Which Spread Should I Use For The Reading I Want To Do?
An overview of the main oracle card spreads presented here on the Daily Oracle so far & the types of readings they're best for
As you’ll know if you’ve been a a Daily Oracle subscriber for a while, I use multiple layouts in my daily news readings, instructions for which can be found both on the dedicated Layouts page on the website, as well as on the Resources Index page, which lists ALL posts I’ve made about the decks I use, including card meanings and instructions, history and so on. You can check that page out here.
But for today, I want to look at the USES of particular spreads so you can choose easily which one would be best for your purposes, and link you to my step by step instructions on how to lay and read them. Some of them appear in dedicated oracle deck sections of the Daily Oracle website, according to the deck that they were originally designed for, but many can be used with multiple decks.
Below, you’ll find seven possible things you might want to do or find out when you’re planning a reading… and which of the approximately 35 spreads we’ve covered so far (and yes, there will be more) might be best to use for that purpose!
What Do I Want To Do or Find Out?
1. I Want An Answer To A Specific Question
So what we’re talking about here are times where you have a very particular question you want answered. Ideally not a question where you’re looking for yes/no answers, and not just a “what’s coming up for me?” so try to keep them more open than that, but fairly simple questions about specifics nonetheless. It’s this kind of thing:
How is X situation going to go?
What will happen in my love life?
What should I expect money or jobwise?
How does X feel about me?
What is going on with X?
These kinds of questions lend themselves largely to fairly short “contained” spreads; you’re not looking for yes/no answers ideally, (most of these cards tend not to give you those) but you’re not generally looking for a ton of deep exploratory detail either. “Just give me the basic answer, thanks!” As it is, depending on the number of cards and decks you use, you’re still going to have to do quite a bit of interpretation and applying the meanings to the context of your question.
Most of these can use any of the decks, but bear in mind, you’ll get a different “tone” of answer from a Lenormand, say (more energy-based), compared with a Sibilla or a Kipper (more specific event and person-based)
Spreads To Use:
A Crescent Spread
A simple positional spread, originally from the Vera Sibilla, but that can be used with any deck. If you’re a Tarot reader, you’ll be very familiar with “positional” type layouts, where each card’s position has a “meaning”: so “behind you”, “before you”, “a good thing”, “a bad thing”; it’s that type of reading.
Read on to recap on more “question” spreads, and then the multiple layouts you can use for different types of reading!