The three-card spread is one of the most basic formats for quick-and-easy tarot readings. Yet, it can be surprisingly deep and insightful. It is perfect for a daily journal or when friends or people at parties want you to demonstrate what you do. Furthermore, the three-card spread is amazingly flexible as I hope to demonstrate. Most of these spreads are laid out in a row, left to right, although any pattern is fine.
Updated!! Check out some new spreads at the end.

Probably everyone is familiar with the basic timeline spread:

  • PAST
  • PRESENT
  • FUTURE

Most of you will have used the following inner trinity for a quick diagnostic as it shows what’s going on at  three levels of experience:

  • BODY
  • MIND
  • SPIRIT

An interesting variation on this is:

  • HEAD – What does my Head want?
  • HEART – What does my Heart want?
  • SOUL – What does my Soul want?

Three-card readings are also great for evaluating potential actions. To compare options lay out a three-card spread for each possibility: The Pro-or-Con Spread:

  • The PRO or BENEFIT of a particular choice or action.
  • The CON or LIABILITY in that choice or action.
  • SOMETHING ELSE you need to take into account.

This can also help you deal with problems via the dialectic imperative: The Thesis Spread:

  • THESIS, idea or issue
  • ANTITHESIS, obstacle or problem
  • SYNTHESIS, integration or solution

Zoe Matoff came up with a more prescriptive version of this that is brilliant when you want to cut through all the nuances and get a (relatively) straight answer with “Zoe’s Do/Don’t Do Spread” (a favorite of both Rachel Pollack and myself):

  • Card 2: DON’T DO THIS
  • Card 1: The ISSUE or SITUATION
  • Card 3: DO DO THIS

Zoe wrote me this explanation of her spread: “Often cards two and three will describe such disparate courses of action as to make it very clear what course of action needs to be taken or what decision is to be made. And, of course, card #1 can turn out to be a total surprise, delineating the situation as it really is, or in a light in which the questioner has not yet seen it, or a totally different situation that requires attention but has been overlooked. Last, but not least, all the cards need to be seen together to make clear the urgency or nature of the issue.”

Three-card readings form the basis of all the more complicated relationship readings: The Relationship Spread:

  • PERSON A  (is, wants, needs, gives, receives, etc.)
  • THEIR RELATIONSHIP  (as if it were it’s own entity)
  • PERSON B  (is, wants, needs, gives, receives, etc.)

And, as I was reminded by James Ricklef in the Comments, they are the core of choice spreads: The Choice Spread:

  • CHOICE A
  • OTHER considerations
  • CHOICE B

Three-card spreads are also great for simple Yes/No questions: The Yes/No Spread:

Upright cards are yes.
Reversed cards are no. 
The center card counts twice.
 Thus, there can be a tie, which indicates that the answer is not yet determined, or it’s better not to know, or __?__.  You can interpret the individual cards or not. (Any odd number of cards can be used.)

Inspired by John Gilbert, James Ricklef used this smart variation on the Yes/No Spread in his excellent book Tarot Reading Explained (originally Tarot Tells the Tale). (By the way, this is one of the best books available for learning how to read the cards. The “Yes, If” Spread features practical advice and entertaining examples that demonstrate the techniques.)

  • YES, IF . . .
  • NO, IF . . .
  • MAYBE, IF . . .

James adds: “The cards indicate the conditions under which the answer would be Yes, No, or Maybe. Thus the “Maybe” card can indicate a deciding factor or a decision or action that the querent has to make in order to arrive at the outcome s/he wants.”

You can find many more examples of three-card spreads in James Ricklef’s book and in my own Tarot for Your Self, where the three-card spread is recommended for daily readings and developing a tarot journal.

Added: The Subject-Verb-Object Spread is good practice for integrating three cards into one statement: Jacob (subject) goes (verb) to the store (object). Alison loves Max.  Day turns into night.  Note: Your sentence may be much longer and more complex.

  • SUBJECT: person, place or thing
  • VERB: action or state of being, try an active verb here
  • OBJECT or PREDICATE: goal, what’s affected or changed, recipient

Also, brought up from the comments: The Bridge Spread offered by Kyle McKenzie:

  • Where I am
  • Where I want to be
  • How I can get there (placed horizontally between the first two cards)

Feeling overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time? Thanks to Beth Maiden of Little Red Tarot for permission to share her handy Do One Thing Well Spread (click on the link for an example reading), which was new to me. 

  • Do this!
  • Ditch this!
  • Yeah, okay, but not until tomorrow

What’s your favorite Three-Card Spread? You’ll find several more Three-Card Spreads contributed by readers in the Comments section. Be sure to check these out, too, and add your own. Please remember to give credit where credit is due if you pass on any of these.