The Thirteen Card Tableau Spread

The spread used for this reading is a spread of thirteen cards that I’ve learned from the person who’s teaching me to read the Bologna Tarot, and it is typical of that tradition. It is a small tableau of cards that is generally used to explore a single issue (though nothing forbids you to use it for general readings.)

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9
10	11	12
	13

There are several traditions varying from town to town. According to one, the cards are to be read in columns only, with one indicating the past, one the present and another one the future. My teacher however reads them primarily in rows, though sometimes columns can be read too, and usually, the central column holds some importance. More often than not, the last card is especially important because it will either contain a general answer or give you an important detail, or determining factor.

Although this spread is especially linked to the Northern Italian tarot tradition, I’ve seen it used with regional playing cards as well, and I don’t think there is any reason why it wouldn’t work with any deck tradition you practice. I will certainly use it with the Sibilla as well, one of these days.

Will She Learn to Love Herself?

The querent in this case is an acquaintance of mine, but the question was not about her, but rather about her sister. The question was “Will she learn to love herself?” and it came with no further detail. This is fine, as often when a querent feels the need to talk there is a risk that they end up feeding me their perspective. So here are the cards that came out:

Right off the bat, we notice that the significator for the querent (the Queen of Clubs) is present, so since this is a tableau we might as well look at the cards surrounding it. She has the Jack of Hearts, the Queen of Spades and the Eight of Spades above her. These cards could mean a number of things, such as problems with a daughter or problems with an immature woman, or problems in the person’s childhood. Let’s file all this away and move on.

Next to the Queen of Clubs we have the Nine of Clubs and the Six of Clubs, which represent long-term toil and struggle. Clearly, whatever this is, it is not something that is going away soon. But the spread ends with the Nine of Hearts which indicates triumph. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Technically, we already have our answer: the querent’s sister will struggle with self-love a long time, but she will improve. But the cards tell us more. Let’s turn to the first row, where we find the Queen of Hearts hemmed in by Spades. There is some kind of blockage or problem (Four of Spades) that causes the shedding of tears (Eight of Spades) relating to a woman (the Queen of Hearts).

Usually, the Queen of Hearts is either a relative or someone with our best interest at heart. In this case, though, she is strongly afflicted by the Spades. So I asked the querent if the issue relates to the sister’s poor relationship with her mother or another female figure close to her that impacted her self-love negatively. The querent confirmed that their mother was a raging alcoholic who worked overtime to tear them down when they were little. Note how the cards highlight the cause of the sister’s suffering by placing it right on top of the spread!

Right underneath we have the Queen of Spades, the Four of Clubs and the Five of Diamonds. This line was a little cryptic, and I must confess I did rely a little bit on my intuition, but the interpretation was still logical. There is a woman of spades who is saying words (Four of Clubs) that cause change (Five of Diamonds). Who is this woman? Usually the Spade suit is problematic, but it can also indicate certain professional figures (doctors, military figures, judges, etc.) It stood to reason that this figure could be a female therapist that is helping the sister. I asked and the querent confirmed to me that the sister is seeing a female psychologist who “means business but is very competent” (Spades).

The line just above the querent contains the Jack of Hearts, the Six of Hearts and the Three of Spades. This time I felt confident interpreting the Jack of Hearts as the sister’s “inner child” or, to avoid woo woo terminology, it represents the issues accumulated since childhood. The Six of Hearts talks about healing, and the Three of Spades indicates intrigue, but also in the metaphorical sense of a knot, something that needs to be unravelled or clarified. For the time being, therefore, the sister’s issue will persist, but the final Nine of Hearts is promising.

MQS