Barbara Moore, Tarot Spreads: layouts and techniques to empower your readings. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide ,2012. ISBN: 9780738727844.
By now, it has been about 9 years in cartomancy journey. I use Tarot and card spreads, but so far have not made a spread of my own. It is a skill I would like to learn, so I finally picked up this book. Moore provides a good selection of spreads plus techniques for finding patterns in cards as you read and ways to put spreads together.
The book is arranged into seven chapters:
- Chapter 1: Tarot Spread Basics.
- Chapter 2: Design Principles and Layouts. Yes, there are some principles. At times I wonder why a creator used one layout over another. While I am sure a lot of creators just "wing it," there are some principles to help organize your spread and make it flow better. This idea was new to me.
- Chapter 3: A Collection of Spreads. This is the core of the book with classic and other spreads organized by theme. Some are spreads that Moore has made; others she has gathered from other sources. Moore also describes how she has modified a particular spread and/or offers suggestions for alternative interpretations. You get a lot of value in this chapter.
- Chapter 4: Techniques to Add to Any Spread. This features options and ideas you can add to an existing spread. It may be a small change here or there, moving a card, changing your focus and more.
- Chapter 5: How to Modify Spreads. Before teaching about making your own spreads, Moore shows us how to modify an existing spread. The idea here is to modify or tweak a spread so it can better meet your needs. You don't have to just make a new spread from scratch if you do not want to do so. Here you work with what you have.
- Chapter 6: Do-it-yourself spread design. This is where you make your own spreads. As Moore points out, cartomancers usually have a collection of spreads. I have a few, and I add a new one to me here or there. Once in a while you feel a need to make your own, and this chapter shows you how. The chapter includes examples of spreads Moore has built to illustrate the lessons.
- Chapter 7: How to do a 78-card reading. I admit this seemed a bit daunting for me, not unlike the Grand Tableau spread in Lenormand.. These are spreads that use all the cards in a deck. However, Moore breaks it down, starting with a smaller spread, then building upon it until you have all 78 cards in place.
- In addition, the book includes a list of spreads (alphabetical by spread name), an introduction, conclusion, spread cross-references (a list of spreads by theme), an annotated reading list (for further reading and learning), and three appendices on old spreads, elemental dignities, and significators.
A strength of the book is the incremental learning. Moore starts with the basics, and she gradually works her way up. If you are already adept at making spreads, you could skip ahead. For those of us still learning, start reading from the beginning, do the exercises, and build up your own skills and knowledge. Reading through the book I feel that I can learn this. It is not as difficult as I initially thought.
Moore writes in a simple and clear style. She explains things well. Yes, this is sort of a textbook, but the way she writes she draws you in, and you keep reading.
I read through the book this time to start learning, get a feel for the book, and to write this review. Having read it, I know this is a book I want to keep handy. I will read it again to try some of the spreads and when I feel ready to make my own spreads. For beginners and intermediate learners, I'd say this book is essential.
I strongly recommend this for libraries that collect books for pagans and other esoterica. I would order it for our library. I own this one, and I am glad to have it on my shelf.
5 out 5 stars.
This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge:
No comments:
Post a Comment