Complete Book of Tarot Spreads

by Evelin Bürger, Johannes Fiebig

Here you'll find 122 different layouts with information on when and how to use them. Start with personal day and year cards, and learn how to relate Tarot to your own interests, in order to find specific blind spots and personal resistances, as well as how to look for new chances and unexpected directions. Then you progress to the larger and theme cards, and learn to interpret networks of cards and also "to view every card as a world by itself." You'll become acquainted with the Cycle of the Year (with 20 major layouts) and with the practice of Tarot and astrology, using the respected Golden Dawn System developed by Arthur A. Waite and Alistair Crowley. Soon you'll appreciate the variety and creativity inherent in Tarot, to see the cards as a mirror of yourself, and to discover what the authors mean when they say that "being lucky has nothing to do with luck." 192 pages, 114 b/w illus., 6 x 9.

Genres: Tarot, Nonfiction, Reference, Divination, Occult, Paganism, Spirituality

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1997

Reviews

[Jo M · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is the fact that it's simplistic. It doesn't give you page after page of information about the tarot, it gives you exactly what the title says: tarot spreads. This is a book for someone who already knows about their tarot deck and wants a resource to help them broaden their horizons.

Most especially, this book isn't just for tarot decks. It's easy to use with oracle decks, as well. Personally, I use it with my Faery Oracle.

[Rohini Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book describes the tarot as something much more aligned with my theory of tarot as being an instrument to make you think through difficult subjects of your life. It gave me lot more perspective to tarot reading and the self awareness spreads are quite interesting. This book is missing the definition of individual tarot cards though and I would have really liked to see this author would describe them. It did make me look at individual cards and try to figure out what they mean to me personally.

[claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

i just picked this up at a book sale and it is by far the single best reference i’ve ever found on tarot. it’s very introspective and focused on using tarot as a means of self-reflection. the spreads and guides in this book are very comprehensive! i recommend this a lot, it’s much more sincere and less gimmicky than most modern tarot books.

[Sveva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro davvero molto, molto carino.
Negli anni ho sfogliato parecchi libri sui Tarocchi, di solito erano composti in gran parte da capitoli esplicativi e solo da poche pagine di stese; qui invece ne abbiamo 120.
C'è da dire che alcune sono simili tra loro ma fornisce secondo me buoni spunti a seconda del tipo di lettura che si dovrà andare a fare.
Il libro è ovviamente in inglese ma è molto semplice e intuitivo e per ogni schema c'è il disegno corrispondente.
Il libro parte dalle stese con 1 e 2 carte per poi arrivare a quelle più complesse quindi è adatto sia ai neofiti che agli esperti.
Insomma è un piccolo "prontuario" in caso si volesse cambiare un po' il tipo di lettura o si avesse bisogno di qualcosa di specifico.

[Sharon Stiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book. It is so helpful and informative. It reminded me how to use my intuition to improve my readings. It has also helped to clear up the confusion of how to read tarot.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and can see myself using it as a reference a lot in the future.

I liked how the authors stress the importance of each card having a positive and negative aspect, so it doesn't necessarily matter whether or not you pull it upright or reversed. Both aspects could apply.

The repetition of the idea that the tarot cards act like a mirror of the reader's life at that moment was good, too. It's definitely an idea to keep in mind when doing readings. I found it very interesting that these authors say the cards always refer to the present time, with the past and future always influencing the present.

"Every card may indicate that a task has already been accomplished or has yet to be taken on. The message...may be a warning, encouragement, or validation." (p. 34) At first I couldn't understand how this could be true, because it seems like it kind of cheapens the truth of the tarot. But then I thought back to previous readings where this could actually be the case. It really depends on the situation, because life is so complex and reality can manifest itself in infinite ways from infinite perspectives.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simplistic, rather skinny book that actually contains a good selection of spreads and enough information to whet your appetite. This book is unlikely to offer you many further insights on the tarot, but it will give you a variety of spreads to try out and/or adapt to your own personal needs. Sometimes, a book doesn't need to provide essay after essay and this is one of those examples--it's exactly what it says on the tin and I, for one, think that it's wonderful for that.

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely not my first time reading through this book, but apparently the last time was well before I was tracking my reading. I've always liked this book's practicality and accessiblity. I often use it to spark ideas, which was definitely my inspiration for reading it cover-to-cover this time around. A great book for folks who like to find and/or fine-tune spreads.

[Anna Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and informative for beginners, intermediate and advanced readers. Very interesting and educational.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text portions are nothing special, but there is a great (large And good, I mean) collection of spreads.

[Serafim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent coffee table book

[LG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is targeted toward tarot layouts, obviously. It’s simple and direct in explanations. I think it’s handy to have for the variety of tarot layouts. It gives people other options to use.

[Electric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, fun read. Many choices and layouts with simple interpretations of the positions, their meanings.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and easy to understand. A lot of interesting spreads, too!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through my experience working with tarot and oracle cards in general I have found that phrasing of the question is very important in the type of information one receives. That is why I like this book so much. It gives a myriad of spreads that allow for specific phrasings of a problem or conundrum and therefore a more relevant and meaningful answer

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is am excellent companion to Barbara Moore's excellent Tarot Spread books as this one goes into the different numbers of cards in a spread. This is more spreads and has more information in it and it goes up in number of cards per spread.

I do like this book as a reference!

[Valerie H.]

It will take me a while to practice with them all! :)

[Townes v. Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great new spreads to use as I pick tarot reading back up.