General Summary

First, the cards are laid down in a reverse S in order to depict the (winding) path that one takes, starting at 1 and ending at 9. The key cards to note are the “turning points”... basically where the path turns onto a new direction. These are cards 3+4 and 6+7. They will be very telling in terms of the motivation, causes, root of the problem, and why things are the way they are now.

The focus is card 5 at the center of the spread. The rest of the cards (1+2 and 8+9) will give you the basic idea of the journey- where it started and where it’s going, the past and the future if you will. In a sense, it can also be viewed as a cause and effect in conjunction with the cards at the “turning points”.

Below, I will first explain the position meanings and then move on to how the cards can be read as a whole or combined with each other for more info.

Breakdown of Layout

CARDS 1 and 2:
This is essentially the past. It is the beginning of the journey and gives background info about what’s been going on. I’ve found that how far it goes into the past is usually directly related with what prompted the reading if that makes any sense.

CARDS 3 and 4:
Together, these cards will be the root and the driving force of the entire reading. Card 3 speaks of the hopes and desires that is propelling the journey. Card 4 is the issue following and should be read in conjunction with Card 3. Look at it like yin and yang. Often times, Card 4 will reveal the goal, the results, or the effect that came about from Card 3. It can also be viewed as part past, part present, because it is the last of the turning point- the one that led to Card 5.

CARD 5:
This is the focus. Depending on the subject of the reading, it can be the YOU card or the one that tells you more about the main focus of the reading. It is generally where things or you stand NOW.

CARDS 6 and 7:
Together, these cards will represent the road block and the problems that one could come across in a journey. Card 6 reveals issues like fears regarding the situation being read about. Card 7 is the block following this issue and should be read in conjunction with Card 6. Sometimes, this will be like a cause and effect where the fears in Card 6 is what causes the block in Card 7. It can also be viewed as part present, part future, because it’s at the turning point leading to the final part of the spread.

CARDS 8 and 9:
This is the future and where the journey will head towards. Depending on what was revealed in Cards 3+4 and 6+7, the last two cards could also be an advice and sometimes even a warning. It is important to note that, for several reasons, this is not necessarily the final outcome. This spread is meant to decipher the path we’re on, how we had gotten here where we’re going. For that reason, Card 8 and 9 can sometimes be merely a reflection of that journey. Of course, if there are events that would play out and affect the journey in the future, it should say so here.

Combos and Flow of Reading

After reading the cards in their positions, you can get additional information by looking at card groupings and combinations. Here are a few general ideas:

• The middle column (2, 5, 8) is the core past, present, future relating to the issue while Card 1 and Card 9 can add onto the past and future as well.
• Cards 4 & 6 surrounding the center focus card is often key to understanding the real issue at hand when read in consideration of how they play off each other. Sometimes one could explain the other, etc. I often like to see them as 2 sides of the same coin- in this case, Card 5.
• Cards 3 & 7 at the corner turning points can generally give you a pretty good idea as to how in sync the hopes/dreams and the actual reality are. It’s a good way to assess where things really stand versus where you wanted it to be. Cards 4 and 6 would serve as additional support insight for this.
• Cards 1 & 9 is essentially the beginning and the “end”... I say that term very loosely as it isn’t supposed to be a final thing. View it like the beginning of another turning point if you will or a type of conclusion that would you down another new path. After all, isn’t that how life is? In any case, these 2 cards will sometimes reveal an interesting connection or correlation with each other

As you have probably already noticed, the cards in this spread can be read in pairs or in combination with each other to give detailed insight. In life, the different areas are interlinked too, whether it’s a feeling, a fear, a thought, or an event… ultimately becoming the force that moves our lives forward, like a chain of reaction, a journey. So taking the position meanings into consideration, you can do a lot of card combos, reflecting, cross-referencing, etc.

Final Notes

I hope that I have managed to explain the spread in an understandable way and that I didn’t scare anyone away with the lengthy explanations. It’s actually quite a simple spread! It’s just that it’s multi-layered and hence capable of being read in various ways to get lots of details. :)

I do want to add that this spread isn’t generally meant for “predicting” even if it does a fairly good job at telling you where things are headed. I see it more like the spread that will clear your path towards where you want and could be. For example, have you ever done a reading about the start of a new relationship where a lot of nice cards came up talking about the great potential… and while it may have started well, it fell apart somewhere along the way, never quite reaching that potential? Or perhaps you’ve been feeling frustrated and restless at work even though you thought it was the perfect job for you. What happened? This spread, in my experience, breaks that down for you.

And as explained up top about the “end” of the journey, the future cards should be viewed as another turning point. Sometimes we need to go through several turning points to reach the outcome, other times we might go through the turning points only to realize that somewhere in the journey we’ve changed our minds about where we want to be. In the event that knowing the “final outcome” is important somehow (and the cards aren’t clear for the future bits), you could always draw a few more cards or throw in a quick spread to detail the outcome. However, I’ve found that I usually have enough to chew on… the Journey spread just has this tendency to make me “face the music” and think about things for a bit. :p

Anyhow, if anyone tries this spread out at all (with the Tarot, Lenormand, playing cards, or any other oracle), please let me know how it turned out for you. I’d be very interested to know if it works just as well for others as it had for me.

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