How do I find a daily reading to fit my lifestyle?

Me too - to both! I don't find the Celtic Cross particularly useful, especially for the few readings for my friends that I've done.

It does seem more designed for the reader, not the querent, so the reader can pick up information... I guess.

And, I've been doing one-card readings. I think it's a great way to really engage with the card and glean as much information as you can - from book meanings, imagery, etc.

Though I find it hard not to pull additional cards or ever-so-slightly rephrase the question and ask the question again when I don't like the one-card response. But that's not exactly on topic...

Hope all these answers are helping Willower. They are certainly helping me!

When I first tried daily draws in the mornings, I never got much out of the exercise. There was just too much stuff happening in one day (mostly of the mundane and boring kind) and I had difficulties making sense of many cards. So after only a short time, I gave up the dailies.

Right now, I'm doing an Intensive Deck Study (IDS) with a new deck and have started to do daily draws in the evenings. I use a 3-card spread that I found somewhere on here (it might have been rwcarter who mentioned it over in an IDS thread?):
1. What have I learned/discovered today?
2. How did that affect me/how did I react to that?
3. What lesson/conclusion can I draw from that?

I find it much easier to reflect on my day than to predict the following one - and suddenly the cards make a TON of sense. Sometimes I pull another single card afterwards with a specific event of the following day in mind to ask about what I need to be aware of. With a clear focus, this kind of spread works for me, too. But not just one card for a whole day.

When I started out, I also believed that I needed huge spreads (although I never did a Celtic Cross so far) - until I realized that once you start to consider the "spaces between the cards," much fewer cards are absolutely sufficient. These days, I read best with small spreads (at least two cards, but mostly 3-5). When I only have one card, I can't help feeling I'm missing out on context, on relationships between cards, on the spaces between the cards. But maybe that's just me.

Anyhow, I'd suggest trying one thing for a few weeks to see if it works for you. If it doesn't, modify your method, number of cards, question, time of day, or whatever else until you reach something that does work for you. Enjoy!

I like the Celtic Cross but it's not a beginners spread. To read a Celtic Cross well you really have to know how to link cards together and how to look for patterns and to see how the cards are relating to each other.

I reckon for daily draws stick to one card.
Using less cards in a spread helps you to learn the cards more thoroughly as you really have to try to get as much out of those cards as you can.

In my experience, big spreads when you're a beginner lead to shallower readings.

What Ive started doing and Im finding that it is massively stimulating is finding a quiet minute, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, while thinking of a question, then cutting the cards.

I started doing this with The Russian Tarot of St Petersburg, and quickly found it was like having a conversation. I would sit having this extraordinary conversation with the deck. Just another one card draw really.

I sometimes do it at the end of the day. Like Cat says, you can often fit it into the experience of the day gone.

Just an example; yesterday I had the most mundane day. Bits of shopping for the house; picked up a couple of things in the sales. Got home. Had one of my deck "chats" this time with the Royal Fez Moroccan, and got the Queen of Pentacles. It got me thinking about the whole, home-loving, creating a nest, house-proud, domestic stuff.

You may think your day is mundane, but the cards will always tell you something about it...

I was having the same problem as the original poster, but I don't really like only pulling ONE card either; I really like them to interact. So I came up with a simple two card spread for me. The first position is 'Reflections on today' and the second is 'Tomorrow.' They're really flexible, too, if you couldn't tell--I allow the reflections to be areas I could think or work on more, or they could be literal reflections of the day--the actions that took place. Tomorrow I allow the same: it can be advise, what to look out for, or it can just be what happens. In many of my other spreads I do such focused questions that with the dailies I try to let it be open & pertaining to anything that I've missed with my directed questions.

Thanks for all the answers to this thread - they've given me a lot to think about. I'm going to try to get myself into a routine of single-card daily spreads - and keep at it for at least a few weeks! I think that might be the most important piece of advice for me - I need to give myself enough time to give any method justice before I give up on it as 'not for me'!

I don't do a daily reading anymore, but when I feel the need I use a two card spread. -- One card never gave me the whole story IMO.

"what today will bring" and "what I need to do today"

That has always worked wonderfully for me, so I thought I'd just throw it out there for whoever!

But like everyone else says - just keep it simple. And make up your own if you aren't getting what you need. For a daily reading though one or two cards max IMO.

Willower said:

My problem is...on a day-to-day basis, I have a pretty mundane life, and I can't see how the cards apply to me a lot of the time! Has anyone else had this problem, of wanting to do a daily reading to help learn cards, but had difficulty in finding it meaningful? If so, how did you solve this problem?

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Hi Willower

I frequently feel the same way! I used to pull a card a day -- but at the end of the day and reflected upon how that card related to the day I had.

It was a great way to explore what were sometimes very literal meanings from the cards and it also helps with framing a card into a particular context... for example, if you've just gotten a particular card and related it to your life, if you get that same card for someone else -- it can be easier to put it into their life's context. Does that make sense?

valeria

Willower said:

My problem is...on a day-to-day basis, I have a pretty mundane life, and I can't see how the cards apply to me a lot of the time! Has anyone else had this problem, of wanting to do a daily reading to help learn cards, but had difficulty in finding it meaningful? If so, how did you solve this problem?

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I have this problem too. Sometimes I'd pull the dramatic cards (Tower, Death etc) and think 'wow, what's going to happen today??' - but...well...nothing does!

But then, perhaps by pulling these cards I'm being told to shake-up my routine or do something different today. Perhaps take them as advice rather than as predictions of the day.

Having said that, I've learnt that perhaps the card won't really mean anything for that day. But note it down and see what pattern emerges over time - are you getting more Swords than others? Maybe there's an 'overall' message there?

I've started a blog (using, and devoted, to my Deviant Moon deck) and just put in whatever random nonsense my daily card suggests to me. If it doesn't seem to apply to my day, it doesn't matter. It gives me the opportunity to just think about that card and note down my feelings towards it - and therefore learn about my deck at the same time.

When I was doing the Hallowquest course, I pulled 3 cards:
A Major 'Your teacher'
A Court 'Your guide'
A Minor 'Your experience'.

I still sometimes use this spread daily if I'm on a course/ if things are changing rapidly/ during times of crisis. It certainly helped me to get the Courts and Majors into my head more rapidly than a one card as you are getting one a day.

It's still a good spread to use weekly or monthly IMO.

But most of the time, when busy I just pull one card. One card is really enough for anything if you spend time attending to all the details on it, I went through a phase of only ever pulling one card per question. Still do that quite often.

Aerin

ps Celtic Cross I tend to use for general readings (for me) if I'm feeling confused about what the issue actually is..... if I know the question precisely enough then I'd use a more focused spread personally. Just the central part of the cross is a good spread in itself ('heart of the issue/ what crosses' in my lingo)