Tarot

Jan’s Spread

A New Idea for the Tarot

Copyright © 2000-2005 Sasha Fenton

Like everything that comes from China, the Tarot spread that is based on the Mah Jongg is complicated, albeit useful. Here is an alternative. Why should East be at the bottom? Why separate West into the two outer cards followed by the centre one? One thing that emerged from experimenting with this was the fact that Jan liked the layout and some of the ideas. After working on it together for a while, we have now come up with a modern alternative.

                                                               O  O  O
                                                       5 - Distant future

                                 O  O  O                    O                    O  O  O
                                   3 - Past            1 - Centre        4 - Near future

                                                               O  O  O
                                                       2 - Background

The layout

• 1. The centre or the heart of the problem.
• 2. The circumstances surrounding the problem, the reason for it, or the behaviour of the questioner in connection with the problem.
• 3. The past.
• 4. The near future - say up to around six months from now.
• 5. The more distant future - looking at the situation a year from now. Also assessing whether the problem or its outcome are still on the agenda, or whether something else will be happening by then.

Giving a layman instructions on reading the Tarot is all well and good, but when a consultant is faced with a member of the general public, things are not quite as easy as they look.

When a patient visits a doctor, a dentist, any kind of therapist or even a psychiatrist, he will happily tell the practitioner what is ailing or worrying him. If the patient is making a first visit, the practitioner will interview him, take background notes and make some kind of assessment of the situation even before making a first examination. When a client fetches up at a Tarot consultant's practice, he (or more likely, she) will expect the consultant to figure out the question as well as the answer.

A new client (especially those old campaigners who have done the rounds of the Tarot readers and mediums) won't trust a consultant who asks what is bothering her. If a consultant says, "What area would you like me to look at?” The client is quite likely to wave a languid hand and mutter vaguely, "Oh, everything. Yes, everything. Just give me a general reading.” A consultant might be tempted to think that the client didn't have anything specific eating at her - but he would be wrong. There are clients who go to a Tarot reader for fun or just to see if anything interesting is on the horizon, but most go because they have something on their minds. Finding the core question puts the client at ease, because she will immediately figure that if the consultant can see the question, he can also see the answer! For this reason, I tend to advise new consultants to start by using a spread that looks at a variety of areas, unless they are lucky enough to find clients who are happy to tell them what is bothering them. My personal favourite among opening gambits is to use the astrological spread, because it says something about everything, and it often shows me the areas of the client's life that are problematical. After this, I move on to spreads that focus on specific questions.

Jan's spread is a kind of halfway house, because it can be used to throw up a problem without the client having to say anything at the outset, but it is probably at its best when focusing on a specific problem. Being a new idea, it is worth experimenting with it for a while, so that you can discover whether you can trust it or not. Intuition is always a great help, so whatever spread you are using, don't be too hidebound by it or by the meaning of a specific card, and if you get a feeling about the reading, always follow your instincts.

So now, let us take a look at Jan's Tarot spread and see how it works.

Preparation

Ask your client to shuffle or stir the cards and then to select 13 cards that she feels drawn to. Ask her to keep them lying face down. Clients often take a great deal of time over this, but don't be tempted to tap your fingers or toes in frustration. All this shuffling and choosing has a quietening effect on a client. It is a kind of meditative activity that takes her away from the rush and bustle of everyday life and on an inward journey. You can give yourself a little help by asking your client to focus on her problems while doing this, as this will take her even more deeply into the right kind of mood, and it might also allow you to start to pick up psychic or intuitive feelings about her.

Once your client has picked the 13 cards, ask her to push three cards away to the top, draw three to the bottom, three to the left and three to the right, leaving one card in the centre. Now you have a choice. If you are the type of reader who likes to see all the cards in a spread with their faces up, turn them all over. If you prefer to work with one bit at a time, then do so. The value of working with one section at a time is that you focus on that issue before moving on to the next. The value of seeing the whole spread laid out before you is that the type of cards that are on the table may help you to get a feel for the story. For instance, if there are a number of Court cards and a quantity from the suit of Cups - and if the Moon card is among the number - you can be sure that you are wandering around in a client's emotional mess.

The method

Starting with card No. 1, The Centre. This gives an immediate indication as to what is at the heart of the matter. If this is a Major Arcana card, you can be sure that the problem is a tricky one, but Major cards often don't give too much specific information. Sometimes a card (Major or Minor) will hit the problem right on the nose, but often it will only give you a vague pointer, so this is where moving on to No. 2 and looking at the background cards will help.

Look at No. 2, The Background. Now look at what is behind the situation. It may be something that the client herself is doing, or something about her attitude that is causing or exacerbating the situation - or it may be a completely outside force that is at work here. If two or more Major Arcana cards appear here, the chances are that fate is at work, rather than the client herself.

Moving on to No. 3, The Past. This will show you what has led up to this situation. This may or may not interest the client, because she has already lived through her past, but it is useful for the consultant to know what has been going on. This is the Tarot reader's equivalent of interviewing the client to see what symptoms have been building up to the present dilemma.

No. 4, The Future. This shows what the immediate outcome will be. This may show that the problem will be resolved very shortly, or that a turning point for the better is on the way. Alternatively, it may show that the problem is ongoing and that it will still not be completely resolved within the next six months. At this point, we can borrow an idea from the Mah Jongg reading. Turn over or look at the two outer cards and see what they have to say, then turn the middle card over and see if it gives any advice as to what should be done or who might come to the aid of the client.

No. 5, The Distant Future. This shows the situation in around a year's time. If the problem is fairly straightforward, this should show that it has been solved or that something else will be occupying the client's mind a year down the line. If the problem is a tricky or an ongoing one, it will show the client where she is heading and what the long-term outcome will be - and perhaps what she can do about it.