The Starry Web We Weave: Finding Clarity with the Constellation Tarot Spread
My world is a web of constellations - it’s how my brain organizes information, how I absorb new input, and the type of patterning I am most drawn to. When I read tarot cards in a spread, I’m looking for the constellations and connections. All of it forms a story that resembles a 3D web full of glittering points of light and noise and intuition. Tarot helps me to highlight the parts of my world that need illumination and focus so that I can understand myself through past and present experiences in order to shape and prepare for what may come.
The following spread is my attempt to capture the feeling of a constellational web that is ever present in my practice. Hopefully it’ll serve as a good tool to practice seeing patterns everywhere - something that both herbalists and magickal folk need to practice to be of service on their paths. For some, the following spread might feel like a complicated process, especially when compared to the more straightforward “every position is static and each card is separate and unto its own” style of reading. But what I’m proposing is really not complicated and just takes a few tries until it feels intuitive. Even better, if you find it useful, I hope that you’ll bring this style of reading (where the cards are in relationship with each other, with the querent and reader, and with the many worlds of perception) to any spread you cast.
The Constellation Spread
The Constellation Tarot spread was devised for those seeking clarity and insight on a particular issue especially if it is a new endeavor, new relationship, a business idea or change in direction, and other such big transitions and initiations we experience in our lives. While it can be used as a general spread for a reader who’s had a bit of practice, it is better suited for when you’re seeking clarity on a particular subject or area of your life.
The Self
The first three cards representing The Self are relatively standard in the world of tarot and help us to get a better idea of the inner workings of the querent. Having a card each for mind, body, and spirit is not to suggest that these parts of ourselves are separate, but rather illustrate that these are different ways we have of experiencing and perceiving information. Look for indications of excess or overstimulated versus lacking or under-stimulated input or activity in one or more of these perception areas.
1. Mind: This card speaks to the mental state of the querent including but not limited to mental health, the ways that they might experience input through their mental perceptions, and/or what they’ve been thinking a lot about lately.
2. Body: This card speaks to the physical state of the querent including but not limited to physical health, the ways that they currently experience input through their physical perceptions, and/or what they’ve been physically feeling lately.
3. Spirit: This card speaks to the spiritual and emotional state of the querent including but not limited to spiritual/emotional health, the ways that they currently experience input through the spiritual/emotional perceptions, and/or what they’ve been physically feeling lately.
The Constellations
The next six cards are called The Constellations and represent the energies, exchanges, and insights in this area of your life - whether that’s a new endeavor, new relationship or an important transition. Imagine that these cards are not fixed points but floating orbs that weave in and out of who we are and what we are becoming. For some, this is fate and destiny and others this is revelation and the unfolding of life and memory.
4. The Recent Past: This card represents events that have occurred typically within the past three months and usually no more than a year before. Past events highlighted will relate to what you are currently going through. If you want to stretch the divinatory reach of the Past card, add another card or more for an extended timeline.
5. Near Future: This card represents events that may occur within the next three months to one year ahead. Future events highlighted are possibilities of what may come to be. If you want to stretch the divinatory reach of the Future card, add another card or more for an extended timeline. However, I caution trying to detect events that may happen too far in the future as our timelines are malleable changing things - there are better ways to get in touch with your far future self.
6. What You Hope to Achieve / What Are Afraid to Fail At: This card highlights what you hope to achieve and what you are afraid that you might stumble and fall in this pursuit of hope. A really beneficial card in this position can show a few things including that you have a strong vision of what you hope to accomplish and/or that your energy is well aligned for the goal. A challenging card in this position can show that your vision is still unclear (including that you’re not dreaming big enough) or that your energy is too tangled up to proceed - clarity is needed first. You should still read this card, whether obviously beneficial or challenging, as teaching you something about your hopes and fears.
7. The Skill Which Steadies: This card highlights a particular skill, mindset, self-belief and/or gift that you have that will steady you on your path. Sometimes inverted beneficial cards in this position can highlight a skill you’re not even aware you possess. Challenging cards can teach us how we are denying or misusing a gift (we often misuse gifts not because we’re bad people but we have been forced to use it to survive by any means necessary).
8. The Allyship Card: This card shows you who your allies are and what you should be asking of them. Our dreams may exist at first only in our personal cosmos, but they are manifest in a galactic community. Learn how to ask for help, for insight and for feedback from those who love and support you.
9. Next Steps: This card suggests next steps to take. If you’re working specifically around an issue relating to a current or new business, consider bringing this card with you to seed a new spread like my Affirm + Manifest tarot spread for business.
Putting It All Together
Create sacred space and cast your cards in the way that you normally do. Read the Self cards first. Spend time connecting with the messages received about yourself or for the querent to have time to understand their meanings. Then read the Constellation cards. Usually, if this was a typical spread, you would be done reading the cards. But we’re not done yet.
For example, let’s take card number 4 - The Recent Past - and read it paired with the Mind card. Then read it paired with the Body card. Finally, read it paired with the Spirit card. So let’s say that you pulled the Eight of Wands for the Recent Past, the Four of Swords for the Mind, the Page of Cups for the Body, and the Queen of Wands for the Spirit card.
On its own the Eight of Wands represents a sudden surprise, energetic shift or similar out-of-nowhere style incident that has happened in the last few months. When read paired with the Four of Swords, it can tell us that this surprise event was mentally draining which is why the querent requires rest. The querent may or may not have realized that the event represented by the Eight of Wands had had such an effect on them. When paired with the Page of Cups there is an indication that the querent is in a learning phase of their life - they’ve become a student to the emotional responses in their body as related to the Eight of Wands. For the Spirit card, two Wands are meeting, representing fiery exchange between the past and the current spiritual and emotional state the querent finds themself in. The Queen of Wands is a powerfully creative spirit and makes me think that the event represented by the Eight of Wands holds potential for future creative endeavors. I get the feeling of a soul being forged by the fire of surprise and suddenness.
As you pair the Constellation cards with the Self cards, it is similar to zooming in and focusing on the energetic landscape of each particular point in your life. Here is how the past still holds us or how our future beckons us. Here is where we are afraid to shine and desperate to be seen. Here is where we trust what we know and where we doubt what we’re doing. All of the stories of the cards are found within us - I hope this process of constellating and shifting shapes helps each of us to realize this and to begin to speak our own stories with greater surety.
What are some of the ways that you read the cards that are different than those techniques you commonly see? Do you only read with jump cards? Or only read cards that you have purposefully chosen as opposed to randomly cast? Let me know in the comments.
Ready for more tarot? Check out all tarot spreads I’ve created.
However you read your cards I hope that your constellations shine brightly; that you befriend your very own north star; and that when you look up into your night sky it is filled with a million friendly lights of the world around you.
