The Bolognese Tarot tradition has several spreads for the couple. One that has been taught to me, and which I have also found is practiced by other Bolognese tarot readers, is the following:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| He | She | |||||
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
| 13 | 14 | 15 |
He and She are, of course, the King and Queen of Wands. However, we can explore the relationship between any two individuals. The cards above the two significators show what’s on their mind (1-2-3 his mind, 4-5-6 her mind, in this case).
The cards covering them (7-8-9 for him, 10-11-12 for her) are ambiguous. The way the method has been passed down to me, these cards show what’s going on with him and what’s going on with her, but I have found other readers (such as Rossella Giliberti) who say that these cards show what’s in his heart and what’s in her heart. Choose the variant you prefer, and remember that these are local methods, so there’s bound to be variations between one town and the other. The final three cards (13-14-15) show what’s happening to them as a couple in the near future, or if there is potential, or what connects them.
Another spread, which is found in Maria Luigia Ingallati’s book on the Bolognese Tarot (which I will review in the near future together with the few others that have been published). The layout is as follows:
| He | She | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 11 | 12 | 13 | ||
| 7 | 21 | 14 |
Here we have cards 1 through 7 talking about what’s going on with him, cards 8 through 14 telling us what’s going on with her, and finally the group in the center (15 through 21) talking about them as a couple. Another reader I know (Monica Barbieri) uses thirteen cards for each group instead of seven.
Another variant is found in Lia Celi’s out-of-print book on the 45-card method. This is the layout:
| He and She | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 – 8 | 9 | ||
| 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
| 13 – 14 | ||||
| 15 |
As can be seen, this is a pyramid spread. Here, cards 1, 2, 6, 7, 10 and 13 talk about him, cards 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 and 14 talk about her, and cards 3, 11 and 15 talk about them.
These methods are specific for analyzing two people’s interaction, but nothing prevents you from using a simpler spread, like the thirteen card spread. To be honest, that’s what I do. Still, this is an interesting bit of traditional lore about the Bolognese tarot.
MQS
