I learned this wonderful little Spread from Susyn Blair-Hunt's book: "Tarot Prediction & Divination", when I interviewed her on our "Tarot Today Radio" show, many years back now. It's basically a YES/NO Spread. I had come across a few different ones, over the years, but they didn't offer much more than what you could get by simply using a pendulum!
This Spread, however, offers much more information, and is highly versatile. I quickly adopted this as my go-to-spread for use on radio shows, with the Callers, where you have very limited time (a couple of minutes usually), and need a lot of information quickly ...plus, often their Questions are of a Yes/No nature.
Sure conventional wisdom suggests that we re-word Yes/No Questions from clients into more empowering, open-ended ones. However, we don't always have the time to do that on-the-fly, on a radio show, and I discovered lo and behold using this spread, I didn't need to!
While other Yes/No Spreads offer just a Yes or a No answer, this Spread offers stong YES (or NO), probably Yes (or No), as well as maybe yes (or no) answers! In addition, you then have five (5) cards to work with, for additional information...
Whether a Card is a "Yes" or "No" is determined this way: Even-Numbered Minor Arana Cards are counted as a "Yes". Odd-Numbered Minor Arcana Cards are counted as a "No". Major Arcana Cards are counted as a "Yes", regardless of the Number on the card. And Court Cards are counted as a "No".....
You can modify these Yes/No's to your liking. I have done this over the years myself. I use my intuition as a guide. Some Cards that would be taken as a "Yes" might feel more like a "No", with certain Questions and surrounding Cards, and vice versa. For instance, Ace's are technically a "1" card, and therefore would be a "No", but in some situations I take it as a "Yes" (Ace's often have that "energy" anyways).
The 9 of Cups is another such card. Traditionally the Wish Come True Card, technically it is a "9" card, which would indicate a "No", but in some situations I take it as a "Yes". Some Cards like The Tower, which as a Major Arcana card, would be a "Yes", I take it as a "No", in some situations....
....So play around with this, and just see what works for you!
...You can develop your own "System"!
If you have 5 "Yes" cards ...this is a "Strong Yes"! If you get 4 "Yes" cards, this is another strong "Probable Yes". If you get 3 "Yes" cards, you are looking at a "Possible Yes", where it's leaning that way, but often it indicates there's something left to be done - which is often then revealed within the spread of five cards.
Likewise for "No" Cards: 5 "No" cards = a "Strong NO", 4 "No" cards = "Probably No", 3 "No" cards = "Maybe No"......
Basically, when I get 3 "Yes" or 3 "No" cards I feel it could really go either way. As I suggested, it often indicates there's something more that needs to be done, or that it just hasn't been determined yet, because of other factors. This is where the actual Cards in the Spread can be of help, and/or additional Cards can be draw for clarification.
The Spread's versatility comes out here, and it really shines! The Cards themselves can be laid out in any fashion you decide. They could be in a horsehoe, or a pentagram, or a mini-cross .....I simply lay them in a straight line. You can assign positional meanings, or have none at all. I often take the Center Card, in the example above: The Three of Pentacles, as the Central Focus of the Reading.
The two cards to the left I take as the Recent Past, and the two cards to the right as the Near Future. The last card on the right, in this example: The Chariot, becomes the Outcome Card, and also serves as the Timing Card as well....
You can choose different positional meanings, or have none at all, which I do myself, depending on the Question and Cards. As I mentioned, additional Cards can be drawn for clarification. I use this Spread, not only on the radio shows now, but with my clients as well! I pull a Five-Card Spread for each Question, and additional Cards, as needed...
I found, even if you do end up modify the initial Quesion, from a Yes/No to a more empowering, open-ended one, starting off with the client's Question "as is" and pulling one of these Five-card Yes/No spreads can be very powerful. Because of all of the additional information, it often leads to those other Questions, or brings up new ones!
So give The Little Spread That Could a try!
Blessings,
~Dax
Comments
I just read this for the first time, and I think that it's really interesting! In the past, I've typically avoided answering yes/no questions with my cards, but I want to try this! It's so simple, but it all makes so much sense.