You’ve got the Celtic Cross down to an art. Your past-present-future game? On point. You have all your favorite tarot spreads saved on Pinterest and Instagram, and you’ve carefully recorded basic layouts from your “little white books” in your tarot journal. 

Congratulations– you’re ready to learn how to write your own tarot spreads! Today, I’m going to share my top five tips for writing powerful, effective tarot spreads. Grab a pen, a journal, and your favorite tarot deck, and get ready to create!

Draw From Your Own Experience

When it comes to writing tarot spreads, the best resource you can tap into is you.  Consistently probe your thoughts and feelings for deep, authentic questions, and keep track of them in a notebook. Here are just a few of the questions I often ask myself when I’m looking for clarity and insight:

How did this situation arise?

What is my role in the current situation?

What am I missing?

What can I do to change things for the better?

How can I put my best foot forward?

What do I need to release?

These are very general questions, but they’re only a place to start. You can add details that reflect your or your querent’s situation so the messages you interpret can address the question more directly.

Explore Obstacles

We often consult the tarot because we want to overcome the force that’s standing between ourselves and greatness. Because of this, it’s pretty darn important to include a spread position that speaks to the obstacles and hindrances we face in relationship to what we’re asking. If you’re designing a custom tarot spread for a client, you can mine the obstacle position from directly from the question they’ve asked you. For example, say that you or a client wants to strengthen self-love. Create a position that helps her identify her inner demon (obstacle) so she knows where to focus her efforts. Such a position might sound something like this: “What obstacles are preventing me from tapping into my well of self-love?”

The Big Why

Once you’ve identified the obstacle, the next step is to explore why that obstacle’s there in the first place. As a reader who approaches her craft psycho-spiritually, I feel that this “why” almost always has its origin in the subconscious. Using the example above, then, a good “why” position might read something like this: “Why are these obstacles blocking the well of my self-love?” If you’d like to be more specific, you can ask “What’s the subconscious source of the obstacles I’m facing?”

Actionable Advice

Call me new-fashioned, but no tarot spread is complete without a call to action! I feel that the insights provided in a tarot reading are only as good as the change they inspire, so a good reading encourages the querent to do something about the problem they’re facing and navigating.

To apply this suggestion, you may simply add “actionable advice moving forward” as the last position in your tarot spread. You can also tailor the position to reflect the query more directly; for example, a self-love “actionable advice” position may look a little something like this: “What can I do to hold space for myself as I progress in my self-love journey.” In a shadow work reading, you can ask, “What can I do to integrate the shadow aspect so I can begin to regain control over my thoughts and actions?” In a creativity reading, you can ask, “How can I take steps to re-establish my connection with my fiery, creative aspect?”

Of course, these positions alone can insure that your client receives actionable advice–that part’s up to you!

A Position for Power and Support

At the conclusion of a particularly difficult reading, I often like to pull a card that provides support and encouragement. Sometimes, I choose a card from an oracle or affirmation deck and title the position “oracle for greater clarity.” When the situation calls for it, I’ll get more specific. Here are a few examples from readings I’ve given: “How can I get creative?” “Where can I look for guidance?” “Where can I find my strength and power?”

Positions like these wrap up the reading on a high note and help you client feel empowered and create positive change in their lives. It also gives you an opportunity to say something positive without compromising the integrity of the reading–like Mary Poppins says, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!