Turn a Word into A Spread

Many times we ask questions of the tarot that only touch the surface of the true issue. Marcus and Tali give a technique that can help dig deeper and provide a fuller, more empowering answer. I like how they are able to pinpoint the word that is really the crux of the matter.

This book, Tarot Face to Face, is filled with many unique and interesting techniques for developing your skills with your deck, with questions, with querents, and with reading for groups or parties as well using tarot to engage life, enhance relationships, and encourage self-discovery.

From Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin’s Tarot Face to Face

Turn a Word into A Spread

If you are performing e-mail readings, you can use a keyword in the querent’s question to design an elegant and relevant spread. Here is an example:

Hello, I am asking about my relationship. I have been married for one year and we are discussing having children. I would like to have a reading because my parents used to say I was too irresponsible to have children and I want to know how my future might be if I do.

Here we would take that highly emotional words, irresponsible, as the main concern in the question. We then look up the etymology of the word in a dictionary or online source. We learn that “irresponsible” comes from “not responsible,” and “responsible” comes from similar ideas like “obligation.” The word “obligation” comes from the Latin and means “to bind.” This of course leads to its later use as meaning “to make someone indebted by conferring a benefit or kindness.”

We take the concepts of indebtedness and kindness and turn them into questions for a straightforward linear spread as follows.

1. What debt does the querent owe her parents?

2. What kindness did the querent learn from her parents?

3. What binds the querent in her attitude toward children?

4. What benefit will the querent be able to give her children?

5. What responsibility will the querent take on?

6. What kindness will her child(ren) bring to her?

You can of course build upon those questions as the cards are placed and you engage in conversation with the spread itself. This can be a very powerful method because it takes much of the expectation for the reading out of your hands and places it, from the querent’s question, directly into dialogue with the cards themselves. Your job is simply to interpret the reading.