Family Dynamics Spread

[satine]

I should say in advance that this spread I'm about to share is different from most of the spreads I do. I typically like short and sweet spreads, but this one got a bit longer since I wanted to look at the interrelationships among all four members of my family. There are probably other spreads out there that are very similar to this, but at the time I made up this spread, I wasn't near any resources (books or the internet)... At first the spread may seem more complicated than it really is, and obviously it would need to be adapted for those who wish to use if for a group in which there are more or fewer than four members.

The first four cards in this spread represent the four family members: A, B, C, & D (and of course I decided ahead of time which letter would represent which person). I lay the letters in order from A to D before beginning with card #1. This is what the spread basically looks like:

(9)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(10)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(A)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx(1)xxxxxxxxxxxxx(2)xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxx(C)xxxxxx(5)xx(7)xx(6)xxxxxxxx(D)xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx(4)xxxxxxxxxxxxx(3)xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(B)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(11)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(12)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(13)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Okay, A,B, C, and D are the family members. Cards 1-6 all show the dynamics between various family member pairs: Card 1 summarizes the relationship between person A & C, card 2 summarizes the relationship between A and D, card 4 represents the relationship of persons C & B, card 3 represents the relationship of persons D & B, card 5 shows the relationship of A & B (in my case, I made A my husband and B myself, and C and D were our daughter and son respectively), and card 6 shows the relationship between C & D (our children).

Card 7 shows the SYNERGY of our family as a whole, and card 8, which crosses card 7, shows what might be blocking us as a family (from reaching our full potential as an entity).

Card 9 shows where we are right now as a family

Card 10 shows where we want to be

Card 11 shows what we need to do as a family

Card 12 shows what will help us

Card 13 shows the Outcome or special guidance



I was hesitant to share this spread, but it worked out so well for me I thought I might as well go ahead and see if anyone else would like to use or adapt it for a similar purpose.

 

[lavendercloud]

When I saw the title of this, I was instantly excited; my family dynamics are insane and I definitely want to use the Tarot to try to understand what's going on and what I can do. Fortunately, now that I'm away at college, I can be more objective about the situation. With 9 people in the family (my parents, myself, 5 sisters, and my brother), your exact spread won't work, but I might try a circle with the 9 of us and then use your significations of cards 7-13 in some arrangement. As a beginner, I think this is too complicated for me to do right away, but I will do it as soon as I feel ready.

 

[satine]

family dynamics spread for 9!

Yes, yours will get very complicated, if you are hoping to look at the dynamic between every possible pair of people within a nine-member family! That said, you could probably just break it into a bunch of mini-readings that look at each person, the dynamic between them, and perhaps another card to represent guidance to that pair. This spread worked really well for me recently, because my son has been having some challenges. Looking at the card that came up for him and how he is interacting with both me (his mother) and his father, I gained a lot of insight regarding what my son is going through right now and how we might can help. One thing that I thought was really neat in this particular reading was that card #5 (representing me and my husband together) came up as the King of Cups, and then card #6 (representing the dynamic of the relationship of my son and daughter) came back as the Queen of Cups. The way the layout looked, these two cards coming up on either side of the center cross seemed quite nice-- very balanced; all the pieces of our family are "fitting together" well at this time, even despite my son's current issues (not to mention our impending move). If you try this spread or a variation of it, I'd love to hear how it turns out! Any suggestions? Thanks.