How To Read A 12 Card Tarot Spread

Tarot card reading can be done using a variety of spreads, or layouts. Attempt one of them or all of them! to determine which approach is most effective for you. It will be much simpler for you if you start by reading up on how to get ready for your reading.

For anyone who has never read before, start at the top with a straightforward three-card arrangement and work your way down the list of spreads, which are presented in order from easiest to most complex. It will become much simpler to try more complex layouts as you grow more accustomed to the cards and their meanings. Additionally, you might discover that using one spread rather than the others yields more accurate results. Don’t be afraid; that occurs frequently.

How are tarot cards spread and read?

What to Do First:

  • Get out your tarot deck.
  • The cards are in your hand.
  • “Knock or tap the pile of cards numerous times while holding them in your palm to disseminate your energy throughout the deck.
  • Shuffle the cards completely.
  • The cards are divided into three heaps, which are subsequently reassembled into one pile.

What does the 12th Tarot card represent?

In contemporary tarot decks, a guy is seen hanging upside-down by one foot. Most frequently, the figure is hung from a tree or a wooden beam (such as a cross or gallows). Due to the possibility of viewing the card itself upside down, there is ambiguity.

A. E. Waite, the creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, described the symbol in his 1910 book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot as follows:

The figure from the location of the legs creates a fylfot cross, and the gallows from which he is hanging forms a Tau cross. The apparent martyr’s head has a nimbus around it. It should be noted that the tree of sacrifice is made of living wood and has leaves on it, that the face conveys intense fascination rather than agony, and that the figure as a whole conjures up the idea of life in suspension rather than death. False names for it include “card of martyrdom,” “card of caution,” “card of the Great Work,” and “card of duty.” It expresses the relationship between the Divine and the Universe in one of its dimensions, I will state simply on my behalf.

According to Waite, the card has the following connotations in divination:

THE HANGED MAN 12.

Prudence, insight, sacrifice, testing, prophecy, divination, and wisdom. Reversed: Selfishness, the masses, and the governing body.

The hanging man’s head has a glowing halo around it, denoting a better understanding or enlightenment.

The Hanged Man card is connected to the astrological signs of Pisces and Neptune.

What number of tarot cards do you draw?

If you find this daunting, Howe advises you to take a deep breath and believe in your own initiative. “In order to see it less as “This holds all of these secret meanings that I have to do all this work to access” and more as “I know all the meanings; it’s just a matter of establishing the connections and being able to articulate them,” use language or knowledge that you already possess. She points out that the four elementsearth, water, fire, and airplay a significant role in the tarot, which is advantageous because the majority of people already have an understanding of the meanings of each element. ” If you do that, your viewpoint will be more personal, and you will be able to express yourself more freely.

Howe suggests the three-card draw and the Celtic Cross as the two fundamental spreads for beginning readers. In the former, three cards are chosen at random from the deck to symbolize the subject’s mind, body, and spirit, or past, present, and future. According to Howe, you could even up the stakes and use a six-card draw, with one card for each location.

Step 1: Choose Your Tarot Deck & Shuffle

If it feels right, shuffle your tarot deck three times. The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck is one of my favorite decks since it features animal imagery (I grew up on a farm and have a strong connection to animals). Below is my assessment of The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck.

Step 2: Draw

Next, choose one card to serve as your year’s overarching theme. Draw a card for each month, then arrange them in a circle with the card representing the yearly theme in the center and the monthly cards making up the rest of the circle. In my bullet journal, which is dedicated to the moon, I have a clockwise arrangement beginning at noon. This is depicted in the picture below.

Step 3: Reflect & Record

Next, note the order of the cards and their meanings, as well as any images or symbols that particularly stick out to you or have personal significance for you.

Themes To Look For In Your Tarot Card Spread

When doing a year-ahead tarot spread, I also pay close attention to the suits and any animals or plants that appear in the cards.

Step 4: Monthly Reflections

As the year progresses, consider your tarot spread for the coming year and use the monthly card’s topic as a guide to watch out for problems of this nature in your life that month. The themes of the month, how you have dealt with them in the past, and how you might improve yourself in those areas can all be discussed using this as a journaling tool.

Record your observations and emotions at the end of each month in your journal on the following few pages to discover if the card you drew for that month had any effect at all. Sometimes it’s enough to be reminded of a certain life theme that appears in the tarot cards so that, when it arises, we are better prepared to handle it or, in some cases, be able to avoid it entirely in a healthy manner.

Tarot is a tool for introspection, so keep that in mind. You cannot predict your destiny with the help of this tarot card spread. It can only serve as a magnifying glass for the life topics that you should right now concentrate on in order to improve yourself.

How should a fresh Tarot deck be cleaned?

While rearranging the cards in the tarot deck is a good approach to purify and clear their energy, there are some circumstances in which you might wish to perform a more specialized ritual. If you’re just getting started with tarot, cleaning your deck can be an excellent place to start.

You might want to clean your tarot deck for a variety of reasons, including:

  • beginning with a fresh deck
  • readings for other people
  • You think you need to recharge.
  • Your card readings seem a touch “odd” or “disconnected”
  • Your deck hasn’t been used recently.
  • Your deck has been handled by others
  • You think you’ve been utilizing your deck a lot. A LOT, especially for books with strong emotional content

Why should you cleanse or clear your tarot deck?

Tarot deck cleansing helps keep the energy flowing between you and your deck. Consider it as a little spiritual hygiene to maintain a strong and clear connection. It’s not necessary, but if you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, try a few of the energetic cleansing techniques listed below and note which ones seem to work the best for you.

How often should you cleanse your tarot deck?

This is another way of stating USE YOUR INTUITION: there are no hard and fast laws. Don’t stress if you don’t believe it is necessary for your deck. Alternately, if you like to cleanse them once per week or once per month, that’s great. If it feels appropriate to you, you can even place your favorite crystal on the balcony each night.

If you frequently place crystals on your deck and store it on an altar while not in use, you might not feel the need to cleanse it frequently because this quick ritual will likely be sufficient to keep your deck feeling nice.

There are numerous ways to cleanse your cards, just as there are numerous reasons why you might desire to do so.

Different ways to cleanse your tarot deck

Use holy smoke. Light a dried rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, or palo santo cleansing wand until it begins to smoke. Hold the smoke a safe distance below the deck while holding the burning herbs in one hand and the deck in the other so that the smoke drifts upward onto the cards. Turn the deck so that the smoke covers it from all angles. Next, safely put your deck to the ground and put out the fire.

On the deck, set a selenite stone (or a black tourmaline or a transparent quartz). It works well to leave it like way for an hour, but I prefer to leave it overnight.

Set them on display during a new moon. The New Moon is energy of a blank slate; you can purify the deck by setting it on a window sill on a new moon night. At this moment, you can also make a brand-new intention for your deck.

Place the cards in a salty dish. A strong and stabilizing cleaner is salt. My preferred choice for a thorough cleansing is this. Allow it to sit anywhere from one to eight hours in a dry area.

Unorderly shuffle. Spread the cards out on the ground, then shuffle them around like a child playing in dirt. This method’s freedom and randomization serve as an excellent reset.

the shuffle and sort. Set up the deck in rows of seven cards across, commencing with the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22. (see photo above). Next, arrange the cards, Ace through King, one for each suit, as follows: Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and Wands. View the deck in this configuration, then mix everything up (like the chaotic!) and shuffle it thoroughly.

Familiarize yourself with the traditional meanings

During intuitive tarot readings, your intuition will direct you in conveying messages, but Rose thinks it’s still beneficial to comprehend the conventional meaning of each card. She advises developing a regular tarot reading ritual where you ask your trusted tarot deck questions about your life and keep a journal of the readings you do for yourself to explore the meanings of the cards. According to Rose, intuition can come through more clearly the more you connect with yourself and your deck.

What energy does the number 12 possess?

Numerology’s interpretation of the number 12 frequently relates it to love and relationships. You can build a contented and harmonious relationship with your lover with the aid of this number. You might experience permanent satisfaction in your romantic relationships when you concentrate on the energy of the number 12.

What master number is 12?

You are regarded as one of the master numbers, a master builder or natural leader, and you have a lot of power as the life path number 12. You have the intrinsic ability to learn anything new and realize all of your objectives and ambitions.

Whatever you put your mind to and work hard at, you will succeed no matter how you express your lack of sense of purpose.

Those with the number 12 have an open mind and are more likely to work as teachers, leaders, or healers. You don’t care about the monetary or corporate world and have a lot of information and wisdom to impart.

Additionally, you are incredibly creative, have excellent communication abilities, and frequently find methods to express yourself artistically in the real world.

The ideal ways to use these skills would be to convey them through writing, music, or other forms of artistic expression. Make the time to investigate your spiritual path since it is strong.

In tarot cards, what does the devil represent?

In The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, written by A.E. Waite in 1910, the Devil card is associated with numerous types of divination:

15. THE DARK ONE.

Ravage, brutality, vehemence, extreme measures, force, and fatality are examples of things that are predetermined but are not, therefore, wicked. Negative traits, frailty, petty behavior, and blindness are reversed.

The Devil in the Rider Waite Smith deck is inspired in part by Eliphas Levi’s well-known drawing “Baphomet” from his book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855). The Devil in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck has bat wings, ram horns, harpy feet, a reversed pentagram on the forehead, a raised right hand, and a dropped left hand carrying a torch. On a square pedestal, he squats. Male and female naked demons with tails are cuffed to the pedestal. In addition to combining human and animal aspects, Levi’s Baphomet had goat horns, breasts, a torch on his head, bat wings, a raised right hand, and a lowered left hand. The Devil is often portrayed as a satyr-like monster in contemporary Tarot cards. Waite claims that the Devil is perched atop an altar.

The devil is represented as having breasts, a face on the belly, eyes on the knees, lion feet, and male genitalia in pre-Eliphas Levi Tarot decks like the Tarot of Marseille. In addition, he possesses bat-like wings, antlers, a raised right hand, a dropped left hand, a staff, and wings like bats. Two animals with tails, hooves, and antlers are chained to his circular pedestal.

The planet Saturn and Capricorn, the corresponding Earth sign, are linked to the Devil card.

What tarot card has the most influence?

The Fool is typically seen as a card from the Major Arcana when performing a tarot reading. Contrary to popular belief, the Fool does not fall under either category in tarot card games. Instead, the Fool serves a function that is distinct from both the simple suit cards and the trump cards. As a result, the Fool has no number assigned to it in the majority of tarot decks that were initially created for playing games. Although Waite assigns the Fool the number 0, in his book, the Fool is discussed between Judgment (number 20) and The World (number 21). The Tarocco Piemontese is the only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0. Since the 1930s, the corner index for the Fool in Tarot Nouveau decks has frequently been a black inverted mullet. The Fool is one of the most expensive cards in practically all tarot games.