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The Three-Card Tarot Spread

A situation, its momentum, and where it is heading, in three cards.

What it is for

Three cards is the workhorse spread: more context than a single draw, less to untangle than a full layout. It suits a situation you want to see in motion, with a beginning, a middle, and a direction.

The layout

Lay three cards left to right and read them in order.

  1. Card one: the situation, or what is behind you.
  2. Card two: the present, the action, or the heart of it.
  3. Card three: the direction, the outcome, or what is ahead.

Common framings

The same three positions take several familiar shapes. Choose one before you draw.

  1. Past, Present, Future.
  2. Situation, Action, Outcome.
  3. Mind, Body, Spirit.

Read it as one sentence

The point of three cards is that they modify each other. Read them as a single sentence rather than three separate fortunes: a difficult middle card softened by a hopeful third is a different story than either alone. The relationships between the cards carry as much as the cards themselves.

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