versatile tarot spreads: elemental quarters (4, 5, 8, 9, 16, 17, 32, 33, 36 or 37 cards)
This post is part of a short series on "tarot spreads which require you to bring your own questions to the table."
This is a very nice one for those who like to work with the elements. The true benefit of this spread (as indicated by the card count) is that it is designed to add more and more cards to continue exploring the issue or gain greater clarity of depth.
Because of this, there are a few versions, which I will endeavor to cover.
Its primary function is as an overview spread that gives information on various parts of a situation - and those parts are divided up according to elemental correspondences.
So the card in your Earth quarter may deal a lot with money and housing, while the card in your Water quarter may deal a lot with relationships and emotions, and so on.
Beforehand, write down what directions you associate with each element. It may help to have a resource handy to review what you believe each element is associated with.
Assuming that west is at your left hand and east is at your right hand, lay down four cards in a diamond shape to represent each element.
If you like, lay one card sideways in the center to represent "spirit."
Read each card in turn, assuming that the card is linked with that elemental quarter. If utilized, the center "spirit" card may refer to overall themes or greatest advice.
The spirit card is read sideways to represent both its upright and reversed positions, but if this is not preferred, it may be drawn normally and read upright or reversed as fate provides. I find the reading is improved if "spirit" is flipped over only after all other cards have been read.
This spread also functions well as a timeline - starting with East (at the right hand) as the beginning, and going clockwise until North (at the top of the diamond) functions as the ending.
For those that cannot get enough of large, out-of-control spreads, try this modification:
At some point ten or so years ago I asked myself, "if fire is fire of [subject], then if the subject itself is fire, doesn't that mean there is fire of fire, earth of fire, and so on?" and this lead to me developing what's pictured above - one of my favorite spreads.
Place four cards at every quarter, also in a diamond shape (for a total of sixteen cards). Each quartet has an internal elemental system. For example, in the quarter of fire, there are four cards - the rightmost card is Fire of Fire, the lower card is Earth of Fire, the leftmost card is Water of Fire, the top card is Air of Fire.
Read each quartet as a single unit before combining the spread as a whole. Especially explore the associations between all elemental cards (all four Water of ___ cards; all four Fire of ___ cards; and so on). Give special consideration to when elements agree (Water of Water is a cups card) or disagree (Water of Water is a fiery wands card).
In the infographic I did not include any spirit cards, but they can be added to each quartet if desired.
(Please note, Readers, that I provide my own elemental directions for demonstration purposes - your own should be freely substituted).
Now, of course, I hear what you're saying - "if the simple four card spread got to use the cross-quarter ways, we should be able to do it for this one, too!"
And of course you can, and should, if you've got a couple of hours to spend on just one reading: