Tarot cards speak a language. A single card is like a sentence. Two or more cards in combination form paragraphs. The spread as a whole is a chapter in the life of the querent. When we are reading, we want the cards to tell us a story – the story of the querent’s life at the point in time that the spread describes.

 

This point was brought home to me by a reading I did when I was relatively inexperienced. The caller was a regular who generally asked questions about her spiritual development, so I was puzzled by a card grouping that kept coming up around her – The Devil, the Eight of Swords and the Six of Pentacles. I had the feeling that these cards were trying to tell me something, but the explanation eluded me.

 

Eventually, she let slip the information that gave me the clue. In order to fund her personal development classes, she was working as a “lady of the night”. She was a dominatrix. The Devil represented kinky sex, the Eight of Swords showed her tying people up and the Six of Pentacles showed them handing over money to her!

 

When you are reading, be aware of card combinations that tell stories like this. The wonderful thing about the Tarot is that it teaches you about itself. You just have to be open to looking and learning.