The Karmic Spread

It's been a while since I dedicated regular time to the tarot and it's wonderful to have my focus turned once more in this direction in my second year of YAAD. It has reminded me how much I used to enjoy the weekly tarot class at the cottage so I am looking to return to doing some regular self-readings.

One of the fabulous spreads taught by the lovely Lisa is The Karmic Spread, which I have done tonight. This spread is done only with the major arcana cards so they need to be separated from the rest of the deck and shuffled thoroughly. It's helpful to have a tally sheet to record the cards you draw out as you will need to pick three cards from the deck of major arcana cards, record which cards you drew, return them to the pile of the major arcanas, shuffle them and repeat the same process another nine times.

The concept of this spread derives from using the major arcana cards, as they generally refer to major life events or areas of greatest energy, and combining this with recurring elements of chance by drawing three lots of cards ten times, thus how your personal karma interacts with the broader universal energy.

As you go through this process, you will find certain cards come out more than others. Once you have finished, you will have thirty tally marks spread over the 22 major arcanas recording the frequency that each of the cards were drawn.

Having chosen a particular card one or two times is usually insignificant, three times is often something to take note of but four or more is usually pretty important. If you draw four or more of any given card, this will give you the greatest insight into where you are karmically at that time.

It is generally most common to have two to four cards that appear in the total tally three times with a random spattering of zero, singular or double occurrences of the rest of the majors. Where there is less than this, it may indicate that there are not major changes or energies around you at the time. Where there is more than this, it can indicate that there are areas of significant focus or events or situations that play an important role in your fate/destiny/karma happening or about to happen in your life. When you perform this spread at regular intervals (e.g. weekly, monthly etc), it can help you build up a moving picture as well as a greater understanding of how to interpret these cards with your particular life and energy.

My Karmic Spread for tonight has given me five of the Hermit, which is actually the first time that I can ever remember getting five of any one card. Incidentally, the first three cards I drew in this spread tonight were X Wheel, XI Justice and IX Hermit, which I see as greater confirmation with the Hermit as well as a focus on a middle part of a cycle given the sequential numbers of these card at the mid-point in the major arcana "story". I also got three of the Empress and Judgement in the overall spread, but clearly the Hermit is the guy I've got to keep my eye on.

So, I've covered the Hermit in a previous post but I can see a clear connection with this card and my life at the moment. I have been in a period of great inner reflection, but it has been fairly tumultuous and not particularly productive. This Friday I will be going away for the weekend with friends from the cottage and I feel this will be the time when I will be able to really assess the things I have been trying to sort through. As I write this I realise that it was actually when I went to the same weekend away last October that this phase really commenced, although I didn't know it at the time. I have a lot of work to do in my mind and removing myself from my daily life - as well as from phones, TV, radio and general communication with the outside world - will help a lot, me thinks.

I'm looking forward to really relaxing and giving myself and my mind a break. I believe I will derive great rewards from such reflections and introspection and that the Hermit's light will start to really glow for me. I am avoiding specific expectations of the outcome but just being open to going into this hermit phase and having such a wonderful opportunity in terms of timing with the weekend retreat gives me much hope - and gratitude, of course, gratitude on so many levels.

Anyway, here are the cards, again from the beautiful Tarot of Dreams deck, that were the major players in my Karmic Spread tonight: