Tarot Spread: Working Together

A spread for working with the 3 of Pentacles

One of the things that you learn from working with multiple systems of tarot, or divination more broadly, is that there’s always more to understand than you might have learned from just one system. For example, in the Smith-Waite decks, the 3 of Pentacles is a card of collaboration, learning a trade from others, or feedback. But in Thoth decks, the 3 of Disks is titled Works, a shortened form of Material Works, and is less about the coming together of people for a cause than it is about the realization of an idea through physical labor: it’s business and work.

Spread using the Green Glyphs Tarot by James R. Eads

Through the astrological lens of Thoth and the Golden Dawn, the 3 of PentaCoins is Mars (active energy) coming to do the work imagined by Capricorn, the architect of the zodiac. The builder planet and the architect sign can really make something together here. That said, both can be harsh, and the tangible result will often be more important than the experience.

In a numerology-informed suit-based/elemental analysis, these make sense because the 3 of Coins may be about the use of money (or matter) to make more money (or matter). It’s material form coming into being, an earthy expansion from line to shape. It’s three-dimensional reality.

And in the context of historical reality, it makes sense that labor would be inherently communal. The idea of working from home or completing a passion project by your lonesome would make no sense. Work was for most of human history inherently communal. You couldn’t survive trying to do it all alone. And you probably can’t now either, even if that seems to be the dream of some Hermit folx.

All that goes into this little 3 of Pentacles spread.

This spread is inspired by one of tarot’s minor arcana, but you can use it as an oracle spread as easily as a tarot spread. It’s just a layout for divination and reflection, right? Use whatever tools you want, even just your own brain and a journal if you want.

Foundation: What idea is ready to be brought into reality?

Form: What shape will this idea ultimately take?

Support: How am I supported by others in bringing this into physical form?

Forge: What will energize us and keep us all focused on the outcome?

Flourish: What is my unique contribution to the collaboration?

Yes, I could have called the Support a Frame for 5Fs, but I feel like that probably has some awkward association with which I’m not familiar, so I’m saving myself from giving too many Fs.

Want help creating your own layouts?

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