Career tarot spread
A career tarot spread looks at where you stand at work and what to do next. This one uses five cards: where you stand, what you bring, what holds you back, the next step and where it tends to lead. It suits a job offer, a change of direction or a project that has stalled.
What each card means in this spread
- Where you stand. Your real position today: how the work feels and how others see it.
- What you bring. The strength this situation is asking for, which you may be underusing.
- What holds you back. An outside limit or a habit of your own, and the card usually tells you which.
- The next step. One thing to do now, sized so you can begin it this week.
- Where it leads. The direction this step tends to open, read as somewhere you can still steer.
When to use it
Use it when you are weighing up a job, when you feel stuck in one, or when a project needs a push and you can't see where. Ask about one situation at a time. A question about your whole working life is too large for five cards.
Ask an open question, such as what you should understand about this role, and leave out the question of whether you should take it. The answer to that is yours, and this spread is there to show you what you are weighing.
Questions that suit this spread
- What should I understand about this job offer?
- Why does this project keep stalling?
- What does my next step at work look like?
A worked example
This is a draw made the way the form makes one, for the question: "Why does this project keep stalling?"
- Where you stand: Page of Pentacles. At work, learning a new skill or starting at the beginning of a path.
- What you bring: Two of Cups. At work, a good partnership or collaboration based on trust.
- What holds you back: Five of Cups. The Five of Cups looks down at three spilled cups, not yet seeing the two still standing behind. It is the card of loss and regret. It asks you to honour the disappointment and, when you are ready, to notice what remains.
- The next step: Three of Pentacles. Ask for input from someone whose skill you respect.
- Where it leads: Knight of Cups. At work, creative proposals and work that follows your values.
How to read it
Start with What holds you back, since it is the card you are most likely to skim. Pentacles there often point to something practical, such as pay or time. Swords point to a worry or a belief you could question. Cups point to how you feel about the people involved, and wands point to running low on drive.
The next step should read as something you could do on Monday. If you can't translate the card into an action, try saying it as a sentence that starts with "this week I will". The last card only makes sense in the light of that step.
The cards are read in the same words as our card pages, from the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. Each draw comes from a hash of the day and your question, so asking the same thing on the same day gives the same cards.