Book Review: Complete Book of Tarot Spreads

Book review for The Complete Book of Tarot Spreads by Burger and Feibig Review by Lisa Rush

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With 109 out of 176 pages devoted to 122 layouts, there has to be something here for everyone. I couldn't resist this book and brought it home to test the layouts. If you are anything like me, you probably will go straight to the layouts chapter, but be sure to go back and work your way through the rest of the book! Otherwise, you may overlook some interesting information and charts that you may want to keep handy to use during readings. My only disappointment with this book was that the layouts are card positions and diagrams only. There are no sample readings that would help someone new to reading to understand how the cards' meanings apply to the positions of the layouts.

Instead, the book offers a Quintessential Card which you calculate by adding all the digits of the cards' numbers together and reducing them to a number less than 22. When calculating, the Courts and Fool = 0 and Aces = 1. This card is then used to summarize the layout. If you want to know what the colors used on the cards mean, there is a colors chart on page 17.

The book presents two styles of readings to use with the layouts provided--subjective and objective. With Subjective, the figures on the cards mirror an aspect of you. In Objective, the figures represent other people you've met or will meet. There is also a section on how to do associative readings where you pull cards and expand on them without having a particular layout in mind.

I had never heard of octaves before reading this book, and being a music major, I thought it had to do with a higher or lower card related to a particular card. This is called "Parallel Cards” when Major Arcana cards have the same final digits--1 and 11, 2 and 21, 3 and 13, 4 and 14; 15 the Devil is the higher octave of 5 the Hierophant and 7 the Chariot is a lower aspect of 17 the Star.

This leads into "reign and elevation" cards that are reigned by a zodiac sign that can be elevated to another zodiac sign. (The card's Planet-Sun Reigning-Leo Elevated in-Aries) Elevations serve to give us a deeper understanding of the characteristics of the astrological signs as well as the planets. The respective planet and astrological sign (Sun and Leo) are especially strong when in an elevated position (Aries). Also helpful is a chart of Crowley-Thoth zodiac attributions on pages 168-171. (Cards ruled by Aries--I Am are: the Emperor, Queen of Wands and 2 and 4 of Wands.) Another chart to have handy is the zodiac attributions by 10-day cycles for the Minor Arcana cards twos through tens categorized by Seasons. (Spring-2 of Wands is Mars in Aries, Summer-2 of Cups is Venus in Cancer, Fall-2 of Swords is Moon in Libra, and Winter-2 of Pentacles is Jupiter in Capricorn.)

Most of the layouts given range from basic one or three cards to a full array of twenty or more. Here are two I enjoyed:

# 16 The Trend
1 Have
2 looking for
3 should do
4 want
5 important for now
can be done in a star or line shape
#20 Talent and Chance 2 1 3
1 Theme/Problem
2 Task/Challenge
3 Chance/Talent

This book can best be summed up by a quote from page 44, "…tarot cards area mirror of how you experience and understand your life on a daily basis." And, just from having seen the wide variety of layouts presented in this book, I have been able to design my own layouts for just about any purpose, or expand the ones given to fit everyday situations. Try the layouts in the book and expand your tarot reading horizons.

ISBN: 080699505X

Lady's Love, Light, and Laughter and blessings on your tarot journeys,

Lisa Rush, CPTR Lrush96031@aol.com

Refractions Tarot Page

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