Community tarot spreads center around the theme of giving advice about our local and online communities. We often don’t consider the relationship we have with society because it is usually abstract to us.
But we can see how it affects our lives in indirect ways through the interactions we have ad how they make us feel.
These spreads help us see our place in the world. They guide us to analyze our purpose in life and how it pertains to our communities in general. In this article we have collected our favorite community spreads for you to explore.
How To Use A Community Tarot Spread
Using a community tarot spread is comparable in action to reading other types of spreads. We clear our minds, shuffle the cards and ask each question whilst placing the card facedown where indicated in the spread.
However where community spreads can differ from others is in the interpretation of the cards themselves.
Whenever we ask tarot questions about other people there are a few small but vital changes to the meanings of all Court cards and some of the Major Arcana cards that we should consider in these readings.
Court Cards In Community Readings
Court cards (Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings of each suit) take on a few additional meanings when discussing Communities because in tarot readings they generally represent specific people in our lives.
Though their genders may not match the real-life people. Instead we carefully consider the attributes of the specific court card only. However a community by nature is a collection of people rather than one specific person.
So in this case when a reader receives a court card in community readings it represents the entirety of this community. We should understand that the attributes of the card refer to a general sense of the attributes mostly expressed or held by the community.
Major Arcana Cards In Community Spreads
The final type of cards that change slightly in community spreads are some of the Major Arcana cards. They take on archetypical figures of the community and how they interact together and with us.
If we see more than one of these cards together in a reading it can be highlighting that particular connection between the real people they represent.
For example to see both The Fool and The Hierophant in the same community spread could suggest the interactions between the youth of the community and the teachers or wise people. The distinction is subtle but important: it’s the interaction itself not the people.
- The Fool represents young people in the community. The literal young and people requiring care, education, health and support.
- The High Priestess and The Magician signify the past history of the community like our ancestors in general.
- The Empress and The Emperor can suggest the parents, guardians or middle generation. Those with elders to look up to and with young people to care for.
- The Hierophant can symbolize our teachers or those who guide us in formal and other forms of education.
- The Lovers can portray our very close family like our romantic partners, those we live with and the immediate relatives to us.
- The Hermit often signifies our distant relatives or people who have moved away or have a more distanced connection to the community. It can also suggest our actions of abandoning a negative or toxic community.
- Death can represent the deceased members of the community. It also sometimes expresses a grieving or lack of community and feeling lonely.
- Judgment and The World often signify our community or society in general but on a very large scale. Judgment focuses more on the tangible small scale communities we interact with regularly and The World represents the global population or faceless society.
1. Who Are My People? Community Tarot Spread
Throughout our lives we grow and change mentally and emotionally many times. This means we can often outgrow the groups, societies and communities we used to participate in.
When this happens we often feel separated and lost. This spread highlights the values and morals we hold and provides steps to finding a new community that supports who we are now.
- What do I value most and what are my core principles?
- Do my current communities value and share these qualities?
- Is there a way I could still relate to this community on a different level?
- Has my community become toxic or negative or have I just outgrown it?
- What am I hoping to receive from a community?
2. My Role In The Community Tarot Spread
This spread allows us to clearly see our strengths and weaknesses. It then guides us to finding true purpose in life via our role or the service we provide within/to our community.
- Which skills and talents do I have at my disposal?
- What knowledge or experience have I acquired that I could pass on?
- What am I truly passionate about and how can I express this within my community?
- What do I notice a lack of in the world that I have the capacity to fill/deliver?
- When people come to me how do I instinctively want to help others?
- What service or role utilizes the skills, knowledge and attributes mentioned above?
- How do I prepare to move into/manifest this role?
3. Accepting Community Support Tarot Spread
We all know that a community is a collective of people working together to harness a better life for all. But it can be very hard to let down our guard and lean on the community when we need support during hard times.
This spread gives us the courage we need to speak up and ask for help.
- Do I notice feelings of guilt or like I am burden if I ask for help?
- What is the root cause of these feelings?
- How can I process them so they no longer affect me?
- How can I validate my contributions to the community so I feel better able to reach out for help?
- How can I gain the courage I need to speak up?
- Who specifically in the community can I turn to with this?
