Less than 3 Cards?

I see significant number of 1-3 card draws in the exchange forum. I'm actually wondering if you feel that three cards or less can be in depth, rather than just an "at a glance" sort of reading? And how often do you use 3 cards or less, vs 5 and up?

Funny enough I can often get a lot more out of a 2 card reading then a larger spread cause then I am more focused and really try to get the whole spectra of meaning, where if it is a 10 card spread I might spend less time on each individual card. It is really just two different ways of approaching a question.
I don't see either are less in depth cause in a bigger spreads the cards talk to each other where in a shorter spread it is more of a monologue within that card. A shorter spread gives me the opportunity to really enter a card and I just don't have the time or perhaps I am too darn lazy to do that with 10 cards

I don't really sure spreads either, I just like to draw 1-3 cards and let them interact and see where it leads me.

Of course this could also depend on the deck at hand. Something like Navigator is just way too packed with symbolism for a large spread to be manageable.

Kosjitov said:

I see significant number of 1-3 card draws in the exchange forum. I'm actually wondering if you feel that three cards or less can be in depth, rather than just an "at a glance" sort of reading? And how often do you use 3 cards or less, vs 5 and up?

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Absolutely. You can get a wealth of information just from one card, from it's imagery if that is how you read, or in other ways.

I personlly do not use spreads at all. I write out a series of questions and choose 1 to 3 cards for each. I don't really ever use more than that. ANd I get quite detailed answers. In fact even professionally I don't offer more than 3 card readings. I offer one, two, or three card readings on my site. More than that is available by request, but I don't even offer them.

Babs

I did a one card draw for someone's entire future this week
It was all he needed.

doing a reading of more than 2-3 cards requires more concentration/effort/energy from me than i often have, so for myself, most of the time, i do tend to stick to shorter readings. i can get more from them than longer/larger card ones, because if i lose focus mid-way through, thats not exactly getting me much is it? sometimes longer readings are more useful, but they tend to be more a 'special occasion thing' if its more than like, 5 cards. and for smaller issues, 2-3 is often ideal.

I prefer a small, odd number of cards. To me the reading then is very focused, very much to the point without extraneous information that can clutter up my thoughts.

I've done 3-card readings (never 2) but not all that often; in recent years I've done far more of them in workshops than I ever did on my own (one of my friends runs workshops at cons on occasion and I'm a regular kibitz when she does). I don't like single-card draws; I'm too squeamish about "negative" cards without any modifiers. I prefer 5 or more.

I tend to use up to four cards. I find that the more the number of cards, the less detail I go into for each card - as jema says. I very, very rarely go as far as a Celtic Cross: sometimes I intend to and then the two cards in the centre are enough.

If you just look at one card there are such a lot of small details in there, each element of a card can be interpreted as well as the relationship between them. It depends on how closely you look.

I agree with others, too many cards and the reading can become unfocused. I don't think that the number of cards is necessarily a clue as to the depth of the reading.

I usually use a five-card cross-shaped spread for my daily reading, although when I'm pinched for time, I've done three. I don't feel like I've done a full reading with less than five, though. About once a week, I'll do a Celtic Cross, for a more in-depth look at how the week is going to shake out.

I can do anything from a one-card pull to a 42-card spread (obviously, that's an extreme case). It really doesn't bother me.

I like to have enough cards on the table to answer the querent's concern. If that's one card, then that's one card. If it's fifteen, then it's fifteen.