Three Card Tarot Spread: Past, Present, Future

Past, present and future

The three card spread is the most used layout in tarot. The first card you pick speaks about what brought you here; the second, about where you stand now; the third, about what you will find if you stay on this path. Each card is read in its position: the same card does not say the same thing in the past as in the future.

Reading the three cards together

Reading each card matters; reading the relationship between them matters just as much. If two or three are Major Arcana, the matter is a chapter that will leave a mark. If several belong to the same suit, that suit sets the tone: Cups, feelings; Wands, work and projects; Swords, decisions and conflict; Pentacles, money.

A sample reading

Say the past shows Three of Swords, the presentTemperance and the future The Star. The Three of Swords speaks of a wound or a breakup that already happened. Temperance shows that today the wound is closing little by little, that you have found your balance and stepped away from extremes. And the Star brings hope, renewal, and the will to trust again. Read together, the three tell a story of healing: the pain is behind you, you have put yourself back together with patience, and the road is opening.

When to pick three cards

When you want to see where a relationship, a job, or a decision came from and where it is headed. If you want a short answer to one question, the card of the day or theyes or no tarot will serve you better. If the worry is about your relationship, the love tarot reads three cards with only that in mind; if you would rather check several areas at once, try love, money and health; and for a question with many layers, the ten-card Celtic Cross.