Minimal Amount of Spreads...

[stefficus]

Now.. you, thy reader, are the one DOING THE SPREAD. Should you not already know how you feel, what you see, what you desire? I mean isn't this a bit redundant? Why would you ask the Tarot that, when you should already know that?

you would think so, wouldnt' you? =/ the problem of reading for ourselves objectively is a problem for a reason... blind spots abound. i'm not sure it's a big help in those kind of roundabout, buffet-style spreads, but sometiems it helps to pull a few simple cards and ask, "what do i really want from x?" and let the cards throw something at you that doesn't make sense until you admit to yourself that, yeah, you're actually pretty pissed at X and need to let go of that.

...or whatever it is, but there are times it helps for you to at least present the question about your own motivations.

as for the original question, i find i keep going back to the same format - five cards, the center one more or less representing the querent either as they are or as they should try to be in a given situation. i confess i started doing that because exactly five cards of my tarot nova stand up wedged across the top of my laptop keyboard. it stuck, and it works. i vary it, of course, 3x2, 4-and-a-base, but five cards is usually about right.