into the 4 elements. 4 in each with 3 left over, these 3 will be put to the side. Repeat for Earth and Air Take the 3 out of each element from above shuffle them together and put the 12 cards in a spread after reading this one through. I have never made a spread before so I don't know if this will work. Have a nice weekend & I see what you think on Tuesday!

lunalafey	22 May 2004
I like your idea ros. One of my favorite spreads is the element spread. I find that the elements cover the major aspects of life very simply. Which makes for a good reading due to it's 'openess'. The possibilities are endless when constructing something around the elements. I one did a spur of the moment spread with a deck I do not shuffle, but deal them out instead {don't want to bend the cards AT ALL}. In this reading I had 5 piles, thus 2 cards left over- which I made to be 'that which is hidden' I went nutty today. Having pulled a muscle yesterday- sitting was the theme of the day. And what did I do? Came up with two spreads {which contain the elements} using all 78 cards. one called Universal Oneness and the other is Points of Light complete insanity I say! with the cards order that I did a few days ago- I looked at thier positions in the lots of three, and in the pyramid- what is odd {yet with tarot- nothing is odd} is that the prominate groupings of one layout pretty closely paralelled the other layout. SO- does it really matter WHERE the cards go? what if we took 3 or 4 different 10 or 12 card spreads- gave the cards thier order and then put them into thier positions- how different or the same would the readings turn out? but that is another thread

The All 78 thread was originally posted on 20 May 2004 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.