Question about laying out cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Mar 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

calligirl	01 Mar 2005
Hi, I have a question that may have been answered but I didn't see it so forgive me if I'm being redundant. When you are laying out cards for yourself or others, do you lay them all out in the selected spread and then go back and turn one at a time over or do you put one down at a time and evaluate it? And if you lay them all out at once in a cross pattern where do you put the 'crossing' one when you turn over the signifier(sp?)? Back on top? Does that question make sense? And by the way, when I did a reading for myself this morning, the 'opposing' card was the Tower. Should I be worried?

HudsonGray	01 Mar 2005
I lay them out all face up, in the whole spread at once, then go to the first card. Unless you're reading for someone else, I don't see any reason to put them face down (you'd want the person to focus on one card at a time, so face down sometimes helps them). All the cards go down and the only ones I'd draw after that may be a clarification card or so. I don't use the Celtic Cross though. You can set the cards side by side, the crossing one angled a little to distinguish it. Nobody says they have to be on top each other. Should you worry about the Tower? Not necessarily, just keep your eyes open today. The Tower is usually about something out of our control, so being aware of outside influences is about all you can do at this point.

Flavio	01 Mar 2005
I lay face up all the cards right after pulled from the deck, I do it like that because the whole Celtic Cross is like a big picture and some cards call my attention first and give me clues to the interpretation of the spread. As for significator, correct me if I misunderstood but I think you're pulling a card to work as significator instead of selecting a significator from the Court Cards, is it right? during my readings I pull out from the deck the significator card face up in the middle of my reading area or reading cloth, and then shuffle the remaining 77 cards, put card in position 1 on top of the significator and then the crossing card (position2) on top of postion 1. Hope it helps. Regarding the Tower card, as HudsonGray said you should be necesarily worried about the Tower, go with flow and learn what this card tries to tell you today and integrate it in the language you'll have with your deck.

rainwolf	01 Mar 2005
It depends, sometimes if its a difficult spread, i like to give cards attention and look at them individually first. Sometimes i just slowly lay out all the cards face up.

tarotbear	02 Mar 2005
When I am doing a Celtic Cross reading for someone else, I usually turn over all the cards needed and get an overview, then turn them face down and start the reading flipping over each card as I go; this way I can focus on the cards needed and not have the querent distracted by the rest of the cards. In a CC, I read the first three as a set, the next three, and then the last four. When I read for myself I turn them all face down and start with #1 and read them cold. :smoker: Confused by your significator question; the Significator is not read as a card. The significator (if you use one) is usually placed in the center of the table and card #1 is placed directly over it ( Known as the card that 'covers you.') Card #2 is the 'card that crosses you.' If you chose to lay out all the cards, just place the cross card over to one side of the first card and place it into place when you go to read it.

psychic sue	02 Mar 2005
I do my readings in exactly the same way as Tarot Bear for a Celtic Cross. I personally never use a significator. I don't see the point of them. If you know the character of the person you are reading for, why do you need one? I asked this before on another thread. Maybe I'm missing the point of the significator - I'd appreciate others views on this.

Fudugazi	02 Mar 2005
I don't use a significator and I don't read reversed - I don't read books upside-down either ;) I turn over all cards together in the layout. That's because I believe the reading is a whole - that does not mean I don't follow a thread - but seeing them all out helps me see the thread (or the several threads if there are more than one). It helps to be able to compare all the cards together.

Thirteen	02 Mar 2005
I'm with Helvetica, I do it pretty much the same way. The Signifier, so far as I know, is a card YOU decide on, pulling it out ahead of time to stand for yourself (or someone you're reading for)--this means it can be any card that represents you on this particular day OR any card you always pull for yourself (or someone else) to represent you. Usually court cards serve best for this purpose. Some of us feel that the signifier just removes a useful card from the reading and there's no real need for one. Other feel that the signifier is a kind of "magnet" if you will drawing out the cards that will be yours in this reading. Other readers find it useful, sometimes, to have a signifier so as to see the querent in the center of the reading. To better see how they relate to the other cards. As for cards like the Tower, they're less worrisome in spreads like the CC which is huge and has so many card. But, of course, that also means that the good ones also have a little less potency. Unless you're practicing the CC, you might want to think about a less sprawling spread for personal readings--unless your question is an important one. There was another thread on this--people use the CC for everything, and it's not for everything; just big picture questions. Is that what you're asking? RE: Tower as opposition--the Tower usually signifies big lies we've (or others) have constructed that are bound to come crashing down, forcing us to see devestating truths. So likely what's opposing you is either the big lie...or the devestating truth.

calligirl	02 Mar 2005
I have tried four times to post a reply and I get cut off my DSL every time, can you believe that? So thank you in advance for the replies, I'm learning a lot. Instead of Signifier, I should have said the situation card or the first card that's drawn. I don't understand the use of pulling a card out of the deck that may need to be used but that's my common sense coming out. It also makes sense to turn up the cards if I'm doing my own reading, why hide it. But then, it also makes sense to turn cards over if there's someone there. Wouldn't want my anxious SIL to focus on the death card and not hear that it's in the past kinda thing. As for the Tower card, I did a quick CC spread to see what the day would bring, not anything specific, more as a way of learning to read and relate what I see to what the cards mean and actually thought it was humerous to have that crossing my plans. So far, I haven't discovered how the Tower fit in to my day but perhaps it's yet to come. My impatience is showing, I'm afraid. Love the imput, please continue...

The Question about laying out cards thread was originally posted on 01 Mar 2005 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.