Tarot Layouts

 Tarot Layouts

Before one even learns what the individual cards mean, the new reader learns the how to lay their cards out.

The Cross and Staff

or Celtic Cross

This  is the most common layout one learns, and in fact is normally the first layout most learn. Mainly because this layout is featured in almost all the books on tarot, including the booklets found with most decks. 

This layout is generally taught with only one card per position. However, I was taught to use from  three to five cards per position. The idea being that more cards makes it easier to be narrow down what each position is trying to express.

Do it Your Way...

Experiment with your layouts and change things around to suit yourself. In fact, you don't actually have to use any of the 'classic' layouts. You can make one up and it'll work just as well, if not better.

The Basic Iris

What I did was expand a very simple, very classic three-card layout into a fifteen-card card layout. 

I call it the Iris because see the five cards in each position as a flower. The first card laid out being the bloom, the next two are the leaves that support and frame the bloom. The cross-card below the first three are the soil that influenced the flower's growth, and the bottom-most card being the root that caused the flower to grow in the first place. 

This is the layout I use most often professionally because it gives the querent, or seeker; the person the reading is for, a fairly specific overview of what's going on in their lives. 

The Diamond

The Diamond is an example of a layout entirely made-up from scratch. 

This layout came into being when I was asked to add details to a specific question about a rather complicated relationship. I have since used it to go into detail on a great many situations from personal and professional relationship to business ventures. 

The way to use this layout is by reading the 'connections' according to what cards touch what corners. This can be as simple as reading the cards purely as they lay, but I like use the bottom corners to indicate the Reverse of the card as it lays. 

For example...

If the card is laid out Upside-Down:

 -- The Top corners of the card have a Reverse influence on the cards that touch their top corners, and are read Right-side-Up against the cards that touch the bottom corners. 

If the card is laid out in Right-side-Up:

 -- The Top corners of the card have an Upright influence on the cards that touch their top corners, and are read in Reverse against the cards that touch their bottom corners.

This is Not an easy layout to use because it can get really complicated, really fast. You need to know your cards extremely well to get an accurate reading with it. However, I have yet to find another layout that goes into the detail this one will.

In Conclusion...

How you choose to lay out your cards is essentially, entirely up to you. Whether you use a classic, tried-and-true layout, or one of your own invention, the truth is, only You know what will work for you. 

Experimentation is the key.

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