LARGE Spread Layouts?

Looking though descriptions of spreads, I'm beginning to feel that there are (at least!) two basic groups. Those where a single card is laid out in each position and then those where a whole pile of cards is (ultimately) dealt as one goes around the spread positions sequentially. I'm starting to be quite interested in these latter e.g. the "opening of the key" spread, the "tree of life" spread etc.

For those who DO attempt such things, my question is about card layout. (Yes I know such things are opinion!) but what exactly do YOU DO with all those cards? Do you lay out the piles with the cards beneath one another (and invisible), then remove the "stacks" one at a time for interpretation? Do you have have some sort of "fan" of cards in each position so you can see the whole lot? Or do you just have a VERY BIG table and somehow contrive to space them ALL out?

Ever Wondering...

Mac

P.S. Hmmm. On second thoughts, perhaps you only interpret the ONE stack - that which your "search" reveals as containing the significator? Guess you just invite the Querent(s) to drink/smoke/talk among themselves while you're doing all this frantic searching? Just trying to imagine!

Hi Mac,

I have worked with a spread that uses 17 cards (I think that is it) and as my table is not big enough I use the carpeted floor. The spread I have worked with has 4 thrones and I keep all the cards out, read one throne at a time and then look at the entire spread to look for specific patterns and add summary comments. The spread I use is the one Thirteen tought. It is in the general study groups board.

kay, this might seem a silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

Is there a spread that uses all 78 cards??

It would take FOREVER to read and interpret, but I can't help but wonder. Someone told me that the "tree of life" spread used all 78, but none of the tree of life spreads I've looked at get nearly that complex.

Thanks for entertaining a novice's curiosity.

Rachel Pollack's Work Cycle spread has the potential to use all 78 cards. It's up to the reader and querent how far you go with the spread.

Lawguy51

kreleia said:

Is there a spread that uses all 78 cards??

Click to expand...

I went into a shop one time and the woman tending the store took a full deck and started flipping them over and told a 'story' about me. It took about 5 minutes and was quite accurate. I have never tried a reading like that though.

78 Cards? As Lawguy sez!

Also for RP's ten LOCATION Tree of Life, she (my interpretation):

Selects a significator placing this on the table. That leaves 77 cards which are dealt sequentially into ten sephiroth positions - Until you've been round seven times. The remaining seven cards are then placed "somewhere" (e.g. below the tree root) to represent Daath. The cards are dealt face up, so you have a general summary from the exposed cards at the top of each stack. Still with me? Ms. P. interprets each stack against a "background" of that sephiroth. The "daath" pile can also be used, as an "immediate future". So YES, she does go round all 78 cards!

My comment is that perhaps I'd have to be a very good reader and have lots of STAMINA for all that! ISTR she mentions an option for the client to pose with the cards for a photo. If I'd got such a photo, my question about what it LOOKS like would be answered!

The Golden Dawn "tree of life" also uses ALL 78 cards (they retain the significator in the pack) and deal round until there are no more cards. In rather typical Crowley-ese you have to "guess" which pack the significator lies! If "wrong" (twice?) you abandon the reading. Doh! <laughing> OK, I exagerate, but I think the general idea is to examine each pack until you HAVE located the significator, then take that pack (only?) and interpret the cards - in a line, using card counting and pairing techniques etc.

This seems to be characteristic of the whole "opening of the key" series e.g. as described in the Book of Thoth. Fwiw, I have come to quite enjoy Crowleyisms about "abandoning readings", so no criticism is intended. My (ironic) comment is it *could* be a laborious way of ending up with 10 card (or so) linear spreads? Doubtless there may be more to this... (I am guessing) the "spectacle" depends on the emphasis placed on each stage - I suspect this may be different from the brevity implied when some of these stages are described on paper.

Mac

P.S. After this marathon, I emphasise this is MY impression of the way it's done. I don't "know", but TRY to understand! If e.g. I'm wrong, I wanna hear the correct version!

78 Card Spread

A. E. Waite refers to a forty two card spread (forty three including a significator) and this can be followed up by a thirty five card spread using the remaining cards left over. Effectively this uses all the cards in the deck.

The only other one I have seen that uses a lot of cards is one called 'Le Grand Jeu' which uses 69 cards. I did attempt this but gave up when I found I didn't have a table big enough and I would have had to take a room out of commission for several days (or weeks) if I'd used the floor LOL

kreleia said:

Is there a spread that uses all 78 cards??

Click to expand...

I found this link in a post called Full Deck Spread? originally posted by Silverlotus. She explaines it pretty well in her post, it is a 78 card spread.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos149.htm
also, check out the thread called Thoth Deck 15 Card Spread, originally posted by me for info on a spread that uses 3 cards to explain each aspect of the spread. I was asking for info in my post, the ones following give the answers. Hope this helps! JOAN

Here's a description of the Golden Dawn Opening the Key procedure that's a bit more user-friendly than what you'll find in Crowley or Regardie.

http://www.supertarot.co.uk/ootk/openkey.htm

I did one the other night. Absolutely exhausting! And my astrology isn't quite good enough for it yet.