The Starveil Sanctuary
Past, Present, Future Tarot Spread
Let the world grow quiet. Bring a question, and discover a different perspective.
Selene, keeper of the cardsTake your time. I will keep the light.
78 ✦ A conversation with yourself
The most widely used three-card layout. It reads a situation as a story over time, and its future card is a tendency of the present course: change the present and the future card changes with it.
The positions
- PastWhat led here: the experience or choice the situation grew out of.
- PresentWhere it stands: what is most alive in the situation right now.
- FutureWhere it tends: the likely direction if things continue as they are.
When to use it
- understanding how a situation came about
- looking back on a relationship, a job or a year
- checking where the current course is heading
Questions to ask
- How did this friendship get to where it is?
- Where is my career heading if I keep going like this?
- What is this year asking me to learn?
How to read it
Read the three cards as one sentence, past to future. Where does the story turn? Often the present card is the hinge.
Repeated suits show the dominant area: wands for drive, cups for feelings, swords for thoughts and conflict, pentacles for practical life.
Questions and answers
- Is the future card fixed?
- No. It shows where the present tends; a different choice now gives a different direction.
- How far into the future does it look?
- As far as your question does. Naming a time frame in the question ("in the next three months") makes the card easier to read.
- What if the past card doesn't fit?
- Look further back, or at a feeling rather than an event: the past card often names something that was felt but never said.
Other spreads
- Card of the day1 card · Today's cardGood for drawing one card each day, a small reminder or something to carry through today
- Three-card guidance3 cards · Situation · Challenge · AdviceGood for most questions: where you stand, what is in the way, a next step
- Relationship5 cards · You · The other person · Between you · Challenge · DirectionGood for love, friendship, family or work: both sides and what lies between you
- Two paths5 cards · Where you stand · Option A · Where A leads · Option B · Where B leadsGood for a choice between two options. Name A and B in your question
- Celtic Cross10 cards · Present · Crossing · Crown · Foundation · Recent past · Near future · Yourself · Surroundings · Hopes and fears · Where it leadsGood for a big, many-sided question: the whole picture, from its roots to where it leads. Ten cards, so it takes a little longer
The 78 cards
Every card has its own page: the art, the symbols, upright and reversed meanings for love, work and inner life.