Favorite Spreads?

[Jade Rose]

I just wanted to know what's everyone's favorite spreads when it comes to reading? :)

Whether it's Tarot, Oracle or any other form of divination, feel free to share!

To be honest, I'm overwhelmed by the number of spreads out there which is why I'm asking. That and I want to try something other than a one card or a three card. Don't get me wrong though, these work very well, but I just wanted to expand my practice.

[Xiao Rong]

What a great thread! I love reading about new spreads. Here are some of mine (keep in mind I use runic divination):

[also, excuse all the weird hyphens - I wanted to show the layout but for some reason the formatting comes out weird and won't let me use spaces, so instead I have to use hyphens ... ]

Five Rune Cross Spread

---- 3
- 2 5 4
---- 1

1. Basic influences.
2. Obstacles to overcome
3. Beneficial processes
4. Possible outcome
5. Future influences on possible outcome

Great basic spread for a lot of questions.

Tree of Life Spread

---- 7
- 5 --- 6
---- 4
---- 3
-- 1 - 2

1. What you need to learn
2. Challenges before you
3. Guiding rune
4. What powers will help you
5. Warnings to heed
6. That which you should let pass
7. Outcome

I like the symmetry of this one, and it's a little more involved but covers a lot of ground for a more complex question.

Lovers' Cup Cast

-- 8 ------- 9
--- 6 ----- 7
---- 4 -- 5
------ 3
------ 2
------ 1

1. Current state of things
2. Lover's current position
3. Nature of your question
4. Desires in relation to question
5. Lover's desires
6. Challenges that may arise for you
7. Challenges that may arise for your lover
8. Future outcome (for you) --> meant to be read in tandem with #9
9. Future outcome (for your lover) --> meant to be read in tandem with #8

I use this for most of my love-related reading requests. I really like how this spread lets you do a lot of comparisons between you and your lover, spot patterns in each person in the relationship, AND get some information on the relationship in general. Super nifty!

[SnowCat]

I like using a three card spread to get a snapshot of things. Left to right, past, present, future.

Frosty

[Firebird]

I'm with Snow, I like the three card spread...like... 1. situation 2.action 3. outcome

I have another spread I like to do that is good to do when you want to know when to look for a job or some other thing that may happen in a month, you lay the cards out like a calender, M, T, W, Th, F, S, S ...starting where ever you are in the week. then according to what cards pop up on what days, these would be more favorable, to seek employment or whatever. I have a friend who is a make up artist, every time she was out of work we would do this spread, and every job she got happened on the favorable days, she has now been doing the Jimmy Kimmel show for years...turned in her app. on one of the favorable days!!
This is a spread I designed myself...though if anyone else does it I have never heard. (c) please site Firebird if you ever use it on some else...Thanks! ( Firebird Calendar spread)
BB, Firebird

[North Star]

I love 3 card spreads, sometimes I add on a 4th card... the 4th as an overall 'message' or 'lesson' of the spread.


I also like the Planetary Spread, and the Relationship Cross.

[Jade Rose]

What a great thread! I love reading about new spreads. Here are some of mine (keep in mind I use runic divination):

Ahh, yes I know you use the runes! I was wondering though, would it be possible to use tarot instead? I think I can but are those specific to the runes only? I especially like the Lovers' Cup Cast. ;)

I'm with Snow, I like the three card spread...like... 1. situation 2.action 3. outcome

Oh yes, I use that one a lot, it's not complicated but is incredibly insightful. I even use a one card-spread, and that's sometimes more than enough for me. :)

I love 3 card spreads, sometimes I add on a 4th card... the 4th as an overall 'message' or 'lesson' of the spread.


I also like the Planetary Spread, and the Relationship Cross.

I do that too, but sometimes I pull out the 4th as a clarifier but obviously not always, only when I really don't see what the cards mean.

The Planetary Spread sounds interesting, what is it about?

[Xiao Rong]

You can definitely adapt the Lover's Cup spread for tarot! I think most rune spreads are based off of tarot spreads, anyways. I'm actually starting to think that larger spreads (like Lover's Cup, which is 9 runes) probably doesn't work as well for runes. There are only 24 runes in the Elder Futhark, and in a big spread you're bound to get more than a third of the runes, so your readings might actually have less precision than a 4- or 5-rune spread. In contrast, with 78 tarot cards, you can still get plenty precise with 9 cards.

[Jade Rose]

You can definitely adapt the Lover's Cup spread for tarot! I think most rune spreads are based off of tarot spreads, anyways. I'm actually starting to think that larger spreads (like Lover's Cup, which is 9 runes) probably doesn't work as well for runes. There are only 24 runes in the Elder Futhark, and in a big spread you're bound to get more than a third of the runes, so your readings might actually have less precision than a 4- or 5-rune spread. In contrast, with 78 tarot cards, you can still get plenty precise with 9 cards.

Ah yeah that would make sense actually.

I'm going to try it sometime later, I don't want to do too many reading at once about the same subject but I'll definitely try it at one point! Thanks!