This in-depth eight-card layout shows various aspects of your personal journey. It is good for exploring generalised personal questions, but can also be used to explore relationships if the couple is viewed as a whole.
This spread progresses through eight stages similar to the tarot deck's Major Arcana, beginning with birth and the realm of fertility. After birth comes the initial growth which leads to a period of adaptation, change, and re-balancing oneself. Once the process has grown enough, security comes into focus, as it is necessary to protect what has been earned. After this, once again growth is important, but concerning the mind and creativitity this time, leading to another phase of personal changes. Finally upon completion of the journey, the rewards become evident, and beyond that, one's spiritual development level will have noticeably risen.
| Matters of Completion, Rewards and Luck.  6 of Wands |
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Matters of Change and Metamorphosis. 10 of Wands |
Matters of Inner Strength and Spiritual Guidance. 10 of Swords |
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Matters of Learning, Art and Creativity. The Empress |
Matters of Beginnings, fertility and birth. 7 of Wands |
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Matters of Protection and Defense. 5 of Wands |
Matters of Growth, Flow and Energy. The Hanged Man |
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Matters of Changes, Polarities and Balance. Justice |
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Matters of Beginnings, fertility and birth.
A young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves are raised towards him from below.
Upright Meaning:
Valour, discussion, wordy strife, negotiations, war of trade, barter, competition. It is further a card of success, for the combatant is on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him.
A man hangs upside down from the Tau cross. This is a card of self-sacrifice and enlightenment.
Reversed Meaning:
Selfishness, the crowd, politics, corruption, self-deception, misunderstanding, ignorance, denseness, blindness.
A female judge holds the sword of Justice in her right hand and the scales of Justice in her left. This is symbolic of fairness and the knowledge of the law, as well as the power to execute judgement.
Reversed Meaning:
Legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity, conspiracy, mind games, prejudice, intolerance, discrimination.
A posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare.
Upright Meaning:
Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, strenuous competition, struggle, the search for fame and fortune, gold, gain, opulence.
Seated on her throne, the Empress holds up the golden sceptre. She represents the archetypal female.
Upright Meaning:
Fertility, pregnancy, motherly instincts, fruitfulness, compassion, diplomacy, public rejoicings, jubilation.
A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.
Upright Meaning:
Fortune, gain, success, false-seeming, disguise, perfidy. The rods that he carries may be bad news to the place he brings them. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows.
A laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side.
Upright Meaning:
A victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King's courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth.
A murder victim, pierced by ten swords showing the act of excessive force.
Reversed Meaning:
Advantage, profit, success, favour, power, authority, triumph over your enemies.