22-Card Tableau: A Tarot Adventure!

 I saw this intimidating-yet-intriguing-looking spread on Jack of Wands’s blog and I just had to try it because it’s the largest spread I’ve encountered on my Tarot journey so far and I had “I like big spreads and I cannot lie” thrashing around in my head as I took notes from Jack’s blog to start my 22-Card adventure!

As I posted the above photo on Instagram, user @jammi.wammi pointed out it’s kind of like a Lenormand Grand Tableau.  I’m not too familiar with Lenormand but I have seen Tableau cloths and layouts and that’s about as far as I’ll go because I can only handle one card system at a time, please!

The cards are laid out as such: 1 card represents The Fool / Significator and is put off to the side.  The remaining cards are laid out in 3 rows of 7 to represent each card in the Major Arcana.  Since I’m still messing around with card meanings and numbers with my Majors (Courts are another story…), this was surprisingly helpful since each position has an assigned place and numerical value.  So Row 1 consists of cards 1 (The Magician) – 7 (The Chariot), Row 2 consists of cards 8 (Strength) – 14 (Temperance) and Row 3 consists of cards 15 (The Devil) – 21 (The World).  Simple!

The hard part is the counting.  I checked out Jack’s techniques and decided that counting the cards at face value is best.  That means using the numbers on the actual cards themselves.  For the Court Cards, I numbered them as you normally would: Pages = 11, Knights = 12, Queens = 13 and Kings = 14.  Simple again, right?!

So my notes consisted of the following:

• 0 The Fool (Significator) –> Two of Coins
• 2 The High Priestess –> Five of Cups
• 7 The Chariot –> Knight of Wands (12)
• 18 The Moon –> Two of Wands
• 20 Judgment –> IV The Emperor
• 3 The Empress –> Nine of Swords
• 12 The Hanged Man –> Ten of Wands
• 1 The Magician –> Six of Coins

When I counted from the Six of Coins, it led me back to the Knight of Wands, which was already turned over so that’s where the card-pulling ends and the Phase 2 of the fun begins!

You read the extra Fool card as your Significator.  In this reading, I did a general theme for myself, which may or may not have been the best idea but I had fun anyways!  So what you end up doing is reading the energies of the card pairs.  I had a bit of a time with this because I think I was trying to put too much meaning behind the the pairs – which isn’t a bad thing!  It wasn’t until I was writing out my notes on Judgment + IV The Emperor that I came up with my own little ditty on how to read the pairs in a way I could handle a little better.  I wrote mantras and/or one – two sentence descriptions or bullet points for each pair.

The Fool + Two of Coins: “I can easily achieve balance on this new journey; I don’t need to juggle too many things.”

The High Priestess + Five of Cups: “Past secrets and regrets can be mourned but at some point, we must move on.”

The Chariot + Knight of Wands: “With enthusiasm (and a positive outlook), I can overcome obstacles.”

The Moon + Two of Wands: “It is time for my choices to come out from the shadows so that I can make a proper decision.”

Judgment + The Emperor: “I am Divinely protected and in control of this transformative journey.”

The Empress + Nine of Swords: “My overwhelming thoughts and feelings are soothed by the healing energies of Mother Nature.”

The Hanged Man + Ten of Wands: “Change your perspective when you feel as though you’ve taken on to much.”  **This one should probably be re-worded…

The Magician + Six of Coins: “Continue sharing your knowledge and you will gain so much more in return!”

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Would you give this spread a try?  Yes?  No?  Maybe?  I know it looks intimidating but it’s actually a lot of fun!  I think I tried to over-think the card counting but it all worked out in the end.

Let me know if you try this spread and thanks to Jack of Wands for sharing it!