Following up on my previous post about the “bed sheet” spread with the Bologna tarot, I wanted to cover another full-deck spread: la scala, i.e., the staircase spread. You could also call it a pyramid spread, but I’ve never heard it being referred to as ‘pyramid’, possibly because pyramids were quite outside of the daily experience of the old ladies of Bologna. Here is the layout:

Note that this spread is intended for a 45-card deck. If you use a 50-card deck you’ll have five cards left over that you can put to the side as describing something imminent or something that is outside of the querent’s life (your choice).

The principles for interpreting this spread are the same as with the previous one: we look at the angles, then we locate the significator (Queen of Wands for a woman, King of Wands for a man). Generally speaking, anything above or before the significator shows the past, and anything after or under it shows the future, but we need to be flexible: sometimes we can just read the full column or row of the significator as a single sentence.

Furthermore, while the angles are important, we must not forcefully insert them into the reading: if they seem meaningful we can look at them, if they don’t, we can ignore them. Sometimes their significance becomes clear as the reading progresses.

Finally, we can look at the cards forming the outer diagonal side of the triangle as giving us one or more predictions concerning the future. In this case, the cards are read from the bottom to the top, walking up the stairs as it were.

In this case, let us suppose we are reading for a man. The angles of the spread are formed by Temperance, the Moor and the World. The cards are not especially clear. Let us move on for now. The King of Wands is found in the fourth column and third row. The row is quite negative: Justice is in the dark (Moon) causing suffering (Eight of Swords) at home (Ace of Cups) and confusion (Fool) that requires an expert (King of Coins). This could relate to something legal or bureaucratic.

In his column we find that there are messages and talks (Page of Swords, Page of Coins) with a woman who is close to him (Queen of Cups) and these communications are sad (Seven of Coins) but will be required to clarify some things (Queen of Coins).

Note that not everything we read in this spread must necessarily be connected to everything else, since this spread is supposed to be general. However, in this case we find that the querent’s card is close to the house card and the conversations happen with a family woman, so we can guess that the two things are related. Looking back at the angles, they cound indicate that this situation is requiring unexpected journeys.

Now let us look at the diagonal: the World and the Juggler could indicate a small trip or, considering the Ace of Wands is next to the Juggler, it might refer to hearing about a pregnancy. The Love card would confirm the joyful occasion. If we connect these cards, together with the Queen of Coins and the Strength card, to the issues we’ve seen relating the family, it could show the solution coming after a bit of uncertainty.

Considering the final cards on the stair, namely the King of Coins and the Chariot with the Moor, it could indicate an unexpected need to see a doctor (Chariot = sick bed, King of Coins = important man).

MQS