The big spreads

Lesson 11 of 12 — the Arcana cartomancy guide

The Horseshoe, the Nine-Card Square and the twenty-one card Romany: how to lay them, and how to read them without drowning.

Key points

• The Horseshoe lays seven cards in an arc; read 1 to 5 for the situation, 6 as advice, 7 as its consequence, and compare the two ends.
• The Nine-Card Square lays three rows for time and three columns for shape; the center card sits on every line and matters most.
• The Romany spread lays three rows of seven; begin with the spine, the fourth card of each row, which is the matter itself in past, present and future.
• In every large spread, count the suits and look for combinations before reading card by card.
• Write large readings down; they are too much to hold in the head.

The Horseshoe is the medium reading of the tradition: seven cards in an arc from the past at the left to the outcome at the right, with the obstacle at the top of the curve. Read the first five to understand the situation, including the hidden influence at 3 and the people around you at 5. Then read 6 as the move the cards recommend and 7 as where that move leads. Because the arc bends the ends toward each other, read 1 and 7 together as the whole journey.

The Nine-Card Square gives every card two addresses. Rows are time, past at the top; columns are shape, situation on the left, influence in the middle, outcome on the right. Read the rows as stories, then the columns as how each layer evolves, then the diagonals through the center as the thread both readings missed. The center card, present influence, lies on every line and is the card to sit with longest.

The Romany spread is the deck’s season reading: twenty-one cards in three rows of seven. The rows are past, present and future; the columns run from the home on the left through the heart, work, the matter itself, the unexpected, the near future and the far. Start with the spine, the fourth card of each row, which reads the matter alone in three times. Then the rows, then the columns, then the combinations across the whole table. It takes forty-five minutes and a notebook, and it is worth both.

Practice

Lay the Horseshoe for a situation with other people in it. Read only positions 4, 6 and 7 first: the obstacle, the move and where it leads. Then fill in the rest.