In Tarot readings one of the simplest and yet incredibly versatile spreads is the Three Card Spread. Very simply, the reader draws three cards and lays them out from left to right.
The progress from left to right is very easy for the Western mind to grasp; it’s a linear reading with each of the card proceeding from the one before it. If the querent is interested in the temporal aspect of a situation, the cards can be read as Past, Present and Future. In a time based three card reading, the past card relates what major influences resulted in the current situation. The present card represents the most important aspects of the present moment to look at, and the future card points out one possible outcome or something to be aware of.
The three card spread can be read as Body, Mind and Soul. The physical body has needs and desires that can be hidden from the conscious mind — the body card points these out. Issues of health and fitness, diet, nutrition and stress issues are revealed in the first card. The mind card points out any unconscious or unaware trends within the mental processes of the querent. Stress, worries, emotional upsets as well as psychological issues are the subject of this card. In the soul card issues of the querent’s purpose in life, their meaning and bliss are brought to light. What does the client need, spiritually, where do they go next? The soul card can be tricky to interpret — intuition comes into play in this particular reading quite a bit.
In Jungian terms the three card spread can be interpreted as Subconscious, Conscious and Superconscious (Deity or God-Mind). For those querents interested in their own mental processes, looking for insight into why they do what they do, or for guidance in matters of the mind, the Jungian three card can provide quite a bit of insight. Again, the third card can be a bit of a stumper, but when it’s clear it can also be a two by four to the head.
The first two versions of the three card reading are the most commonly used, with the Past, Present, Future interpretation being by far the most common. Anything that the reader or querent can think of that comes in threes can be read as the three positions. Male/Female/Androgyn; Straight/Bi/Gay; Move/Don’t Move/Other Option; Who am I?/What do I need?/How do I get it? The possibilities are well nigh endless.
How do you use the three card spread? Do you do something interesting with your short readings?
It’s been a long time since I’ve read tarot cards, but now that you’ve mentioned the Body, Mind, Soul version of the 3 card reading, it feels like I need to do one of those for myself. Oor, since those appear to be only $10, I should ask you to do one for me
(Seriously, I’ll be sending you an email tonight to arrange one of those.)
That’s awesome! I’m so glad the posts on layouts are useful.
I know I enjoy doing them, so it’s really gratifying to know that they sparked something in you.
I would love to do a reading for you, too!
<3