Laying out the cards in patterns

Is there a real necessity for laying out cards in particular patterns in spreads? I see them in the form of arrows, question marks, hearts, hearts with arrows in them, ladders, feet, eyes, spirals------you name it.

I do understand that the names of the positions matter a whole lot, but do the patterns they're laid out in matter so much? I just lay the cards out and go by the meanings of the positions in the spread, but don't bother with the patterns. Is there something I'm missing in not using patterns?

In my opinion, no. If anything, I find fancy layouts pretty silly.

Patterns are good mnemonics to assist your memory for card positions' meanings. But other than that, who cares? Does it matter if your spread looks like a fish or an iceberg or anything else? Not to me.

Myself, I don't lay spreads in fancy patterns, usually just an arch, or a diamond... very basic. And about 99% of the time, I make up my own spread for the question I'm being asked = no mnemonics necessary.

Alissa said:

Patterns are good mnemonics to assist your memory for card positions' meanings..

Click to expand...

Yes, agree there

Though a pattern, if you have a photographic memory, can help you remember what card fell where (if you forget to write down the reading I mean) but more importantly:

laying cards in patterns, instead of say in rows or side by side can sometimes trigger off more (or I should say, different) insights into a reading you may not necessarily get in a plainer pattern

but of course the positional meanings are the main thing and you can derive enough from them I agree

Nahhh

If you are doing a reading on line, let's say in a reading exchange, as long as you know what position the card is supposed to be in, relative to the question, it really doesn't matter. I think that the pattern is a tool to help with the memorization of the position and it looks pretty,

I had a reading done years ago by a woman who just pulled the cards off the deck, one after another and read, until she was done. She was pretty damn accurate.

Baroli

I was thinking of that Baroli, I've seen people on tv tarot shows abroad doing exactly that in live readings, they pull off any number of cards and start reading, then will just add more cards as and when required to any position until all the querents questions have been answered

My reading style has morphed into that which Baroli mentions. Laying down cards till the reading is done. I like using spreads, but find that for me spreads, in fancy shapes or not, work better when reading online than in person. In person I interact with the client and the reading could go any number of directions as new issues come up.

Alissa said:

Patterns are good mnemonics to assist your memory for card positions' meanings.

Click to expand...

I'm exactly the opposite. Having to remember a pattern makes it even harder for me to remember the spread. That's why I was asking about this, in fact.

But I also ask because I just don't see what difference it makes whether you make a pattern with the cards or not. It takes up a lot of room, for one thing. Laying the cards out in whatever space you have available using straight lines makes more sense to me and is more efficient.

I always have to lay out a spread in a pattern which is symmetrical (Virgo, Mercury in Libra), either it has to vertically symmetrical or horizontally or both. I can't do lobsided spreads, well, except for the Celtic Cross, but that's just habit because that's the spread I started with as a beginner.

A spread always has to have reflective symmetry for me because there is then always sides and quarters into which the spread can be interpreted. Inside/outside, past/future, above/beneath, mental/physical. Having reflective symmetry in a spread means that each card always has specific other cards with which it can be partnered, compared and contrasted, making for a more enriching and insightful reading experience.

Lyric,

I think it depends upon the spread whether or not the layout is important.
In some spreads, adjacent cards are meant to be interpreted jointly in addition to their separate meanings. In other spreads, there is no relation between cards that are near each other.

I have pulled additional meaning out of spreads by reading ajoining cards together as one thought or story in addition to what the individual card positions mean.

Some spreads have a 'flow' to them and are designed to be read by interpreting cards based upon the meaning of adjoining cards. It's the way the spread is designed.

So I believe it depends upon the spread as to whether or not the layout is important.

Another advantage of patterns is . . .

Some spreads that are often used and which have particular card position meanings will work well within a given pattern for both the reader and the querent because two-or-more cards may have relationships to each other. As an example, Arthur Rosengarten, in his book on Tarot and Psychology, notes his use of "clusters" within the Celtic Cross. Clusters are card positions which link to other positions and which can be read as sub-patterns or sub-spreads, giving more detail within the reading.

Some spread patterns lend themselves to this linking or clustering more readily, not helping the reader, but providing a deeper and more specific message to the querent.

Dave