Using two-card pairs instead of a single card

[Chariot]

 I've just started using a new technique with small layouts that I am finding VERY useful.  By small, I mean layouts with only three, four, or five positions - past, present, future, helping a friend, solving a problem, etc.

The big change is that instead of just one card for each position, I now draw two cards and interpret them together. And WOW!  This really helps nail a meaning for me.   Does anybody else do this?

Example:

Middle images ...situation at present for my friend

Bottom images ...what I should NOT do
Top images ...what is best for me to do

The double images are so much easier to interpret than the single image would be, in my opinion.  (I'm not looking for an interpretation of this particular spread, as I've already done that to my satisfaction. This is just an example of what this double-card trick can offer.)
 
 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Chariot

[Jasmine]

@Chariot  I have done spreads like this too.   Similarly, I find a pair of cards for each position often provides greater clarity and insight than one card on its own.   I tried it as well with 3 cards but that was just too many - it works much better with two. 

[FindYourSovereignty]

It is the advanced approach to clarifying cards. 😊 

[DanielJUK]

I do this method quite regularly, I think I started using it after I started learning Lenormand because it's very similar to that and reading the cards as one message.

I think it's crucial with this method that each card has an equal weighting. When you do clarifiers, they don't have an equal weight, the first card laid down is more important than the card (or cards) that clarify that. I noticed people get this wrong a lot, but the whole point of clarifying is reinforcing the first card. But in this method they are all equal.

 

I do 3 card spreads like this, reading in combination very often. Also take 2 or 3 cards in the outcome position of a Celtic Cross for a really in-depth great outcome message! 🙂

Combinations are important, they give great messages!

[Scarlet Woodland]

I've found myself doing this more since starting lenormand as well. I haven't tried it within a spread yet though. If I'm "chatting" with a deck (in a card per question, shuffle and ask another way), I'll automatically draw 2 cards for some questions, when I know the answer will be more complex to articulate.

[Aliki]

On 11/24/2022 at 10:17 PM, Chariot said:

 I've just started using a new technique with small layouts that I am finding VERY useful.  By small, I mean layouts with only three, four, or five positions - past, present, future, helping a friend, solving a problem, etc.

The big change is that instead of just one card for each position, I now draw two cards and interpret them together. And WOW!  This really helps nail a meaning for me.   Does anybody else do this?

Example:

Middle images ...situation at present for my friend

Bottom images ...what I should NOT do
Top images ...what is best for me to do

The double images are so much easier to interpret than the single image would be, in my opinion.  (I'm not looking for an interpretation of this particular spread, as I've already done that to my satisfaction. This is just an example of what this double-card trick can offer.)
 
 

Personally i only do this if another comes out but I usually have the habit to read one card by looking at the top and bottom cards of the deck too instead and it's quite helpful and works great for me so far

[Aliki]

On 11/24/2022 at 10:17 PM, Chariot said:

 I've just started using a new technique with small layouts that I am finding VERY useful.  By small, I mean layouts with only three, four, or five positions - past, present, future, helping a friend, solving a problem, etc.

The big change is that instead of just one card for each position, I now draw two cards and interpret them together. And WOW!  This really helps nail a meaning for me.   Does anybody else do this?

Example:

Middle images ...situation at present for my friend

Bottom images ...what I should NOT do
Top images ...what is best for me to do

The double images are so much easier to interpret than the single image would be, in my opinion.  (I'm not looking for an interpretation of this particular spread, as I've already done that to my satisfaction. This is just an example of what this double-card trick can offer.)
 
 

It seems quite helpful and smart thought i was always thinking small spreads need a lil bit more detail on them like that

[FindYourSovereignty]

4 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think it's crucial with this method that each card has an equal weighting. When you do clarifiers, they don't have an equal weight, the first card laid down is more important than the card (or cards) that clarify that. I noticed people get this wrong a lot, but the whole point of clarifying is reinforcing the first card. But in this method they are all equal.

Yes, I agree. IMO, this is the next level or approach to getting more out of a reading, to getting a greater depth than what clarifier cards do. And yes, each card in their positions are of equal importance and weight to the overall reading.

 

Edit to add: to me this approach is like pre-empting the need for a clarifying card. I described it as an advancement from clarifying cards as the next thing people started doing to help them get more clear on a reading, however, it may be best to describe it as this was what I noticed. Clarifiers were a big thing when I first started reading tarot. Now I am seeing people using two cards from two different decks or a tarot and oracle deck combination, etc. but each position has two cards to combine equally in support of getting the question answered.

Edited November 26, 2022 by FindYourSovereignty

[Misterei]

On 11/24/2022 at 12:17 PM, Chariot said:

 I've just started using a new technique with small layouts that I am finding VERY useful.  ... The big change is that instead of just one card for each position, I now draw two cards and interpret them together. And WOW!  This really helps nail a meaning for me.   Does anybody else do this?

Yes. I read this way most of the time. I did it organically for years ... recently as I've turned away from RWS and gotten into reading Tarocchi, TdM, and other "pip decks" ... I've been reading with French Cross spread.

 

French Cross is a traditional spread since 1920s that lays 5 majors and then uses minors to clarify each of the majors. I've posted a couple of french cross spreads in deck of the week threads so you could see an example. Each of the 5 positions is read as a pair.

[Misterei]

8 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think it's crucial with this method that each card has an equal weighting. When you do clarifiers, they don't have an equal weight, the first card laid down is more important than the card (or cards) that clarify that. I noticed people get this wrong a lot, but the whole point of clarifying is reinforcing the first card. But in this method they are all equal.

Interesting point. In the French Cross the minors are definitely clarifying the majors ... so they aren't equal. Yet they're always read as a pair.

When reading LeNormand ... I weigh the cards equally as you say.

 

But with Tarot? To me there're always cards that speak louder. So I seldom to never weigh tarot cards equally. There will always be the ones I consider more thematic / important.

[Chariot]

22 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

 

 

I do 3 card spreads like this, reading in combination very often. Also take 2 or 3 cards in the outcome position of a Celtic Cross for a really in-depth great outcome message! 🙂

Combinations are important, they give great messages!

That's a great suggestion regarding the Celtic Cross.  I do use clarifiers in Celtic Cross, for positions I'm not sure about, but they are drawn after the fact, and only modify the original card, which needs clearer context.  Clarifiers HAVE made the difference, between walking away from a reading feeling confused, versus getting the meaning nailed.  Context matters, and that's what the second/third cards give me.  But I've never tried the double/triple initial cards as the outcome.  I will definitely try that next time I do a Celtic Cross. 

I've read tarot writers who claim that if they're doing a really large spread and want this sort of second-opinion thing, they often shuffle two identical decks together at the start of the reading.  That gives more scope for context.  I haven't tried this at all, but I can see that might be an interesting thing to do. The trouble is, if you're only using one deck, that limits the number of options the deck can give during one reading.  Two would double the vocabulary.

[Chariot]

14 hours ago, Misterei said:

 

 

French Cross is a traditional spread since 1920s that lays 5 majors and then uses minors to clarify each of the majors. I've posted a couple of french cross spreads in deck of the week threads so you could see an example. Each of the 5 positions is read as a pair.

Thanks!  That sounds interesting for certain types of questions.  I'll check that out.

[FindYourSovereignty]

16 hours ago, Misterei said:

French Cross is a traditional spread since 1920s that lays 5 majors and then uses minors to clarify each of the majors. I've posted a couple of french cross spreads in deck of the week threads so you could see an example. Each of the 5 positions is read as a pair.

This sounds interesting. 

[Misterei]

@Chariot @FindYourSovereignty I learned French Cross online from this source

French Cross of Peladan

This method uses some card counting … I actually roll D&D dice to pick the cards when I’m reading for myself.

 

This blog is a more modern take on the Tirage en croix

 

I seriously LOVE this spread for reading pip decks. Haven’t used it for RWS or thoth decks. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Misterei

[FindYourSovereignty]

On 11/26/2022 at 9:48 PM, Misterei said:

@Chariot @FindYourSovereignty I learned French Cross online from this source

French Cross of Peladan

This method uses some card counting … I actually roll D&D dice to pick the cards when I’m reading for myself.

 

This blog is a more modern take on the Tirage en croix

 

I seriously LOVE this spread for reading pip decks. Haven’t used it for RWS or thoth decks. 

 

Thank yo, @Misterei for sharing the links and these details. I look forward to trying this spread.