Tarot — Working with a three-card reading

Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc

By Sarah Taylor

Three-card readings are like the short stories of the tarot world: they might be more condensed than some of the other popular spreads (such as the Celtic Cross or the Tree of Life layout), but they often demand a more active awareness of structure, and they can pack a punch. They are potent wee things, and I love and respect them for it.

When I work with clients, I tend to use the Celtic Cross layout (an example of which you can find here), simply because there is often a fair amount of ground to cover in a reading, and the narrative offered by the Celtic Cross is a good way of ordering multiple threads of information. However, when I need to crystallise a particular issue — to find its vital ingredients and to get to the crux of what is going on — then a three-card spread is invaluable.

A three-card spread is most effective, therefore, as a focuser, a definer. It’s what I use for my Weekend Tarot Readings because of this. It can draw to our attention that which wants to be seen, but not necessarily with any fixed protocol: the three cards can be interpreted in many different ways depending on what information you’re working with, what you want to achieve, and what feels right in the moment.

Having said that, just like a short story, the format of a three-card reading can look deceptively simple, but it needs discipline to shape and to work with. To this end, here are some observations and pointers I have about three-card readings, and how you can work with them. They are by no means gospel, but they are things that I have found helpful in my own work with tarot.

First, and perhaps most important of all:

Set a clear intention

This holds true for any tarot reading, but it is always worth mentioning. A clear intention (i.e. asking the right question) is the framework for your reading, and if you are going to squeeze every valuable drop that you can from three cards, then setting one before you begin goes a long way to achieving this.

I was hesitating about writing that a clear intention is really half the work done, but, really, I believe that it is: defining what it is that you or a client wants to know from a reading can be as challenging as it is ultimately rewarding. Setting an intention can be a form of counselling all by itself (as I’ve mentioned before on these pages), because often we are in a state of not-knowing when we ask for a reading — and that lack of clarity can extend to our own needs and desires in the moment. By approaching what it is that you want from a reading with a spirit of openness, inquiry, and incisiveness, you can cut away the dead wood and get to what lies at the heart of the matter. When you do, what you find can be a thing of profound beauty.

So set your intention … even if your intention is to have no particular question in mind and to let the cards lead you in their dance. If this is the case, be clear that being led in a dance is really what you want, and that you are grounded enough to find direction when it presents itself to you.

Use more structure …

In addition to knowing what it is that you want to know before you go into the reading, you can add another layer to your reading’s foundation — thus giving it more structure — by making each card represent an object or a quality. One of the most common three-card readings of this kind is a ‘Past, Present, Future’ layout — typically (but not always) read from left to right.

The advantage to increased structure is that you are going to get a much more specific response. This works well when you already have a firm idea of what it is that you’re looking for and you are seeking something to confirm or negate this. In which case, great.

The disadvantage is that if you are even slightly unclear, a reading of this nature can be a strangely unsatisfying experience. Perhaps this is because you’re not ready to accept the direction in which the reading is pointing you. Perhaps it is because you realise that you have limited your options a little too much. The less leeway, the less apparent room for movement.

Which leads to the second option:

… Or use less structure

I’m not sure that this is the best analogy, but the first one that comes to mind is the idea of improv in the context of acting or music. In improv, sometimes the only structure is the outer shell of the performance — the beginning and the end — and within that each element is given the space to express itself fully and in its unique way.

In the same way, in a three-card reading where there are no labels assigned to the card positions, you allow each card to come out and play in the way that it knows best. Then you watch how they interact, how they play off one-another, the melody each one makes alone, and the harmonies they weave together. Sometimes it can feel like you’re skirting on the edge of anarchy, but I’d suggest that it is at this limit that the most creatively pure things can happen. When we are prepared to relinquish control to a greater organising principle, magic enters the room.

I think this works well with three-card readings because the outer parameters are manageable. Try improv with more than three cards and you run the risk of the chaos outweighing the creative potential. Moreover, three is a symbolically charged number that holds weight in many different contexts, from the bible to fairytales. It is archetypal. If you give up the need to control to the archetype behind this — and providing you have a sense of yourself and of what you want — then you have the ingredients for a very productive reading. However, if you’re going to do improv, then play by the rules of improv, namely: everyone gets a turn. Don’t ignore a seemingly minor card over one that appeals to you more. You can never be entirely sure where that nugget of gold is hiding.

Linear is not the whole story

With three cards, lined up in a row, the temptation is to treat them like a book. Don’t just read your cards from left to right — or from right to left for that matter. Look at how the first card wants to play with the third, the third with the first. Mentally put the cards into pairs and see if and how they work together. Take a step back. Does one want to separate itself off from the other two? If so, how? And what difference does this make to the story they are telling you? Three holds great energy and you can afford to bounce around a little.

Disengage your mind; engage your eyes

Continuing with the same idea above, take the time to look at the cards from a purely visual perspective. What colors predominate? Which one or ones are singled out? How do the tones feel to you? What visual links are there between any of the figures? The landscapes? If an element is conspicuous on one card, and then disappears on another one, follow that through, then ask yourself: where did it go, and why?

Another technique is to look at how the cards feed into one another: which illustration on one card looks like it is continuing into the next card, albeit, perhaps, in a different form? What is the quality of that visual exchange? Sometimes, for example, a sword will change into a cloud, a hand will reach out across the break to another hand, or a figure will seem to be looking at something on the card next to it. Notice all of these things and the story they are telling you.

Work with suit and card type

Don’t forget that there is a difference in emphasis between the major arcana, pip cards (Ace through Ten) and court cards, and that each of the four suits represents a particular quality. Look at what you have individually, and then in combination. The presence of a major arcana card always symbolises to me that the reading is on a deeper and more significant footing — it reflects a moment of personal expression or transformation. A court card often points to a specific person. Does one suit stand out? Follow its lead and see where it takes you.

In addition, each tarot card has other associations, from astrology to elemental, to Qabbalah, which can also provide a rich source of interpretive material. So if you feel drawn to doing a reading based on the cards’ astrology symbols, for example, then go for it. I have always found it interesting how one approach can feed into another, complementing it rather than detracting from it.

None of these methods is restricted to three-card readings: they can be applied with equal relevance to any layout, from two cards to a spread that comprises the entire tarot deck. But there is a feel to a three-card reading that you only get to know and collaborate with when you do it for yourself, and these are the best tools that I have found so far to unlock a flavor that is intense, compelling, and all its own.