superimposing spread meanings

[cyclamen]

Since I've started Tarot, I haven't really used spreads. I just lay out three or six cards and try and tell myself a story with it. Sometimes I use more if I feel I need to. This has worked out well for me, but it has got me thinking...

When I got my Spiral tarot yesterday, I immediately shuffled and drew three cards (QoW, 8 Cups, Chariot) as a sort of, "hello, how are you?" I studied them for a few moments, as I was in my car, and then put them away, and came home, and read about the new deck spread (1 - what can you offer me; 2 - what do you need from me?; 3 - what will our relationship be like?)

Now I was a little puzzled about the cards I'd drawn before but as soon as I read that spread, I thought to myself, "Wow, now that makes sense!"

So... my question is, do you ever lay out, say, three cards or six cards, maybe even with a question in mind, and then choose the spread you want to use? Or do you have to know what spread you're using as you lay them down? Perhaps this is grounds for a little tarot experiementation....

I guess part of this question is - what are the limits of tarot, how much do you have to know, to know....

 

[WhiteRaven]

I have found that spreads are spreads......and Tarot is Tarot .....and sometimes they work together....and sometimes they don't. I have received readings with positional definitions .....and the readings made no sense.....it wasn't the reader....it was trying to force feed the card that was drawn into the position it fell......it didn't work.

In another breath.....sometimes I'll draw cards with no positional definitions and just by reading them....I'll notice a PPF...or Situation , Advice type of thing.....

So.....it's all in the draw....and what the Tarot....and I emphasize what the "Tarot" wants to tell you on that particular draw. That's MHO anyway.

 

[mtnmermaid]

I have a couple favorite spreads but other than that I just focus on a question and throw a card or two, if it brings up more questions, I ask more. I like throwing 3 cards a lot for a question, with no particular position, just 3 and then see what they tell me.

 

[WalesWoman]

If it would help make sense.... maybe? But for some reason, I rebel at the idea of drawing cards and then trying to make a spread fit them. It sounds a bit like creative bookeepiing, fiddling to make it make sense.

If I'm going to use a spread to read, I figure out what my positions are going to mean first before I shuffle. If I just want to lay out some cards, it's a all a matter of what strikes me. I honestly don't like reading without spreads for a general reading. I need something specific to give me a direction to go in, otherwise it seems like I see so many ways it could go, I end up confusing myself.

That's when it's good to write down everything that comes to mind and think about it for awhile, look at the cards, how they are relating to each other. If I'm really stumped I read the book descriptions, maybe go to some web sites I really like and see what jumps out. I don't ususally do readings just for the heck of it, simply because it's too hard for me to figure them out.