Tarot Spreads

How to use these spreads

Choose a spread, think of your question and press Deal the cards. The cards land face down: turn them one at a time, in any order, or use Turn all. Each position has its own meaning, shown under the cards. Copy the link to keep the reading — it opens the same cards for anyone.

Three cards: past, present, future

The classic three-card spread. Read the cards left to right as a short story of how you got here and where things are going.

1. The past — What led to this moment: an influence, choice or event whose effects you still feel. Read it as background, not blame.
2. The present — Where you stand now and the energy around your question today. This is usually the card to act on.
3. The future — Where things are heading if nothing changes. A likely direction, not a fixed outcome — you can still steer.

Deal the three cards: past, present, future spread

Three cards: situation, action, outcome

A practical spread for a decision: what is going on, what would help, and what tends to follow.

1. The situation — The heart of the matter as it is now, including the parts you may be overlooking.
2. The action — What would help: an attitude, a step or a change of approach this card points to.
3. The outcome — What tends to follow if you take that step. Treat it as encouragement or a gentle warning, not a promise.

Deal the three cards: situation, action, outcome spread

Three cards: you, them, the relationship

A quick look at two people and the connection between them — a partner, a friend, a family member or a colleague.

1. You — What you bring right now: your mood, your needs and the role you are playing.
2. Them — How the other person seems to show up. It reflects your view of them, so hold it lightly.
3. The relationship — The connection itself: what it needs, or what is growing between you.

Deal the three cards: you, them, the relationship spread

Love spread (5 cards)

Five cards for a relationship or for your love life in general. If you are single, read the second card as the love that is on its way to you.

1. You — How you feel and what you really want from love right now.
2. Them, or your love life — The other person — or, if you're single, the kind of love that is heading your way.
3. The connection — What draws you together and what the relationship stands on.
4. The challenge — What gets in the way: a fear, a habit or a difference worth talking about openly.
5. Where it's heading — The likely next chapter if you both keep going as you are.

Deal the love spread spread

Celtic Cross (10 cards)

The best-known in-depth spread, described by A. E. Waite in 1910. Six cards form a cross around the question, four more stand beside it as a staff.

1. The present — You and the situation as it stands — the card at the center of the cross.
2. The challenge — Laid across the first card: the obstacle or tension you are dealing with. Even a happy card here is something to handle.
3. The foundation — Beneath the cross: the root of the matter, often something older or less visible.
4. The recent past — What is just leaving your life but still colors the present.
5. The best outcome — Above the cross: your aim, or the best result you can reach from here.
6. The near future — What is likely to come up in the next weeks or months.
7. Yourself — Bottom of the staff: your attitude and how you see your own part in this.
8. Your environment — Other people, home and work — the influences around you.
9. Hopes and fears — What you hope for and what you're afraid of. They are often the same thing seen from two sides.
10. The outcome — Top of the staff: where all of this is heading if things continue. Read it together with cards 5 and 9.

Deal the celtic cross spread

Year ahead (13 cards)

One card for the theme of the year and one for each of the next twelve months. Use it as a list of moods to watch for, not a calendar of events.

1. Theme of the year — The thread running through the whole year — the lesson or mood that keeps coming back.
2. Twelve months — The mood of this month: something to watch for or to lean into.

Deal the year ahead spread

FAQ

Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider–Waite–Smith tarot (1909), public domain. Scans via Wikimedia Commons.

For entertainment only. A spread is a way to think a question through, not a forecast, and it can't replace advice from a doctor, lawyer or financial professional.