Physical layout of a spread

Just pondering...
Does the physical layout of a spread, eg circle, cross, horseshoe affect a reading. If the same positions were just in a straight line, would it be harder to read. I guess I'm asking if the different shapes serve a purpose.
I never like to do something just because, I like to know that there is an underlying reason, but this is something i've never questioned.
Any thoughts?

At the risk of sounding a bit off the wall ...

The layout has connections to ritual and for some the ritual is needed, for others none.

For a few, and you may be one of them only time will tell, can just take a few cards out of the pack laid out randomly in order to trip the state of mind that releases all of the information about the querent.

If you read Umbrae's encounters in the Process he knew what the card was before it even appeared. It's happened to me and it may happen to you. For those of us who do not have the gift practice is the only way to experience this kind of event.

A layout is a map for the rest of us. We need to refer to it in order to find our way around. We learned all the symbols and meanings ages ago we just need more.

So by extension any physical layout can act as a map for you to do an interpretation. This is one of the reasons there are suddenly so many spreads being invented.
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Gilabno: Greater Secrets

It can go either way, though there is a reason for the layout.{like above} as well as how the images interact with each other and their positions. I have been in small spaces and would just pull cards and read them, keeping in mind who faces who or what...etc.

Sometimes, the “Black Camel of Secrets” spread must look like a camel…some folks indeed respond better to the ritual aspects reading. They may like certain words to be repeated as the cards are laid…like a prayer or a mantra…

Some sitters prefer the “Black Camel of Secrets” to look like a camel…the reading ‘takes’ more completely in their mind…and certain words, like a mantra or prayer aught be repeated to create an aura in which they take the cotton out of their ears and place it into their own mouths.

Me? It comes out looking like a straight line every time. Ever read on an airplane? Those tiny tables are not conducive to ‘spreads’. Cards are turned one-at-a-time.

More important than the shape is the meaning behind each position – and how well fixed in your mind, each position is…and how it relates to the positions “around” (even if the cards are being flipped one at a time during extreme turbulence over Denver Colorado and they’ve put the drink-cart away and you know the Tower is the next card to be turned over because of the crimp that blue-haired lady in Modesto put in it and you know you cannot flip the Tower or Death in this kind of turbulence…never mind, the ‘Bird of Paradise’ spread was probably a bad idea at this time anyway…) it.

There is no ‘hard and fast’ rule regarding shapes…you need to find what works best for you…

“Alikum waas salaam siddiqi…Tahtim, al til…al til, tahtim…mabrouk mabrouk mabrouk…al hamdu Allah…”