Spreads

Three Cards, Two Ways

You can start this spread with an idea in mind, or you can choose not to. This spread is really good for when you don’t even know where to start. Maybe your brain itches and you know ROUGHLY what you’re concerned about. Maybe you are trying to figure out what happens next in your public life. Maybe you’re just coming into scene planning – blindly.

Draw three cards. You can do them one at a time, or draw all three face down and read them together, whichever is your preference. You can do this with any three related concepts. Me, I ALWAYS listen to jumpers; if I’m shuffling cards for a solid 5 minutes while thinking very hard and a card jumps out at me, I imagine that card as a noisy messenger, one who needs to be listened to, and it gets its place in the spread. Personally, these are my two favorites:

The essence of the issue
What complicates things
What brings clarity

I also really enjoy a standard:

Past
Present
Future

4 Card General Conversation Spread

Start with a general direction of things you’d like to think about. Perhaps it’s “I have a convention next week. I’m kind of excited about it.”

Then, draw four cards.

This is what we’re talking about today.
Yes to This
Yes to This
No to This

If, after you’ve drawn your cards and told yourself a little story, it still makes no sense, feel free to draw a clarifier or two. It might give you a little sense of direction.

Single Card Scene Focus

Draw one card to pick a focus for a theme. If you draw a face card or a Major Arcana, one of your players gets to play that archetype. If you draw one of the standard Minor Arcana, maybe that corresponds to a toy in your toybag, or a rule in your D/s contract, or something else altogether.