The X Spread

[Lee]

Hi everyone, I saw this spread recently in a new book, "Playing Card Divination for Beginners" by Richard Webster. I've tried it with Tarot and it seems to work well. He didn't name it, although it's the primary spread in the book. I call it the X Spread because the cards are laid out in a large X. You do need some room on the table to lay it out. It uses 15 cards. Card 1 in the book is a signifactor chosen by physical characteristics, but you could choose the significator by other means or simply choose a card at random like the other cards.

.................................................. Options for
...................Past..........................F uture
...................5.............................. .15

........................4........................1 3

............................6...............14

................................2...1...3

............................9...............11

........................7.......................10

....................8............................. .12
...........Factors out.......................Course of
...........of client's..........................life if no
...........control..............................ch anges are
.................................................. ..made


Cards 1, 2, 3 -- Card 1 represents the client, cards 2 and 3 represent the present situation, problems client is facing.

Cards 4, 5, 6 -- Past.

Cards 7, 8, 9 -- Factors out of client's control.

Cards 10, 11, 12 -- What will happen if client makes no changes in their life.

Cards 13, 14, 15 -- Options client can explore if they don't like the outcome that cards 10, 11 and 12 predict. Ways to change the outcome to one more desirable.

I found this to be an interesting layout because rather than predicting a fixed future outcome, it offers two possible futures and some options if you want to improve the situation.

Although I've taken the diagram from Webster's book, I should point out that there is a very similar layout used in Marthy Jones's book "It's In The Cards."

-- Lee

[MeeWah]

Lee: This looks to be a highly detailed spread that offers choices. Although I tend to avoid large spreads (except for the Celtic Cross), this one is very interesting so I plan to try it out. Thanks for sharing!

'Tis been a long time since I used playing card spreads but this gives me a reason to search through my books to see what I can find.