The Crowley Tarot Spread.
I have been asked, on occasion, to explain how to perform what I know as the Crowley spread; a tarot spread reputed to be designed by Alistair Crowley but I have no evidence to support that. However, as I have known it thus for so long, it has been easy to ignore the provenance and simply try to understand how to work the spread. It feels like a Crowley spread because it is devilishly complicated.
There are many tarot spreads that are laid out in a particular pattern with a specific focus. The 10-card Celtic cross is the most common starter spread. It is a great beginner’s spread but as with all disciplines there comes a point where you seek a more fluid way to interpret meaning from each card, especially as you begin to understand how tarot cards interact with each other.
It took me several years to become comfortable with the Crowley spread but the more I used it, the more I discovered the boundaries of designated positions could often be a restriction to more revealing interpretations. What was more exciting was the way that the spread generated a past-to-present-to-future-influence not only by the way in which the cards were revealed but also indicated where past influences affected the present and future influences manifested from past experience. For me this is the tarot spread of all spreads for free flowing interpretations.
So let’s start to unpack the spread and describe to you how it is done.
The deck is shuffled - by whom is up to you, however, it would be beneficial for the querent to perform the task number 2. I am aware that some readers do not like the querent touching their cards, however, it should be pointed out that these mass-manufactured cards have been handled by scores of people during the production process. So there is nothing wrong with asking a querent to cut the cards; and you can always recharge them after the reading.
The deck is placed face down on the table. The querent cuts the deck into two piles (it does not have to be even) and then the two piles are cut again to leave four piles on the table.
The next thing to do is decide which card will represent the querent. This is an important designation because it will define how much of the reading is apparent to the querent’s past, present and future. Every card read before the querent is reached can be considered as the known past, present and future intention. What comes after the querent card is past influences, present consequences and future options. It may be worth noting at this point that this is not the only division of past, present and future indications but this division is perhaps the way the querent sees it.
The sign of the zodiac will decide if the querent belongs to one of the four elements. For me the designations are Fire = swords, Air = rods, Water = cups and Earth = pentacles. You may choose for yourself what you believe the designation should be, as I am well aware of the argument between the elements attributed to swords and rods.
Next look at the age of the querent and choose an appropriate card to identify as the querent.
Child to 20 = Page
20 -40 = Knight
40 - 70 = King for male, Queen for female
70+ = Emperor for male and Empress for female.
Once you have decided which card will represent the querent, you must then sift through each of the four piles, without changing the order of the cards and remembering to keep the piles separate from each other, to discover which pile the querent is in. Whatever pile the querent resides in will be the cards you use for the reading (which is why you have to keep the piles separate). All other cards are discarded and play no more part in the reading.
If you were to divide the pack of 78 Tarot cards into 4 roughly equal piles, you would end up with an average pile of 19 to 20 cards. However, I have performed a reading with as little as a pile of 9 cards and as many as a pile of 35 cards. The interesting thing about this is that the fewer the cards, the more potent the meanings and the urgency of it (We would be talking a lunar cycle at most). If there are only two rows of 7 (14 cards or less in total), the situation is immediate to the point that head and heart are in concert, which means both air and water command the first row and the second row becomes the physical line. More than 28 cards becomes trivial and suggests the querent’s mind is focused on numerous things and therefore nothing is particularly important compared to other matters.
For the sake of this exercise, I am going to suggest we have arrived at a random layout of 22 cards. The cards are laid out, face down, in rows of seven cards. The top row represents the mind. The second row represents the emotions (because head and heart do not always agree). The third row represents physical happenings and the last remaining card starts the beginning of the fourth row, which represents obstacles. A fifth row tends to be further obstacles and thus indicates that the querent is in someway the author of their own difficulties or trapped in circumstances over which they have very little control.
It is important to note that the spread represents only the corporeal body and whatever spiritual influences or spark of divine intervention is most likely to be found within the suit that you decide represents fire. The esoteric principle is that to cause something to happen we must think something before we can decide how we feel about it in order to generate the motivation to act in the physical world. The other way up is how we react to something: first there is the physical event, which we respond to emotionally first and then rationalise it before deciding if we want to cause something to happen; and so the cycle of cause and effect is established in the layout of the spread.
As mentioned earlier, the cards are face down. You cannot cheat by seeing them all at once (and they will mean less this way in any case). You must turn over each card one at a time and interpret what you see in the light of only the overturned cards. It is important not to be tempted to sneak peak at the cards around it as it will not help you in the end. The story has to unfold in the order it is designed to happen.
Another thing to know before you start your reading is that the spread is divided into 7 columns but three distinct areas of influence: The first 3 columns deal with issues that are either past or issues that have happened in the past but have a significant bearing on the future.
The middle column deals with where the querent finds themselves ‘today’; the present.
The 3 remaining columns on the right deal with issues that may be consequences of past actions already manifested and potential future options in the light of those manifested actions.
In the case of the 22 card spread, the 22nd card sits at the bottom of the first column and will therefore be read in the light of the original consideration, i.e. that being the first card to be turned over is the top left card in the first column (and also the card immediately preceding the obstacle card)
A further aspect you can detect comes from looking at not only the immediate surrounding cards to the one you read but also the vertical and diagonal lines they belong to. I hope this aspect will become clearer as you lay out the spread.
So staring with the first card, top left. Turn it over and consider this is what the querent is thinking of (first card in the line of thought). This should give you a starting thrust for the remainder of the reading.
The second card will be the top right but it is achieved by counting 7 cards including the card you just turned over. On each count of 7, apart from the card you just read, you only count the face-down cards. As there are no face-up cards to reach the second card this does not matter yet. The second card is how the querent sees the future based on knowing nothing more than what they know at this point.
Count another 7 cards (including the face-up second card) and you will get to the card in the 6th column in the emotional line. This is how the querent feels about the interpretation of the first two cards.
Count another 7 and you will get to the card on the physical line in the 5th column. This is the first indication of what has become manifest in the light of the preceding cards.
The next count of 7 will start to jump cards that are face-up. Count the face-up card you just read in the physical line 5th column (that’s 1). count the last card on the physical row (that’s 2). Count the obstacle card in the 4th row (that’s 3). Go back to the top and SKIP the first card in the top row because it is already face-up. count the next card in the top line 2nd column (that’s 4). Count the cards in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th column (that’s 5, 6 and 7) and turn it over. You should now be looking at the card in the top line of the 5th column. This card is just to the right of the centre column that represents the here and now. Therefore it is logical to assume that in the light of the cards interpreted so far, this is what the querent thinks they ought to do, given what they understand their circumstances are.
If you count the next two cards correctly, skipping those that are already turned over, the next two cards should be those in the 5th column but in the emotional line first and then the 6th column of the physical line. So what does the querent feel about the situation and what do they want to do about it?
If you have successfully counted the cards in batches of 7 to this point, you will be able to successfully count the remaining cards, remembering to count the face-up card you just read and count 7 and by not counting any face-up cards on the way.
If, at any time in the reading, you turn up the querent’s card, you can then identify where they are in their situation. A querent at the very first card implies quite simply that the reading is all about them and their aspirations. The querent at the top right implies that the querent is looking to the future that is yet to come. The querent in the middle column places them at the present, and if on the emotional line they are at the centre of their circumstance. If placed at the end of the emotional line then they have emotional concerns for the future as it is unknowable. If at the end of the physical line then the consequences are unknowable. (there is no 8th column).
To further complicate the reading, any card turned over before the querent means that the card relates to the past (even if it is in columns 5, 6 and 7); Future influences are often carried over from past events. Say a person has had a bad relationship and reflects those feelings towards their next relationship? The effect could be most discomfiting and shape future relationships.
Likewise, any card turned over after the querent is discovered becomes issues that affect the future. So if the cards turned over after the querent appears in columns 1, 2 or 3, then past events may yet play a role in shaping the future.
Cards drawn before or after the querent in the middle column may reveal where the querent has arrive on this journey today. Finally the obstacle cards may indicate something that has already happened and needs to be resolved or something that could happen and therefore may be avoided.
As you turn over more and more cards, don’t forget that each new card can interact only with those that have turned face-up. It is important to consider these as they appear because once you have turned over all the cards, the interactions are there but the water is muddied by the permutations.
At the end of the reading you may wish to look at the number of major cards and minor card suits that make up your spread. This is particularly useful for those who study numerology because it will reveal what the querent needs to cause to happen (major cards), what inspiration they may need to draw on (Fire), the direction to focus the mind (Air), the most positive emotion to employ (Water) and the best action to take (Earth).
And that is the Crowley spread. People are complicated beings and their lives intermingled with past present and future influences. This spread attempts to reflect that and I have found no other spread that comes near it for it’s flexibility, nuance and complete inclusivity in the manner that tarot was designed to express.
I have been asked, on occasion, to explain how to perform what I know as the Crowley spread; a tarot spread reputed to be designed by Alistair Crowley but I have no evidence to support that. However, as I have known it thus for so long, it has been easy to ignore the provenance and simply try to understand how to work the spread. It feels like a Crowley spread because it is devilishly complicated.
There are many tarot spreads that are laid out in a particular pattern with a specific focus. The 10-card Celtic cross is the most common starter spread. It is a great beginner’s spread but as with all disciplines there comes a point where you seek a more fluid way to interpret meaning from each card, especially as you begin to understand how tarot cards interact with each other.
It took me several years to become comfortable with the Crowley spread but the more I used it, the more I discovered the boundaries of designated positions could often be a restriction to more revealing interpretations. What was more exciting was the way that the spread generated a past-to-present-to-future-influence not only by the way in which the cards were revealed but also indicated where past influences affected the present and future influences manifested from past experience. For me this is the tarot spread of all spreads for free flowing interpretations.
So let’s start to unpack the spread and describe to you how it is done.
The deck is shuffled - by whom is up to you, however, it would be beneficial for the querent to perform the task number 2. I am aware that some readers do not like the querent touching their cards, however, it should be pointed out that these mass-manufactured cards have been handled by scores of people during the production process. So there is nothing wrong with asking a querent to cut the cards; and you can always recharge them after the reading.
The deck is placed face down on the table. The querent cuts the deck into two piles (it does not have to be even) and then the two piles are cut again to leave four piles on the table.
The next thing to do is decide which card will represent the querent. This is an important designation because it will define how much of the reading is apparent to the querent’s past, present and future. Every card read before the querent is reached can be considered as the known past, present and future intention. What comes after the querent card is past influences, present consequences and future options. It may be worth noting at this point that this is not the only division of past, present and future indications but this division is perhaps the way the querent sees it.
The sign of the zodiac will decide if the querent belongs to one of the four elements. For me the designations are Fire = swords, Air = rods, Water = cups and Earth = pentacles. You may choose for yourself what you believe the designation should be, as I am well aware of the argument between the elements attributed to swords and rods.
Next look at the age of the querent and choose an appropriate card to identify as the querent.
Child to 20 = Page
20 -40 = Knight
40 - 70 = King for male, Queen for female
70+ = Emperor for male and Empress for female.
Once you have decided which card will represent the querent, you must then sift through each of the four piles, without changing the order of the cards and remembering to keep the piles separate from each other, to discover which pile the querent is in. Whatever pile the querent resides in will be the cards you use for the reading (which is why you have to keep the piles separate). All other cards are discarded and play no more part in the reading.
If you were to divide the pack of 78 Tarot cards into 4 roughly equal piles, you would end up with an average pile of 19 to 20 cards. However, I have performed a reading with as little as a pile of 9 cards and as many as a pile of 35 cards. The interesting thing about this is that the fewer the cards, the more potent the meanings and the urgency of it (We would be talking a lunar cycle at most). If there are only two rows of 7 (14 cards or less in total), the situation is immediate to the point that head and heart are in concert, which means both air and water command the first row and the second row becomes the physical line. More than 28 cards becomes trivial and suggests the querent’s mind is focused on numerous things and therefore nothing is particularly important compared to other matters.
For the sake of this exercise, I am going to suggest we have arrived at a random layout of 22 cards. The cards are laid out, face down, in rows of seven cards. The top row represents the mind. The second row represents the emotions (because head and heart do not always agree). The third row represents physical happenings and the last remaining card starts the beginning of the fourth row, which represents obstacles. A fifth row tends to be further obstacles and thus indicates that the querent is in someway the author of their own difficulties or trapped in circumstances over which they have very little control.
It is important to note that the spread represents only the corporeal body and whatever spiritual influences or spark of divine intervention is most likely to be found within the suit that you decide represents fire. The esoteric principle is that to cause something to happen we must think something before we can decide how we feel about it in order to generate the motivation to act in the physical world. The other way up is how we react to something: first there is the physical event, which we respond to emotionally first and then rationalise it before deciding if we want to cause something to happen; and so the cycle of cause and effect is established in the layout of the spread.
As mentioned earlier, the cards are face down. You cannot cheat by seeing them all at once (and they will mean less this way in any case). You must turn over each card one at a time and interpret what you see in the light of only the overturned cards. It is important not to be tempted to sneak peak at the cards around it as it will not help you in the end. The story has to unfold in the order it is designed to happen.
Another thing to know before you start your reading is that the spread is divided into 7 columns but three distinct areas of influence: The first 3 columns deal with issues that are either past or issues that have happened in the past but have a significant bearing on the future.
The middle column deals with where the querent finds themselves ‘today’; the present.
The 3 remaining columns on the right deal with issues that may be consequences of past actions already manifested and potential future options in the light of those manifested actions.
In the case of the 22 card spread, the 22nd card sits at the bottom of the first column and will therefore be read in the light of the original consideration, i.e. that being the first card to be turned over is the top left card in the first column (and also the card immediately preceding the obstacle card)
A further aspect you can detect comes from looking at not only the immediate surrounding cards to the one you read but also the vertical and diagonal lines they belong to. I hope this aspect will become clearer as you lay out the spread.
So staring with the first card, top left. Turn it over and consider this is what the querent is thinking of (first card in the line of thought). This should give you a starting thrust for the remainder of the reading.
The second card will be the top right but it is achieved by counting 7 cards including the card you just turned over. On each count of 7, apart from the card you just read, you only count the face-down cards. As there are no face-up cards to reach the second card this does not matter yet. The second card is how the querent sees the future based on knowing nothing more than what they know at this point.
Count another 7 cards (including the face-up second card) and you will get to the card in the 6th column in the emotional line. This is how the querent feels about the interpretation of the first two cards.
Count another 7 and you will get to the card on the physical line in the 5th column. This is the first indication of what has become manifest in the light of the preceding cards.
The next count of 7 will start to jump cards that are face-up. Count the face-up card you just read in the physical line 5th column (that’s 1). count the last card on the physical row (that’s 2). Count the obstacle card in the 4th row (that’s 3). Go back to the top and SKIP the first card in the top row because it is already face-up. count the next card in the top line 2nd column (that’s 4). Count the cards in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th column (that’s 5, 6 and 7) and turn it over. You should now be looking at the card in the top line of the 5th column. This card is just to the right of the centre column that represents the here and now. Therefore it is logical to assume that in the light of the cards interpreted so far, this is what the querent thinks they ought to do, given what they understand their circumstances are.
If you count the next two cards correctly, skipping those that are already turned over, the next two cards should be those in the 5th column but in the emotional line first and then the 6th column of the physical line. So what does the querent feel about the situation and what do they want to do about it?
If you have successfully counted the cards in batches of 7 to this point, you will be able to successfully count the remaining cards, remembering to count the face-up card you just read and count 7 and by not counting any face-up cards on the way.
If, at any time in the reading, you turn up the querent’s card, you can then identify where they are in their situation. A querent at the very first card implies quite simply that the reading is all about them and their aspirations. The querent at the top right implies that the querent is looking to the future that is yet to come. The querent in the middle column places them at the present, and if on the emotional line they are at the centre of their circumstance. If placed at the end of the emotional line then they have emotional concerns for the future as it is unknowable. If at the end of the physical line then the consequences are unknowable. (there is no 8th column).
To further complicate the reading, any card turned over before the querent means that the card relates to the past (even if it is in columns 5, 6 and 7); Future influences are often carried over from past events. Say a person has had a bad relationship and reflects those feelings towards their next relationship? The effect could be most discomfiting and shape future relationships.
Likewise, any card turned over after the querent is discovered becomes issues that affect the future. So if the cards turned over after the querent appears in columns 1, 2 or 3, then past events may yet play a role in shaping the future.
Cards drawn before or after the querent in the middle column may reveal where the querent has arrive on this journey today. Finally the obstacle cards may indicate something that has already happened and needs to be resolved or something that could happen and therefore may be avoided.
As you turn over more and more cards, don’t forget that each new card can interact only with those that have turned face-up. It is important to consider these as they appear because once you have turned over all the cards, the interactions are there but the water is muddied by the permutations.
At the end of the reading you may wish to look at the number of major cards and minor card suits that make up your spread. This is particularly useful for those who study numerology because it will reveal what the querent needs to cause to happen (major cards), what inspiration they may need to draw on (Fire), the direction to focus the mind (Air), the most positive emotion to employ (Water) and the best action to take (Earth).
And that is the Crowley spread. People are complicated beings and their lives intermingled with past present and future influences. This spread attempts to reflect that and I have found no other spread that comes near it for it’s flexibility, nuance and complete inclusivity in the manner that tarot was designed to express.
