Getting to know your deck: Deck Interview Spread

As part of my deck review process I always conduct a deck interview. For this I use a 9-card spread laid out in a diamond pattern. I find this shape works well because it provides multiple pathways and connections. If that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry, I’ll explain what I mean soon.

Before I go on though, I do want to point out that no, I don’t believe that just because I have a “type of readings” position that I can only use the deck for the type of reading suggested. Not at all. But what I have found is decks that I initially considered in one way, have proven to be very effective when used in the way the interview suggests.

Also, I believe how we connect with our decks can change over time and therefore so could the interview answers. That being said, I have not made a point of reinterviewing decks. I use this process purely as my initial introduction and I find it tells me just as much about myself as it does about the deck.

The Layout of the Deck Interview Spread

The questions I ask are fairly straightforward but I find they give me a good overview of the deck. I find that, even though some of these questions feel similar, when taken together they add nuance to my understanding and how I see and connect with the cards.

Some people aren’t a fan of deck interviews but I find they serve me well. They allow me to get to know the cards I am going to be working with. I get a feel for how they speak to me before I start asking them questions I am personally invested in. Plus, as someone who writes reviews I often share some of the insights I glean from the interviews. The cards quite often have a lot to say about themselves and I feel that during the interviews some messages come through that are intended for a broader audience.

A Sample Deck Interview Spread

Normally when I offer a sample spread I provide a breakdown of how I interpret the reading. However, since I believe that the deck interview is a way for you to get to know your deck on a personal level, in this instance, I don’t feel that is the right approach. Instead I’m going to share some of the ways I explore the spread.

The questions suggest reading the cards in isolation, but if you have read much of my work, you will know that I believe the power of the cards is in the stories they share. These are some of the ways I look to extract more information. This is mainly in regards to the “message” but I will use some of these approaches if a particular card baffles me as well. To date I have never drawn clarifiers when working with this spread.

Summary of cards drawn

1. Describe yourself : XIX The Sun
2. Strengths: 8 of Cups
3. Limitations: Knight of Swords
4. Connection: 10 of Pentacles
5. Teach me: Page of Cups
6. Readings: Knight of Cups
7. Help: XV The Devil
8. Potential: 10 of Swords
9. Message: II High Priestess

My Approach

This is by no means exhaustive. After I have looked at the individual “answers” to the questions I look at the spread as a whole. This is actually the complete opposite to how I normally approach a spread. That’s because this spread asks a series of questions rather than focusing in on an individual question/situation. Although, as I return to this post today, I have to say during a deck interview I did last night I focused on the overall message first. That’s because there were six Major Arcana cards clumped together. So, no, nothing is fixed. Sometimes you just have to go where the conversation takes you.

Anyhow back to what I usually do with this spread. As always I look for: prominent colours; which way the people/animals are facing; and repeat numbers, suits and artistic/symbolic inclusions. With this layout I also consider the rows in all directions. That is to say that I look at the cards in positions 1-2-4 and 4-2-1 to unpack the full story. This creates twenty-four diagonal rows. I don’t spend a lot of time on each unless something really stands out or if a strong repeat occurs in the row. I am always looking to see how the cards are speaking to each other.

For example, in the sample spread, reproduced larger below, the 8 of Cups is walking away from XIX The Sun and heading towards the moon. Rather than focusing on, and physically creating an external legacy, 10 of Pentacles, she seems more focused on the Page of Cups and her original vision. This appears linked to II The High Priestess because that’s where the moon appears again. Also, note that the woman on the 8 of Cups and II The High Priestess have the same hair colour. There’s something about the ragged purple on the 10 of Pentacles and the 10 of Swords matching the colour of her dress too. Rather than trying to fashion something to change a bad situation, walk away, even if, as XIX The Sun suggests, it seems good. You know if it aligns with your true vision.

Other times it really helps me to make sense of a card that may seem “negative”. For example 10 of Swords in the “potential” position. Considering rows 1-3-8 and 9-7-8 in both directions sends a powerful message. It suggests the potential exists for things that aren’t serving me to come to an end if I change my approach. When I then look at 8-6-4 another dimension comes to the fore.

Also, following a Lenormand-based approach I look at the square, cards 2-3-5-7, and the diamond, cards 1-4-9-8. And, in keeping with how I consider the cross in the Celtic Cross, I look at the horizontal row, 4-6-8 as a time line and the vertical row, 1-6-9, as the spiritual line from unconscious/basis through to intention.

As you can see there are many possibilities and a lot of information can be extracted from this spread. You can also use it to directly interview yourself. Often I find it naturally serves this purpose. It is as if the deck and I are interviewing each other.

So that’s pretty much my process. I really enjoy working with this spread. It has served me well for years. One thing I want to reiterate is that this is a personal process. Your cards will speak to you in your way. How I connect with a particular deck could well be very different to how you do. And, I believe that’s how it should be.

The deck interview I mentioned earlier is for the next deck I will be reviewing – The Sacred She Tarot. While the presence of so many Major Arcana obviously stood out, it was the Minor cards that ultimately caught my attention. Three of the four, had appeared in a personal reading I’d done that morning using the same deck . That is the potential and the power of tarot. These cards weren’t going to let me dismiss the message in a hurry. As anyone that works regularly with tarot knows, this isn’t a rare or random occurrence. But, I’m encroaching on a whole new topic here so I’ll stop there.

If you’d like to discuss anything to do with this spread or to share your approach to deck interviews or your opinion on them, I’d love to hear from you. You can send me an email by clicking here or you can comment below. If you give this deck interview spread a try let me know how you found it and if you made any modifications.

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Featured decks

Smith-Waite Tarot Deck Centennial Edition (pocket sized tin) published by US Games Systems Inc in 2015.

Universal Celtic Tarot created by Floreana Nativo & Cristina Scagliotti (illustrator) and published by Lo Scarabeo, 2019