Tarot spreads | Orivana

What this tool does not do

This tool shuffles and deals. It does not predict, and it knows nothing about you. The spread is decided by a random number, and the link you can copy reproduces that same draw rather than a new one, which is the only sense in which any of it is fixed.

What a reading is useful for is structure: a fixed set of positions to think a question through against. The cards supply the prompts. You supply everything else.

Questions people ask

Is this really free, and is anything stored?

Yes, and no. The draw happens in your browser. The question box never leaves the page, nothing is written to an account, and there is no sign-up.

Why do the same cards come back when I reload the link?

The spread is generated from a number that goes into the URL. Sharing the link shares that number, so whoever opens it sees the draw you saw rather than a fresh one. Press Draw again for a new number.

Should I include reversed cards?

It is a preference, not a rule. Waite's own book gives reversed meanings, but plenty of readers work upright only and take difficulty from the surrounding cards instead. Try both and keep whichever produces readings you can actually use.

Can a three-card spread answer a yes or no question?

Not honestly. Counting cards as votes turns a set of images into a coin toss with extra steps. The yes-or-no spread here exists because people look for it, and its own page says the same thing at more length.

Which deck are these images from?

The 1909 Waite-Smith deck, drawn by Pamela Colman Smith to Arthur Waite's brief. Those scans are in the public domain. Later recoloured editions are not, so they are not used here.

What is a good first spread?

One card. It gives you nothing to hide behind: no narrative assembled out of three images, and no position that quietly explains away a card you did not like.