Two cards drawn together convey a more precise meaning than a single card. In my work, I find that if I’m looking for something more specific than one card can provide, then I’m usually looking for something more than two cards can clarify. Hence, the reason for three card readings.

We already saw one version of a three-card reading in this lesson. The “tarot sentence” is my number one method of using the cards: first word, expansion, clarification, with the placement of the three cards being intuitive and then interpreted into the meaning. I believe you have been doing something like this since the beginning of the course; feel free to continue!

Here are some other options for three-card layouts:

• A painting: three upright cards treated as a single image. Look at the relationship to the way the energy flows between cards. Here are some examples to consider
  • Consider it like a linear narrative if it all flows in one direction.
  • If the center points in one direction or the other, it may indicate a choice.
  • If the edges move away from the center, it can indicate a common origin or central problem with alternate courses of action.
  • When the edges come toward the center, it may mean a convergence of influences into a single issue of concern.

It can be interesting to predetermine the meaning of a location in a spread and then interpret the card in that location according to that structure. This is generally how the more complex spreads we will explore in the upcoming lessons work. Here are a few three-card examples. The question being asked may benefit from a particular layout, and the sky is the limit! Whatever you can imagine, and feels right to you, is completely OK. Follow your instincts!