Lantern of Ages - A spread about past lives

The Lantern of Ages
A spread by Jace Repshire

I created this spread because I wasn't really getting the answers I sought from any other past life spreads i had read about.

I wanted a spread that focuses on particular elements of a past life, and the ones I saw that did that often asked yes or no questions like "Was I married?". To me that doesn't work, because the Tarot rarely gives you simple yes or no answers.

Because those kind of spreads seemed a little vague to me, I created a new one. This spread, called the Lantern of Ages (because it looks like a lantern hanging from an arm or a post on the side of a building), reveals specific truths and aspects of a past life the querent has lived.

Here is a diagram and the meanings...

2-----5----------------
1--3--4--6--8--10-11--
9--------7---------12--
-----------------13--14
-------------------15--

1 Who the querent was in a past life.
2 Who the querent was closest to, their best friend.
3 What the querent strived for in life.
4 Querent’s personality.
5 What the querent was known for by others.
6 Whether the querent was happy, whether the life was fulfilling.
7 Problems/Challenges the querent dealt with.
8 Love and relationships.
9 The person the querent loved most.
10 What the querent accomplished in this life.
11 Cause of death.
12 What querent has become in their current life, because of aspects of this past life.
13 Someone the querent has met or will meet in current life that is linked to this past life.
14 A valuable lesson learned in this past life that will help querent in the current one.
15 Who the querent is shaping up to be in their next life

To help, I'll give a few tips about my logic for the layout and the order the cards are laid out.

*The first grouping of cards: 1,2, and 9, represent people from the querent's past life.

*Cards 1-11 represent a past life, 12-14 relate the present life to the past, and card 15 gives a possible look at the next life or realm of existance the querent will move into

*Generally, the cards follow a path, starting at 1 and moving across to the right to card 11. The path makes a turn at the point where the present life comes into play, moving into cards 12-15.

*Cards 5 and 7 aren't ON the path because they are outside factors that relate to the card they are next to. 4 represents the querent's personality (how they act or how they see themself), while 5 represents how others see them. 6 represents whether the querent is happy in life, while 7 provides an explanation as to what obstacles/challenges are allowing them or preventing them from being happy. Similarly, Cards 2 and 9 represent people related to the Querent, so they stand at the sides of the beginning of the path.

*The person the querent loved most is card 9 (as opposed to 3) because card 8 deals with relationships and love life, card 9 reveals more about card 8.

I haven't tried out the spread yet, but I'll update once I have. In the meantime, opinions would be appreciated! What do you think of this? Sound like it would work well?

Example Reading:

Okay, I tried it out just now, and it worked very well! I was actually hoping to gain some insight to a past life that I was already somewhat aware of, but I think the cards were trying to alert me to a different one. The reason I say this is because I have only had glimpses of one past life I've lived, and I was male in that one. The card I got that shows who I was in the past life this reading is referring to was the Queen of Cups. Yeah, it could mean I just posessed those qualities in the past life I know of, but I am getting the feeling that the cards are trying to alert me of a different past life, one where I actually was a woman. Here is a quick rundown of the how the reading worked. I am posting it here, as opposed to the readings board, for the sake of explaining this spread.

1. The Queen of Cups stated that I was a woman, very intuitive, loving, and in touch with her emotional side.
2. 8 of Rods says that my closest friend was someone who liked to travel, someone who was very confident, fearless, and loved to stay occupied.
3. 10 of Swords suggests that what I strived for in life was to bring an end to very painful situations.
4. Death marked my personality. I was a woman who was willing to cut her loses and move on to the next stage in life.
5. 5 of Pentacles revealed that people knew me as poor, needy, maybe even unhealthy. Maybe this reveals the painful situation I wanted to end, described by card 3.
6. Ace of Rods shows that I had a life of longing for achievement. I had the energy, but spent most of my life longing to make my dreams a reality. Maybe I just didn't have the resources to do so.
7. The Hermit reveals that loneliness, restlessness, and self-criticism were a problem in my life, which prevented me from finding the happiness I desired.
8. Judgement represents my love life. I often felt tied down to past mistakes and needed to let go of them, in order to move on and look for love again. Maybe some kidn of failure in love kept me alone for a long time after.
9. Ace of Swords. The person I loved most was someone full of new ideas. A sharp thinker, always up for new challenges.
10. 6 of Pentacles marks a great accomplishment in that life. I was able to achieve financial success, in order to aid those less fortunate, the impoverished people who I once was. I achieved my goal in life that was described in card 3.
11. 7 of Rods shows my death. I likely died defending a person, or a passion that I believed in.
12. 9 of Cups shows that I am very emotionally content in my current life, as compared to the last.
13. 2 of Rods represents someone I'll meet from a past life. This person will be someone who has chosen one strong passion to place their energy in.
14. Knight of Swords advises me to take action when i feel strongly about an idea I believe in, so that I can achieve great things like the past life, but it also advises me not to be too headstrong. That may be what led to my death.
15. The Chariot. In a future life, I will be someone who can take control of two opposing forces, and make them run side by side, for my own purposes.

I hope this example reading gives some insight as to how the spread works! Let me know what you all think! And of course, try it for yourselves, and let me know how it worked for you!

I really like the look of this spread, i'm going to copy it down and try it out later on. Thank you lion.wings for posting.
Sophie xx

lion wings,

i like the looks of this reading too and am very interested in it. i think i'll try it later tonight or tomorrow and will post my findings here then. i was wondering about your layout at first, then saw the reasoning behind it and can fully understand why you chose the layout as you did. can't wait to try it out!

FYI, if anyone wants to post a reading they did using this spread, for questions or comments, there is a post in the "Your Readings" section called Lantern of Ages, started by Ms. Creant.

Feel free to post there. I'll keep my eye on it.

There has been a little confusion about the meaning of Slot 1, so I'll illucidate the rest of you on the matter.

Card 1 "Who the querent was in a past life", is meant to be sort of all-encompassing. Mostly, it represents who they truly were, regardless of how they acted, what they did, or how others saw them, however this can represent a number of various things. It can closely resemble card 4, telling something about the querent's personality, or it could also show a specific position, title, or occupation the querent had (i didn't specifically create an "occupation" slot, because many who believe in reincarnation believe that past lives are often lived as animals). Anyway, Card 1 can be read however you feel it should really be read, but it basically amounts to the person's core values, who they truly were and what they believed.

Hope that helps those of you who try the spread!

Lion,wings- I finally was able to do this reading for myself, and I love this spread! It will be one I will do again and again for others as well. I am going to post my reading on the "Your Readings" Forum- as I think that is where it should go, so if you are interested and if anyone can interept something different for me, I am open for comments/suggestions. I did like this spread and look forward to doing more readings with this one.

Hello

This spread is great!! I have to admit I was a bit nervous of using it - I've not used so many cards before..but the results were certainly something! I shall post them up later in the 'readings' section

Awesome

Excellent thread! My partner is able to see her past lives with no trouble but I cannot and this spread helped me to see a little more like her.ofcourse she had an unmistakeable presence as the one I love the most. Thank you!

GreenArchitect, I'm so glad that this helped you, and I appreciate the feedback!

(By the way, this is lion.wings under a new name. I registered for a new account after being away for a few years.)