Learn what’s best for your heart using tarot cards. Explore your (many!) options for a love tarot reading: single card, 3-card, 5-card and more!
Co-authored by James Kerti
Love and relationships are popular topics of exploration in tarot readings. But what spreads for love bring the most accurate results?
If you’ve done some searching, you’ve probably discovered there are A LOT of tarot spreads on love out there! It can be a overwhelming to decide which is best to use.
Fortunately, we have some spreads for love that we…well…love! This article illustrates and explains some of our go-to, easy-to-interpret tarot spreads for love readings.
What zodiac sign is your relationship?
What zodiac sign is your relationship?
Learn the secrets of the composite (blended) chart in SuperCouple, a cosmic care and feeding manual for any relationship. Written by The AstroTwins, astrologers and matchmakers for Amazon Prime Video's Cosmic Love.
Single card pulls for love
When you pull a single card, the response is likely to reflect the general tone of your love life.
While pulling a single card doesn’t always bring enough depth to understand the complete situation, it can offer a quick and helpful answer.
If you’re involved with someone romantically, the card will probably pertain to that connection.
Healing from a recent breakup? You might draw a card related to that.
For other situations, the card will relate to a theme that’s influencing your romantic life. It may reflect your current approach to relationships, such as when you’re dating multiple people or not actively involved with anyone.
You’ll probably want to do a larger spread than a single card pull if you’re looking for more detailed information or advice. Read on!
3-card spreads for love
Three-card spreads offer a solid amount of information and are easier to interpret. Here are four types of 3-card spreads for love.
You / The Other Person / The Relationship
As we wrote about in our book Supercouple, when two people come together there’s a third “entity” that’s formed: the relationship itself. These three cards represent:
– you
– the other person
– the relationship between the two of you
What You Want / What They Want / The Future
If you’re not sure whether you and another person are aligned, this spread can help bring understanding and clarity by illustrating:
– what you want
– what they want
– the future
What Unites You / What Divides You / What to Focus On
We like this spread because it can help you assess:
– what’s bringing you closer
– what’s pushing you apart, and
– which influences are under your control
Love Interest No. 1 / Love Interest No. 2 / How to Decide
When you’re trying to choose between different love interests, try this spread to get support to figure out your way forward.
– The first and second cards each represent one of the people you’re asking about.
– The third card suggests a theme or criteria for making a decision.
5-card spreads about love
A 5-card spread goes beyond a 3-card spread, adding an illuminating layer of depth and insight. Here are two 5-card spreads for love that you can try while reading tarot cards.
You / The Other Person / The Relationship / The Past / The Future
This 5-card spread adds two more cards to the first 3-card spread explained in the above section.
We all bring our past beliefs and experiences into our relationships. In addition to the 3-card spread for love:
– the fourth card you pull here can shine some much-needed light on what’s coming forward, and
– the fifth card can help explain where things might be going for the two of you.
Your Desires / Their Desires / Theme / Challenges / Potential
If you’re wondering how well you gel with your love interest, this 5-card compatibility spread offers guidance:
– The first and second cards signify what each of you wants, in general and from this connection specifically.
– The third card represents the dominant theme of the relationship as it currently stands.
– The fourth card provides valuable insight into areas where the two of you are getting stuck.
– The fifth (and final) card portrays the potential or future of this connection. This card doesn’t necessarily serve as a simple “yes or no” about whether you two are compatible. But it can give you a sense of whether the potential lines up with what you both desire.
More than five cards in a love tarot reading
Spreads for love can grow harder to interpret as you add more cards. We encourage you to focus on the above spreads as you’re learning tarot, sticking with single, 3-card or 5-card spreads.
However, we do want to offer some additional options as you learn and explore tarot!
This 7-card compatibility spread adds two cards to the final 5-card spread explained above.
Your Desires / Their Desires / Theme / Challenges / Emotional Compatibility / Physical Compatibility / Mental Compatibility
Tweaking the above formula a bit to accommodate the two new cards, this 7-card compatibility spread can give you a deeper understanding of your long-term potential with someone.
This spread expands the Potential card in a 5-card spread into three different areas of compatibility:
– emotional
– physical
– mental
Each of these three cards can help you understand how compatible you and the other person are in those areas.
If something seems particularly out of alignment in one or more of those areas, you may be able to use the information to explore compromises or paths to move forward.
Celtic Cross
The 10-card Celtic Cross spread is well-known for being challenging to interpret while packing a lot of depth.
See our article about the Celtic Cross for information about how to interpret that spread, if you feel like giving it a go!
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