When you're just starting to read tarot cards, it can be
really difficult to weave multiple cards together into a
story. In fact, most people struggle at first with reading
more than one card at a time. It does not have to be so hard when
you start with a simple three card spread like I'm going to
show you in this video right here. You can easily learn and
practice how to find that thread that story that ties all of
those cards together.
Hi,
I'm Angie from The Simple Tarot which
is all about helping you learn how to read tarot cards, so that
you can use them as tools for creativity, self care, personal
development, just plain fun. Alright, and this tarot spread
that I'm going to cover right now the three card spread is my
favorite and it can be used for all of those things self care,
personal development, divination. So much more. The
three card tarot spread is used by tarot beginners because it'
so simple, but it's also used b professional tarot reader
because it's so powerful. I mea sure, right like the 10 car
Celtic cross Tarot spread. It' sexy, it's traditional, and i
seems like more real but i reality, the simple three car
tarot spread, it can give yo all of the information you need
no matter what type of proble you're facing. three card
really is the perfect number It's just enough to fee
challenging for a beginner, bu it gives you the practice fo
finding that narrative threa that ties your tarot readin
together. It's also robus enough to give you pretty muc
all the information you need t solve a problem, get clarity o
find some like actionabl advice. In fact, I've bee
reading for years and years an years, and it's still by far m
favorite tarot spread out of al of the ones I've ever read. It'
just so powerful you have thi simple and standard past presen
future spread which you can rea predictively or not, dependin
on your preference and or yo could change this sprea
positions the layout for specific relationship problem
sort of like him, me and then u together which is another grea
layout. So let's go throug reading a simple three car
tarot spread step by step. Gra your tarot deck if you want t
play along, but first shuffl your cards and lay out thre
cards face up one right next t each other just like this image
It's going to help to have tarot journal or noteboo
available so you can record you initial thoughts and ideas. Onc
you have those notes writte down, you can then pull th
thread, the central theme, th narrative story, whatever yo
want to call it. You can fin that narrative thread and us
that during your tarot reading I absolutely love tar
t journaling, but having a reco d of each tarot reading that y
u do, is a really fantastic To s e how your readings grow a
d change over time, it's also a really good way to practi
e because you can do a journali g reading right now, come back
a week later and see if you wou d read the cards the same way. A
d if you continue to do this, y u will see your practice leads
o real tarot understanding a d growth. You can always come ba
k to them at a future date to so t of check in to see how accura
e you are. Okay, but now with o r three card tarot spread, let
s take a look at what we see. St p one, pay attention. Notice wh
t types of cards you have and h w they make you feel. So, rig
t now, do you feel good abo t these cards? Do you fe
l resistant? Do you feel eager a d hopeful? Do you feel like t
e cards have a warning? What s your physical response to the
e cards? Write that in yo r journal. Take a look for t
e patterns. Are there more th n one suit or multiple cards at
a time? Are th
all major arcana?
Do you notice any patterns in the colors the numbers or the
symbols? Right this all down. And the more often you do this,
the more often you practice, the easier this will be. But right
now, do you have like an instant understanding of the story or
how the cards flow together, this is going to hit you
probably through your intuition. And you're just going to know
what the cards mean. Sometimes this does take practice, but you
will get better at it over time.
So what does your intuition say?
If you absolutely had to read the spread right now, without
diving any deeper, just based off your quick review, what is
the story? And how do those cards read, put that in your
journal? Very often, what you just put in your journal, your
initial intuitive reading is very close to the final reading
that you're going to come up with. So be sure you really
follow that into it intuitive sense that you have. Now, if
you're a writer, think of this as world building and character
development stage of your tarot reading. You're setting the
stage and coming up with many possible ideas. Some you're
going to throw away and some You're going to keep once you've
gotten these notes in your journal, it's time to dive a
little bit deeper, we need to start thinking about plots, or
at least the major plot points of your spread. So step two,
we're going to start telling a story with a beginning, a middle
and an end. You can interpret the cards in multiple ways, but
it helps to have like a storyteller mindset with some
sort of narrative arc to it. So if you're a writer, think about
inciting incidents midpoints and reversals of fortune. Think
about goals, motivation, and conflict. Think of the three act
structure, the setup, the fun and games in Act Two, and then
the resolution. And if you're not a writer at all, or all of
that just seems like gobbledygook. Think of it as a
chain of events. When a happened, B was the result. And
now I need to do this thing. See, when you use the simple
past, present future layout as a reading, it's a really easy
example of this reading actu lly works really well in many
many situations or to addr ss many problems. So past when
this happened present, this was he result and future, this is w
at I can expect or this is what will happen. So now take a look
at your cards do any of thes resonate with you write it in y
ur journal as if it was a stor . Now we're starting to get some
here. So now we need to tie it a l together, we're going to writ
a first draft to your stor or even if it's a story in your
mind. So think of this as a genr . So you came to the tarot card
with a question. Maybe it was question about your rela
ionship. So you're going to keep the answer the story within the
oundaries of that genre rela ionship. You're writing a roma
ce, right? But no matter what the question is, keep your stor
within those boundaries. Now, step three, find the thread of t
e story that ties all of thes cards together. So some
imes this is obvious, and you' e just going to know And some
imes it's more of an intu tive feeling. Sometimes you real
y have to, like, inte lectually sort this out. So use
our journal and review all the otes you took so far, but don'
expect it really to have all f the answers you're really look
ng for. I don't know what to s y other than a thread, but ther
is one sort of line that conn cts card one, card two, and card
three, within the confines of y ur question, your genre. So when
you look at these three card together, this thread that goes
through all three of them, it m ght be an event that happ
ned, it might be a rela ionship you have, or it migh
be an emotion that ties ever thing together. So find out what
three cards have in common usin the boundaries of your ques
ion, and then use your intu tion not really your logi
al brain, very often, we'll get n intuitive hit, but we don'
like it. So then we'll try to f rce it using logic. That's not
hat terrorists for. You real y need to get comfortable usin
and trusting your own intu tion. All right, so put ever
thing together now and tell your elf the story of this three card
tarot spread reading.
Write that down in your journal as if it was a short
story. Like, really just a paragraph or two is great. And
if you want to take it even deeper, write about your process
of how you came up with that story. Was this easy? What was
your mood as you started? How do you feel now? Was this fun? Was
it a little painful? What questions do you still have? If
you record all of that in your Tarot journal as well it's
really going to help you grow and learn as a tarot reader. Now
finally, step four, trust yourself. Tarot is a gateway int
your subconscious, so you're no always going to know what'
right. Not in a consciou intellectual way. So even thoug
you may not fully understand th story of the tarot, or even th
tarot reading from a logica space, if it feels right, the
trust yourself that you've rea the cards right. You just may
need more time perspective and a little bit of hindsight to s
e how everything plays out. So u e your notes in your journa
, review them in a couple of wee s or maybe even a month from no
, you can often find that thre d if you're missing it right no
, just by using hindsight and a little bit of perspective.
o make sure to write notes lat r if you do that too. Because y
u want to be able to remember a l of the tarot spread your enti
e experience with it, initial y reading it and then when y
u came back to it later a d understood it so each time y
u review your readings you get o take them each a little b
t deeper. So of course, the thr e card tarot spread is sup
r powerful and super awesom . You're going to be using th
s throughout your entire tar t career or journey or whatev
r you want to call it. But I p t together this next video rig
t here for you. That includes so e other easy tarot spreads th
t are perfect for beginners, o you can start exploring those
s well. Remember, there's no rig t way there's no wrong way
o learn tarot Just like there's o right way or wrong way to re
d the cards, there's only your w y and your way is the only w
y that matters. So you can lea n more spreads and layouts he
e and I will see you right now n that next vide