How many cards are you comfortable with in a spread?
PAMUYA
When reading at parties when I will be reading for a lot of people I keep it at 3 cards for a general question, no positions, well that depends, past/present/future.., and absolutely no "yes or no" questions.
Most of my private readings are also three cards for a 20 minute reading.
For an hour reading, I will do several 3 card spreads asking different questions or I may do a special spread, no more than 10 cards. (have a collection of spreads depending on the question) I do like doing several 3 card readings, so my sitter can ask questions in regards to the previous reading, to clarify with a new question.
But I do agree in most cases more than 3 cards is over kill, 3 is enough to get a great response. My humble opinion
Most of my private readings are also three cards for a 20 minute reading.
For an hour reading, I will do several 3 card spreads asking different questions or I may do a special spread, no more than 10 cards. (have a collection of spreads depending on the question) I do like doing several 3 card readings, so my sitter can ask questions in regards to the previous reading, to clarify with a new question.
But I do agree in most cases more than 3 cards is over kill, 3 is enough to get a great response. My humble opinion
tarotcognito
Goes to show it's all a matter of preference.
For me it largely depends on the nature of the query. If it's a general reading, I tend to use between 10 CC-style and 13. If it's a specific question, I usually go for a seven-card spread. Astrological forecast, 12 cards. Daily readings, three cards. I haven't gone past 13 yet, not because I'm afraid to but because I don't feel the need to.
I've heard of those infamous 78-card spreads. Can't fathom. You'd need a freakin' ballroom to lay all those out...
For me it largely depends on the nature of the query. If it's a general reading, I tend to use between 10 CC-style and 13. If it's a specific question, I usually go for a seven-card spread. Astrological forecast, 12 cards. Daily readings, three cards. I haven't gone past 13 yet, not because I'm afraid to but because I don't feel the need to.
I've heard of those infamous 78-card spreads. Can't fathom. You'd need a freakin' ballroom to lay all those out...
KafkasGhost
For me, it depends on the aesthetics of the spread and clarity of placement designation.
10-card spreads in a circle: dealing with you now, you future, your problem, solution to problem, etc. yuck.
10-card CC: it makes complete sense.
3-card spreads: meh.
3-card section of a larger spread, it often works.
I'm going to say that my visual orientation prefers the way the cards are layed out, and that will determine how many cards I use.
I have also done a complete intuition throw-down where I'll lay out cards in no particular placement or order, overlapping or laying down as it seems right to do so, an overlapping bunch here, a perfectly aligned row there, completely random and based on what cards are pulled, and these spreads have numbered anywhere b/t 12-20 cards (based on when I decide to "stop" picking and laying down cards). Like a stream of consciousness story-telling.
10-card spreads in a circle: dealing with you now, you future, your problem, solution to problem, etc. yuck.
10-card CC: it makes complete sense.
3-card spreads: meh.
3-card section of a larger spread, it often works.
I'm going to say that my visual orientation prefers the way the cards are layed out, and that will determine how many cards I use.
I have also done a complete intuition throw-down where I'll lay out cards in no particular placement or order, overlapping or laying down as it seems right to do so, an overlapping bunch here, a perfectly aligned row there, completely random and based on what cards are pulled, and these spreads have numbered anywhere b/t 12-20 cards (based on when I decide to "stop" picking and laying down cards). Like a stream of consciousness story-telling.
SunChariot
taylorkiteling said:
Nothing about the number makes me uncomfortable per se. The largest I've done had somewhere between 20 and 25 I believe and it was not a problem
But for me I find that as time went on I found I didn't like doing spreads that much at all. I just seem to have gradually drifted away from them naturally,I never use spreads at all now unless someone requests one or if I have to for a reading exchange. I prefer not to use them now at all.
I tend towards asking a series of interrelated quiestions (sometimes as many as about 20) and pulling 2-3 cards for each.
Babs
brightcrazystar
I can read 78 cards or less comfortably. It is time consuming to intrepret fully such an inclusive reading. I have a few spreads of these, including one that is read like 26 three card readings.
Teheuti
I sometimes do a 78-card-in-five-minutes reading. It loosens things up.
gregory
Teheuti said:
you is funny You is joking, right ???
Teheuti
No, not kidding. There's usually a repeating pattern that is told over and over again. In a regular spread it's like we take a cross-section slice out of the whole sequence and we just focus on that. It's like when someone reads a cross-section of a tree for information that's repeated throughout the whole.gregory said:
You is joking, right ???
The five-minutes is a rapid-fire view that starts revealing a pattern.
It's not a particularly good or enlightening way to do a reading for someone as the material goes by too fast to put it all together, but, because of this, it's a great exercise for a student to learn to say the first thing that comes to mind and to connect one card to the next and the next. It tends to get the "critic" out of the way as there is no time for that. In classes, I have someone time the reading and it usually comes out between 4 and 5 minutes when I do it. Rachel Pollack and I sometimes do it in workshops together—where one of us goes through half the deck and the other picks up where the first left off and continues the story to the end of the deck. Students then do it to get over their feeling that they don't know what to say.
Also, I've found that by then slowing the process down, it is possible to ask a question and go through the deck, turning one card over at a time, telling its story until I finally get a sense that I've learned what I needed to know. Sometimes I only use a few cards and sometimes I find myself going through a third or more of the deck. But, to get comfortable with doing that a person needs to be pretty adept with the 78-cards-in-five-minutes method.
gregory
Oh...
OK
Fair enough
OK
Fair enough
