Spread for 3 Most Influencial Spirit Guides

This spread is a little more difficult and requires setting up your deck prior to running it. You should also use the deck that makes it easiest for you to associate face cards with people. I only use this spread when I feel the need to point out to someone, "this is who is walking beside you helping you with aspects of life."

SETTING UP THE DECK
- First, take out all the cards. Place them in a pile.
- Next, take out all of the major arcana cards.
- Set your tower and wheel cards aside. If you feel your wheel card can count for a personality type, then you can add it to the 'face card' pile.
- Find your Moon and Sun cards. Keep these two close. They have a special job.
- Set the rest of your cards aside in a different pile. These get used later.


SETTING UP THE SPREAD
~~~1~~~
M~3~2~S
~~~Q~~~

M: This is where the Moon card goes, face up.
S: This is where the Sun card goes, face up.
- These two cards represent duality, recessive and dominant, intuitive and physical, mother and father. They will help you in reading the role a spirit is taking in the seeker's life.

Q: This is a face card that the seeker choses to represent his or herself. You can also let this card chose itself in a previous spread where a self card existed.

-Shuffle your face cards deck and deal them in the numbered spots. These cards represent the spirits. It doesn't matter what order you deal them in really, only how they sit above the seeker matters.

THE READING ITSELF
1. The card that sits directly above the seeker, this is the spirit that is most influential in the seeker's life. It's the person that is doing the most at the current time to teach the seeker lessons in life, and help them with problems. The person that appears in this spot can easily change from time to time as a person moves through different lessons in life.

-This is where the suit cards come in. You deal the suit cards on top of that spirit card (how many is up to you) to get further information about the spirit's personality. I.e. They're spiritual rank, things they've done, relationships with other spirits, etc.

2. The card that sits next to the sun is the spirit that tends to be the most physically expressive. What I mean by this is, this person is the one who is most likely put out little signs in the physical world to let the seeker know there is someone there watching over them. Like symbolic songs playing on the radio, or objects getting moved, or maybe the seeker feels like someone is in the room with them when there's no one there. Spirit guides will find simple ways to make themselves known, and the more people listen to them, the more signs they will send.

3. The card that sits next to the moon is the more 'motherly' of the spirits. This is a person that looks after the seeker, making sure they are kept safe and that they do the right thing. It is a person that doesn't always seek direct methods of interaction, and may not always be apparent to the seeker.

-The people who show up in the spots next to the Sun and Moon cards aren't as likely to change. Though there can easily be people the seeker had once known appearing in these areas, there's usually at least one person that has been with the seeker since the seeker's birth.


If you wish to try fitting more spirit spots into the spread, you're welcome to try. I've always kept it to three to conserve energy both for myself, and the spirits I'm working with. The one thing this spread doesn't do is provide names. It is the seeker's job alone to give names to the spirit guides that show up, whether those guides were people they knew, family members, or people the seeker has never met/known about until now. Names serve as ways of strengthening the bonds between the seeker and the guides. Think of it as an intimate detail. If you, the reader, are meant to know, the seeker will tell you. (That is if you the reader aren't also the seeker, of course. lol)


I apologize if this spread seems a bit complicated. It's something that came to me when I first started reading tarot, as I've always had a strange connection to the spirit realm. I designed it based on my own symbolism. Even now that I know more about what I'm doing, I find myself still using it. Even more so now than ever. If you feel you need to change something for it to really work for you, do so. Just remember to respect the spirit guides that show up.

Any questions?

Hi Akatala,

I found your spread very helpful. I was aware of the fact that my gradma was watching over me, but I didn't expect the same of one of my ex-boyfriends.
I'm a bit unsure about position 1, there's been a real person, not a spirit. It feels right, but what was your intention? To get a look at only spirits walking by your side or real persons, too?

Blessings, Astraea Aurora

Akatala,

This spread looks very interesting and I'm going to give it a try. I want to make sure I understand:

You have 3 piles - majors, courts, and suits. No major arcana cards are used in the spread except the Sun and Moon. Courts identify the spirits and suits identify their attributes. Do I have that correct? And if so, what is the reasoning behind using just the court cards for the spirit guides, rather than including the major arcana cards (or at least those with a single person pictured)? Is it because court cards are traditionally seen as representing people? Would the spread be less effective/muddled if you tried to include majors as additional choices for the guides to identify themselves by?

I'm just curious because I'm relatively new to tarot, so I ask lots of questions in order to satisfy my desire to soak up knowledge. Plus I know almost nothing about spirit guides, but I find the concept fascinating and would love to learn more about how they might interact with the tarot.

Hi Mercurial,

as I have understood you have three piles - Majors, courts and the rest of the suits. You select the Sun and the Moon to define the two worlds (real and spritual) and you select the Tower and the Wheel because they usually don't depict people. Then you put together the rest of the Majors and the courts to form your FACE CARDS - cards with people. From these you draw three cards - 1, 2 and 3. And then you draw additional cards from the suits pile for further characteristics of 1, 2 and 3.

I may be wrong but this is how I understood it and used the spread some time ago. It worked quite well.

Blessings, Astraea Aurora

Wonderful spread. I've had communication with my two of my main guides for a while now. It was nice to see them pulled in my spread... Even though I already know their purposes and who they are, something about seeing them in my spread, represented as I know them to be, was reassuring and warming. My third guide, the one who deals with more the spiritual growth was a mystery in the deck. I still have yet to become acquainted with this guide and he/she let me know they weren't ready to reveal themselves in this spread. I thought that was interesting and fun. However it was relieving learning his/ hers purpose in my life. Thanks again!