Do you have one go-to technique or spread? Or do you use many different types of technique/spreads?

[Misterei]

Do you have a favorite spread that's your go-to? Favorite techniques you always use with certain spreads?

 

By Spread I mean the shape you lay [line, tableau, pyramid, etc.] and by technique,  things like mirroring, knighting, MOD, chaining, houses, etc.

I've studied and tried many different spreads and techniques. Like everyone, I started with lines. I tried crosses. Pyramids. Traditional GT, etc. etc. The most common, 9-card tableau, I've never been able to read.

 

Some techniques I use exclusively on Lines [mirroring] while other techniques I use on GTs [MOD, houses]

 

After much trial and error my sweet spot is to lay a full GT over Game of Hope houses. You would think a 9-card tableau would be easier, but for me it's not. I'm still experimenting and use various techniques on this spread, but the spread itself feels so natural for me, it's become my *go-to*.

 

What about you? Do you have a favorite *go to* spread you use most of the time?

Do you have techniques you always or usually use on any spread?

Do you find that you apply different techniques to different spreads?

Edited November 13, 2024 by Misterei

[DanielJUK]

I largely do 3 cards in a line readings, I have found it gives me everything I need to know. Sometimes I do 5 or 7 cards in a line readings and then a 9 card cube for a more in-depth reading. I would do the box spread for a month for example.

I used to add loads of techniques like mirroring and knighting and chaining but keeping it simple gives me everything I need to know.

I regularly take the centre card as the theme of the reading and I have found it mostly does reflect the reading topic. But felt conflicted recently because I am starting to think I shouldn't be reading a single card in that way. I also sometimes see card 1 in a larger reading as representing the querent.

 

At one point I got too obsessed with using multiple techniques, when really the key is to apply the traditional meanings of the cards and work out the combination message. So I have really simplified my method.

[akiva]

9 hours ago, Misterei said:

What about you? Do you have a favorite *go to* spread you use most of the time?

Do you have techniques you always or usually use on any spread?

Do you find that you apply different techniques to different spreads?

Like you I've tried a lot of different spreads and methods, but my go to's would be a line of 3 or 5, something that's known as "the French method", the Grand Star spread and sometimes the Chien de Pique adapted to Lenormand. I also use all these for piquet, which is why I don't really read Lenormand much these days. If I restarted Lenormand, I'd only use it for GTs, no matter the question.

 

As for techniques I mostly just use playing card stuff. Older MOD with playing cards is a bit different to Lenormand MOD as well. With playing cards the meanings don't change depending on how close the card is, you just read what's close to a significator as what is happening soon. Which I much prefer! 😄 Other techniques would be card multiples, suit interaction, card counting (sometimes this makes lines of 5/7/9 a lot easier to read), I use an easy yes/no method with Lenormand too.

[Rose Lalonde]

Occasional Lenormand dailies: 3 or 5-card line. My method of attendance is first card as the subject, subsequent cards modify the one to their left.  5-card spread includes mirroring.

Questions: 3x3 square. Center card the focus. I prioritize the six 3-card vertical & horiz. lines, with attendance

 

For GT outlook, corners first, then proximity (or not) to Sig. Next, the cards around the House, Tree, etc, depending on what interests me. Sometimes chaining when 2 of those subject cards are close. -- In general, cards above and left of Sig. have the strongest influence. Below and right, the least. (but Clouds near, below/right still means clouded).

 

No knighting or counting. No houses. I don't use past/present/future; I'm greedy for all future. 😏 (But I don't dislike any of those methods when someone else reads for me.) 

Edited November 13, 2024 by Rose Lalonde

[Misterei]

16 hours ago, akiva said:

.... If I restarted Lenormand, I'd only use it for GTs, no matter the question.

Interesting. What brought you to this?

 

9 hours ago, Rose Lalonde said:

No knighting or counting. No houses. I don't use past/present/future; I'm greedy for all future. 

I actually never had any luck trying to read past/present/future with LN. I do it all the time with Tarot. The past and present are my test cards and I literally won't continue a reading if the past and present cards don;t hit. I never could get LN to work the same way. Every time I tried a past/present/future technique with LN? Total fail. Which freaked me out at first [no test cards -- eek!]

 

Now I just let LN be present and future oriented which seems like what it wants to do.  Except when it references the past for its own reasons 🤣

Edited November 14, 2024 by Misterei

[akiva]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

Interesting. What brought you to this?

Mostly just to differentiate between other systems I use 😄

[Misterei]

8 hours ago, akiva said:

Mostly just to differentiate between other systems I use 😄

Ah. You do have a wide-ranging set of techniques! For me, trial and error led me to a similar place. I feel that Celtic Cross *goes with* RWS style decks; and Game of the Hand or French Cross *goes with* Tarocchi decks. I have a similar feeling that GT *goes with* LN. I didn't start out with this idea but I arrived there via experimentation. Once I find a spread that works with a deck I tend to stay with it 😉

[akiva]

50 minutes ago, Misterei said:

Ah. You do have a wide-ranging set of techniques! For me, trial and error led me to a similar place. I feel that Celtic Cross *goes with* RWS style decks; and Game of the Hand or French Cross *goes with* Tarocchi decks. I have a similar feeling that GT *goes with* LN. I didn't start out with this idea but I arrived there via experimentation. Once I find a spread that works with a deck I tend to stay with it 😉

Exactly! It's like the spread or method compliments the voice of the deck itself, and with others it's just not quite right. Or maybe the deck and method 'feel' this synergy? We discussed egregores a while back, and that probably also applies to historical methods too. Especially if they were well practiced.

 

I should probably trim some of the techniques down though. It's better to have 2 or 3 good ones rather than many. That way I won't default to lines of 3 when I'm paralysed by choice! 😂

[Misterei]

36 minutes ago, akiva said:

Exactly! It's like the spread or method compliments the voice of the deck itself, and with others it's just not quite right. Or maybe the deck and method 'feel' this synergy? We discussed egregores a while back, and that probably also applies to historical methods too. Especially if they were well practiced.

Yes. To me decks have a personality which prefers certain spreads. Can it be an egregore developed via repeated use by many readers? Makes sense.

36 minutes ago, akiva said:

I should probably trim some of the techniques down though. It's better to have 2 or 3 good ones rather than many. That way I won't default to lines of 3 when I'm paralysed by choice! 😂

Yes. I'm honing my system for GT to use 2-3 main techniques but with freedom to notice things that arise organically for that particular question.I suppose it's a bit like the AI conversation. I enjoy a simple set of rules to follow, but I always allow for random things that grab my attention / intuition.

Edited November 14, 2024 by Misterei

[akiva]

16 hours ago, Misterei said:

Yes. I'm honing my system for GT to use 2-3 main techniques but with freedom to notice things that arise organically for that particular question.I suppose it's a bit like the AI conversation. I enjoy a simple set of rules to follow, but I always allow for random things that grab my attention / intuition.

This sounds like a good way to view it, and at least our rules aren't bound to a binary, black/white style view point 😆

 

I have considered approaching a GT almost like an intuitive board. Rather than just picking significators and reading around them, it might be fun to meditate over the GT, and see if cards start to psychically jump out. It's started happening to me in smaller readings,  it might transfer over, or get lost in all the cards being laid out 😂

[Misterei]

10 hours ago, akiva said:

I have considered approaching a GT almost like an intuitive board. Rather than just picking significators and reading around them, it might be fun to meditate over the GT, and see if cards start to psychically jump out. It's started happening to me in smaller readings,  it might transfer over, or get lost in all the cards being laid out 😂

Actually this is part of my process. I start with a global view of the GT to see what jumps at me and what vibe I get. This is actually my first step in reading a celtic cross with Tarot -- it's just a bit more overwhelming with a GT 😉 

 

After that global view, then I start applying regular techniques. The global view usually points me toward something important and it may guide me toward using additional techniques along with the regular ones. For example I don't normally read the corners of a GT but sometimes those cards jump out at me as having a message.

Edited November 15, 2024 by Misterei