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Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them, and Revise Them
Bring structure, clarity, and purpose to every reading.
For many who read tarot--and those new to tarot--spreads can offer a lot of power, clarity, and purpose to readings. Tarot spreads, intentional arrangements for tarot cards that include a particular meaning or prompt for each card, help us to ask focused, direct questions of our cards. Rather than focusing on premade cookie-cutter layouts, Meg Jones Wall takes you to the very foundation of tarot spreads so that you can understand how and why a spread is created and how it works. This book will walk you through reading spreads as well as writing and revising original spreads, giving you everything you need to understand, develop, tweak, and test tarot spreads of your very own.
Learn to adapt and revise card spreads to deepen your exploration.
Meg encourages you to release yourself from the expectation that you need to use a spread precisely as written in order to get the full benefit of a layout in your reading. Spreads are infinitely customizable to suit your own needs, preferences, and experience level. While the cards can offer clarity in a variety of ways, tarot spreads can help us be more direct about what we want to know, explore, question, and understand. No matter our question, concern, or situation, tarot spreads empower us to be clear about what we need from our reading.
At the core of every spread are the prompts--the meanings given to each card positioned in a layout. So that you can more effectively write and design your own spread, Meg offers over 200 prompts and suggestions for simple one-card to five-card layouts for a variety of intentions from relationships to self-awareness to community to wealth, and includes special recommended spreads for lunar cycles, the zodiac, the archetypes, the sabbats, the elements, and more.
For many who read tarot--and those new to tarot--spreads can offer a lot of power, clarity, and purpose to readings. Tarot spreads, intentional arrangements for tarot cards that include a particular meaning or prompt for each card, help us to ask focused, direct questions of our cards. Rather than focusing on premade cookie-cutter layouts, Meg Jones Wall takes you to the very foundation of tarot spreads so that you can understand how and why a spread is created and how it works. This book will walk you through reading spreads as well as writing and revising original spreads, giving you everything you need to understand, develop, tweak, and test tarot spreads of your very own.
Learn to adapt and revise card spreads to deepen your exploration.
Meg encourages you to release yourself from the expectation that you need to use a spread precisely as written in order to get the full benefit of a layout in your reading. Spreads are infinitely customizable to suit your own needs, preferences, and experience level. While the cards can offer clarity in a variety of ways, tarot spreads can help us be more direct about what we want to know, explore, question, and understand. No matter our question, concern, or situation, tarot spreads empower us to be clear about what we need from our reading.
At the core of every spread are the prompts--the meanings given to each card positioned in a layout. So that you can more effectively write and design your own spread, Meg offers over 200 prompts and suggestions for simple one-card to five-card layouts for a variety of intentions from relationships to self-awareness to community to wealth, and includes special recommended spreads for lunar cycles, the zodiac, the archetypes, the sabbats, the elements, and more.
- GenresTarotNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 7, 2025
7 people are currently reading
2849 people want to read
About the author
Meg Jones Wall
5 books34 followersMeg Jones Wall (she/they) is a queer, chronically-ill tarot reader and teacher, who creates tarot resources and courses for spiritual misfits through her business, 3am.tarot. Meg is the author of Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation and Tarot Spreads: How To Read Them, Create Them, and Revise Them, with another book on the Devil tarot archetype forthcoming. They are based in NYC.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 23, 2025
Seems like tarot is experiencing a boom this year, which isn't entirely surprising given the state of the world. People often turn to divinatory practices, such as tarot, in times of uncertainty, seeking answers in the chaos. While I am not super into tarot myself, I have read enough tarot books and own enough decks to have a fairly decent understanding and respect for the art. Furthermore, it is through my experiences reading tarot that I have a pretty good idea of what makes a good tarot book versus a bad tarot book, and Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them & Revise Them by Meg Jones Wall is among the good ones. Not only did I have the joy of reading Wall's work in Tarot in Other Words, but I got to enjoy an entire work featuring her expertise and unique perspective.
Tarot Spreads is divided into parts or chapters, each of which dives into topics needed to create and use your own tarot spreads, as the title of the book suggests. Part One opens with a basic introduction to tarot, from its history to the card meanings themselves. Wall makes it clear, however, that tarot is not a closed practice and therefore open to all walks of life. However, she does mention that some interations are closed and that respect should be given to those practices and traditions unique to the Romani people. I loved the inclusion of this statement right in the beginning because, just a few years ago, everyone was all up in arms about whether or not tarot was culturally appropriated. To err on the side of caution, I briefly stopped including tarot spreads on my full moon ritual worksheets, as well as some other places, but after some additional research, I decided this caution was largely unfounded. Wall does include a brief history of tarot, being sure to mention that much of what we believe today is based on lies, much like witchcraft itself. It's a shame so many occultist opted to make stuff up to legitimize their claims and practices, instead of being honest.
Wall approaches the read through conversation, with headings being questions the reader might be asking her. I thoroughly enjoyed this approach as it makes it easy for a reader to find the information they are looking for quickly. If you already know tarot is for everyone, you can jump ahead to more pertinent information, such as how to read tarot for yourself or for others. This approach also makes sense in light of Wall's view of tarot. Wall states that "tarot is a language," one that takes practice to learn.
The following parts or chapters then delve into reading and creating your own tarot spreads, which is really the heart of the book after all. Wall makes it clear that spreads are not necessary for reading tarot, but they help clarify our thoughts and questions, allowing us to dig into what we really want to know. Tarot spreads, whether they were written by others or yourself, offer insights into the questions we want answers to and how we want to receive those answers.
What I found most interesting, however, was that Wall argues the shape of the spread ultimately doesn't matter, at least in most regards. Instead, the shape offers structure to the reading, not necessarily insights into the meaning of the cards themselves. Obviously, there are exceptions, specifically if you built meaning into the placement of the cards, but at the end of the day, you could read all your spreads in a straight line and get the same answers. The spread is really there to offer clarity, discovery, insight, advice, and support, not to direct the meaning of the cards. Just like tarot is a language, a tarot spread is a conversation between you and the cards. They support a richer and nuanced conversation, but aren't required to read tarot. Wall makes it clear that sometimes spreads aren't needed, especially if you are unsure of what you actually want to know and ask.
Not only does Wall offer insights into when and why you should create your own spreads, she also details how to do it yourself. She opens Part Three, however, by making a note that you do not have to write your own spreads to be a great tarot reader. There is nothing wrong with using spreads written by others, and I appreciate her including this. It's not cheating to use other people's spreads, and it doesn't make you less of a tarot reader or witch to use what others have created. Besides, we have so much we can learn from each other, so why not take advantage of what others have already done? However, writing your own spreads is a skill and can help you develop as a tarot reader.
Wall offers three different methods or approaches with examples for writing your own tarot spreads: Magician, Hierophant, and Priestess. My personal favorite was the Magicina approach, which is chaos unleashed. Basically, you lay everything out there, dumping everything from your mind into one spot, and then basically fitting things together until it works. I am not going to lie, this is often my approach to life. I have a plan, but I have to get everything out before I can put all the fine details together. The Magician approach is just that.
The Hierophant, however, takes inspiration from others, looking at spreads you have already found and favors, and mashing them together into something that is useful to you. I also love this approach, and it's one I often use when creating lessons for my classroom. There are so many amazing resources out there, but they very rarely cover everything exactly how I need them to, so I beg, borrow, steal, and heavily modify to make things right for my classroom. This same approach can be used when writing your own tarot spreads.
The last approach, Priestess, is much more complicated and relies heavily on the tarot cards themselves. This is definitely an approach that should mostly be used by those already adept in tarot, but that doesn't mean it's closed to novices. Basically, the reader uses tarot cards to help determine the question they answer or how they help you answer your question. This seems too unstructured to me, but I can definitely see the whimsical approach working for certain people; I, unfortunately, am not people.
Once you've created a tarot spread, Wall suggests testing it on a hypothetical person with a hypothetical question that is far removed from your own and then revising as needed. What is so great about all of this is the inclusion of examples, exercises, and practice. Wall doesn't just tell us how to create our own spreads; she invites us to practice creating and reading spreads before sending us off into the world on our own. These exercises are lengthy and well worth the work through. Honestly, these are some of the best exercises I have seen in a book in a long time, and I highly recommend spending time doing them before jumping into writing your own spreads.
If you are interested in reading tarot or taking your tarot reading to the next level, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them & Revise Them by Meg Jones Wall. This will likely become a tarot staple in the future because it offers so much more than traditional reading. Instead, Tarot Spreads invites readers to chart their own course in self-discovery, spreading their wings to find clarity and peace in this chaotic world.
Tarot Spreads is divided into parts or chapters, each of which dives into topics needed to create and use your own tarot spreads, as the title of the book suggests. Part One opens with a basic introduction to tarot, from its history to the card meanings themselves. Wall makes it clear, however, that tarot is not a closed practice and therefore open to all walks of life. However, she does mention that some interations are closed and that respect should be given to those practices and traditions unique to the Romani people. I loved the inclusion of this statement right in the beginning because, just a few years ago, everyone was all up in arms about whether or not tarot was culturally appropriated. To err on the side of caution, I briefly stopped including tarot spreads on my full moon ritual worksheets, as well as some other places, but after some additional research, I decided this caution was largely unfounded. Wall does include a brief history of tarot, being sure to mention that much of what we believe today is based on lies, much like witchcraft itself. It's a shame so many occultist opted to make stuff up to legitimize their claims and practices, instead of being honest.
Wall approaches the read through conversation, with headings being questions the reader might be asking her. I thoroughly enjoyed this approach as it makes it easy for a reader to find the information they are looking for quickly. If you already know tarot is for everyone, you can jump ahead to more pertinent information, such as how to read tarot for yourself or for others. This approach also makes sense in light of Wall's view of tarot. Wall states that "tarot is a language," one that takes practice to learn.
The following parts or chapters then delve into reading and creating your own tarot spreads, which is really the heart of the book after all. Wall makes it clear that spreads are not necessary for reading tarot, but they help clarify our thoughts and questions, allowing us to dig into what we really want to know. Tarot spreads, whether they were written by others or yourself, offer insights into the questions we want answers to and how we want to receive those answers.
What I found most interesting, however, was that Wall argues the shape of the spread ultimately doesn't matter, at least in most regards. Instead, the shape offers structure to the reading, not necessarily insights into the meaning of the cards themselves. Obviously, there are exceptions, specifically if you built meaning into the placement of the cards, but at the end of the day, you could read all your spreads in a straight line and get the same answers. The spread is really there to offer clarity, discovery, insight, advice, and support, not to direct the meaning of the cards. Just like tarot is a language, a tarot spread is a conversation between you and the cards. They support a richer and nuanced conversation, but aren't required to read tarot. Wall makes it clear that sometimes spreads aren't needed, especially if you are unsure of what you actually want to know and ask.
Not only does Wall offer insights into when and why you should create your own spreads, she also details how to do it yourself. She opens Part Three, however, by making a note that you do not have to write your own spreads to be a great tarot reader. There is nothing wrong with using spreads written by others, and I appreciate her including this. It's not cheating to use other people's spreads, and it doesn't make you less of a tarot reader or witch to use what others have created. Besides, we have so much we can learn from each other, so why not take advantage of what others have already done? However, writing your own spreads is a skill and can help you develop as a tarot reader.
Wall offers three different methods or approaches with examples for writing your own tarot spreads: Magician, Hierophant, and Priestess. My personal favorite was the Magicina approach, which is chaos unleashed. Basically, you lay everything out there, dumping everything from your mind into one spot, and then basically fitting things together until it works. I am not going to lie, this is often my approach to life. I have a plan, but I have to get everything out before I can put all the fine details together. The Magician approach is just that.
The Hierophant, however, takes inspiration from others, looking at spreads you have already found and favors, and mashing them together into something that is useful to you. I also love this approach, and it's one I often use when creating lessons for my classroom. There are so many amazing resources out there, but they very rarely cover everything exactly how I need them to, so I beg, borrow, steal, and heavily modify to make things right for my classroom. This same approach can be used when writing your own tarot spreads.
The last approach, Priestess, is much more complicated and relies heavily on the tarot cards themselves. This is definitely an approach that should mostly be used by those already adept in tarot, but that doesn't mean it's closed to novices. Basically, the reader uses tarot cards to help determine the question they answer or how they help you answer your question. This seems too unstructured to me, but I can definitely see the whimsical approach working for certain people; I, unfortunately, am not people.
Once you've created a tarot spread, Wall suggests testing it on a hypothetical person with a hypothetical question that is far removed from your own and then revising as needed. What is so great about all of this is the inclusion of examples, exercises, and practice. Wall doesn't just tell us how to create our own spreads; she invites us to practice creating and reading spreads before sending us off into the world on our own. These exercises are lengthy and well worth the work through. Honestly, these are some of the best exercises I have seen in a book in a long time, and I highly recommend spending time doing them before jumping into writing your own spreads.
If you are interested in reading tarot or taking your tarot reading to the next level, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them & Revise Them by Meg Jones Wall. This will likely become a tarot staple in the future because it offers so much more than traditional reading. Instead, Tarot Spreads invites readers to chart their own course in self-discovery, spreading their wings to find clarity and peace in this chaotic world.
August 25, 2025
Many folks do not utilize the full power of Tarot.
It has always been really amusing to me to witness.
Tarot can be used in Magick, for example.
That thought seems **foreign** to more Practitioners than I care to actually admit.
Another observation is that folks only use Tarot for yes or no questions.
They don't know or don't pull spreads.
'Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them & Revise Them' by Meg Jones Wall is an empowering book.
It's much needed, too.
It kind of breaks through the monotonous, regurgitated mimicry that has become most Tarot books on the market.
It's a bright new light, a new but old take on a foundational Occult Science.
You will be given many spreads to use immediately. You will also be given techniques to create your own spread(s).
You'll also be given the reasons or situations that may come up where you need to create your own spread. Ah, discernment.
You can feel the love and respect Wall has for the system of Tarot. This is why she was able to present this topic so beautifully in a way that any Reader will be able to take something from this. You won't be left feeling like you wasted your time.
Tarot is an underused practice that many folks avoid because they think it's too hard, they're scared, or they don't know where to begin.
Or they think they have to memorize every card.
Or, or, or, or.
Essentially, they get in their own way.
We all do it.
This book clears the path and allows you to see Tatot for what it is: a perfect, essential Divinatory tool and Occult Science.
Tarot has never been "woo woo" and, honestly, it never will be.
It has always been really amusing to me to witness.
Tarot can be used in Magick, for example.
That thought seems **foreign** to more Practitioners than I care to actually admit.
Another observation is that folks only use Tarot for yes or no questions.
They don't know or don't pull spreads.
'Tarot Spreads: How to Read Them, Create Them & Revise Them' by Meg Jones Wall is an empowering book.
It's much needed, too.
It kind of breaks through the monotonous, regurgitated mimicry that has become most Tarot books on the market.
It's a bright new light, a new but old take on a foundational Occult Science.
You will be given many spreads to use immediately. You will also be given techniques to create your own spread(s).
You'll also be given the reasons or situations that may come up where you need to create your own spread. Ah, discernment.
You can feel the love and respect Wall has for the system of Tarot. This is why she was able to present this topic so beautifully in a way that any Reader will be able to take something from this. You won't be left feeling like you wasted your time.
Tarot is an underused practice that many folks avoid because they think it's too hard, they're scared, or they don't know where to begin.
Or they think they have to memorize every card.
Or, or, or, or.
Essentially, they get in their own way.
We all do it.
This book clears the path and allows you to see Tatot for what it is: a perfect, essential Divinatory tool and Occult Science.
Tarot has never been "woo woo" and, honestly, it never will be.
August 15, 2025
This is such a valuable and accessible resource that I know I'll come back to time and time again as my relationship with tarot grows. I'm new to tarot in general and Meg's books are such a comforting guide into what could be very overwhelming.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews