Aeclectic Tarot Spreads
written by members of the Aeclectic Tarot Forum, edited by Alissa Hall.
Available for purchase and instant download at Aeclectic Tarot
About the Book
Why me to edit this book?
From 2003 until early 2005, I was a volunteer moderator at the Aeclectic Tarot website. During that time, one of the forums I moderated was the Tarot Spreads forum. As a former librarian, I have a keen interest in indexing and making information accessible to the public. For fun, I began to index the Tarot spreads forum, providing categories for users to choose from when searching for spreads. Until the creation of that index, the only way a user could find a spread was to search through hundreds of threads using a keyword search, and relying on personal memory of previous threads.
Fast forward to December 2006, there was a thread started by another AT member suggesting an eBook of Tarot Spreads, and I contacted Solandia and expressed my interest in compiling such a work. Providing examples of other eBooks I’ve created (primarily from my henna design work) she and I negotiated our contract, our work flow and deadlines, and the project officially began in February 2007 with the initial selection of spreads to be potentially included in the work.
Choosing spreads to be included
The index I started has been expertly maintained and added to by the moderator who took over the forum when I stepped down years ago (her logon is “Moonbow”). When going through the current index, I considered which categories were the most helpful as a Tarot reader, which ones were used most often either by a professional or personal reader. From this, the categories of : Love and Relationships, Career and Money, Spiritual Path, Family and Pets, Self Awareness, Creativity, General Outlook, Daily and Spreads for Tarot Readers were created.
Each spread to be potentially included had to be universal – it could not reference a specific religion (such as spreads for certain Pagan beliefs, etc.) nor holidays (secular or religious) as certain parts of the world may not observe these events. The only exception was Chronata’s “Chakra Cross” a variation on the Celtic Cross which references chakras, a Hindu belief system, but one which is observed by many countries and religious persuasions.
I also had to push myself to overcome personal bias in my preference for shorter spreads. Spreads in the book range from 3 cards, to 14 cards, in length.
Once selected for potential inclusion, there was a lengthy process of contacting each individual spread author to query their interest in the project, coordinate the contracts to them, and compile information to be included on their page.
What else beside the spreads were included
Each page also includes a “blurb” written by the spread author themselves, limited to 50 words or less. This was something I specifically wanted to do for the authors, since many spreads included some background or users’ information within the AT thread that would be lost in the eBook form. I felt it also helped to personalize each authors’ contribution to the book.
How were the authors chosen
I deliberately ignored the authors’ names until the time of contact, as some spreads were written by members who were less frequent contributors to the AT forum, and some were “regulars”. I sought every opportunity to keep this from being a “popularity” contest. Some authors have more than one spread within the book. This is due to the superior content of their spreads, the needs I had as an editor to meet my 40 spread minimum quota for the book, and the amount of authors who were able to respond in a timely manner with their interest in being a part of the project.
Some very good spreads were “lost” along the way due to the authors not receiving the query messages in time to make the deadline, and/or their lack of interest in being a part of the project. Regardless, the final product stands as a great example of collective works, and I’m proud to have been a part of its compilation.
The Look
I designed the card graphics, as well as the page layout, as editor and included some Dover clip art to most pages in order to frame the pages’ content, and to give the eBook itself an overall appeal to the eye. This artistic side of me was great fun to express, as well as the shaping of the textual layout, which is meant to flow with the cards’ spreads, all designed to be shown exactly as they would be laid out during usage (i.e. a spread shaped like a spiral is shown as a spiral in the book, of course).
Also, I chose to use bold text to highlight key words for each spread position, in order to help the reader use the eBook at a glance while reading their spreads.
Copyright protection
As a writer myself, I was passionate about drafting up a very complete (some might say Too Complete!) contract for each author to be a part of the project. While Solandia owns the copyright to the anthology, each author granted what are called “one time rights” for their contributions to the eBook. This ensures that each author owns the copyright to their work, and can publish and profit from their work in any way they see fit later in life. Ensuring each author retained their copyrights for their works was something I felt very strongly about helping them maintain, especially since many had never published a work prior to this eBook and were less familiar with copyright laws.
Alissa Hall
Alissa Hall first began reading Tarot over 20 years ago, and as an adult has dedicated years to learning more about various occult paths. In addition to Tarot, she also reads palms and runes, and offers her gift of karmic path (past life) advisement to her clientèle as well. Known to lecture on Tarot and palmistry, she last appeared in Las Vegas for a series of workshops and classes.
A devoted wordsmith, Alissa has published both short and long works of fiction and non-fiction on subjects ranging from Tarot to Tantra, self-help to storytelling.
A resident of New Mexico for over 2 decades, she lives in the mountains with her husband and son, and is currently expecting her second child.
Welcome to the Hermit’s Journey. My name is Bonnie Cehovet, and today we will be continuing on our journey through the symbols in the Major Arcana. As I noted in the first Pod Cast of this series, that of the Fool, the imagery and symbolism in the Tarot is what connects us to its archetypal qualities and wisdom. It acts as a gateway between our conscious and our unconscious worlds. Each deck carries with it its own unique brand of imagery and symbols. For the purposes of this discussion, I will be referring to the Waite-Smith Tarot (also known as the Rider-Waite Tarot), as it is a traditional reference, and quite often used for teaching purposes. Interpreting the imagery and symbols is done in two ways: through the intent of the author/illustrator (and here we need to remember that the background for the Rider-Waite deck is that of the Golden Dawn), and how the Seeker sees it through the veil of their own personal life experiences.
Let’s continue our journey through the symbols of the Star and the Moon. The major theme for the Star is that of that of intuition and understanding. We are reminded of the need to acknowledge our inner truth. With this card, we see the ability to renew ourselves spiritually.
The figure in this card is nude, indicating that she has nothing to hide.
She has one foot on land (the physical, material world), and one foot in the water (the world of the unconscious, and of Spirit). As the “water of life” is poured, it divides into five rivlets, representing the five senses.
A sacred Ibis, symbol of thought and mind, perches in the tree behind her.
An eight-pointed star (representing power and mental success) floats above her, symbolizing infinity. Seven smaller stars (also eight pointed) symbolize spiritual illumination. These seven stars also represent the seven chakras, and the seven ancient planets.
In this card, we see the Spirit of the Universe, and the Spirit within.
When the Star appears in a reading, the Seeker is being asked to clear/cleanse something in their situation. They need to let go of doubting themselves, and listen to their inner wisdom.
The theme for the Moon is that of cycles, intuition, and inner development. The Moon is also symbolic of the universal feminine principle.
A crayfish coming out of the water symbolizes our conscious growth. In “The Heart of the Tarot”, Sandra Thomson indicates that the crayfish must get past, or overcome, the dog and the wolf (which represent our domesticated self and our natural instincts).
The mountains represent spiritual awareness. The path between the towers represents the path into the unknown. The yods represent divine energy, and renewed inspiration.
The Moon has thirty-two rays – the Qabalistic number of the ten sephiroth combined with the twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life. It also is represented in all three of its phases, symbolizing body, mind, and spirit.
When the Moon appears in a reading, the Seeker may not be able to establish a rational response to their situation. Something from their past may be affecting their present, so they need to look at whether they are repeating a cycle or a pattern. Any fears that the Seeker has may be reflected in this card.Let’s continue our journey through the symbols of The Devil and The Tower. The major theme for The Devil is that of acknowledging the hidden parts of our personality – our shadow side. These are the forces behind how and why we imprison and limit ourselves.
Music Credits
Opening Music: The Oracle Speaks by William Wilde Zeitler from Elegy for Atlantis 
Hermits Journey Music: Dark Moon by Suzanne Teng from Enchanted Wind (Magnatune)
Closing Music: Inspiral by Hands Upon Black Earth from Hands Upon Black Earth (Magnatune)
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