Today we’ll talk about eight card tarot spreads – what they mean and how to read them.
If you are a tarot beginner, the best thing you should do is start by practicing pulling a card a day so you can get to know yourself and the cards. Then you will work on expanding your tarot skills by doing three-card readings, and eventually, you will be able to develop your skills further by pulling more cards. You also want to do so consistently and become excellent at reading tarot.
The more cards you add to a spread, the deeper the reading will become. You already know how to do five, six, and seven-card tarot readings. The seven-card tarot reading, usually the shape of a horseshoe, is more complex than a five-card tarot reading.
Now, why not challenge yourself to learn some eight-card tarot spreads?
How The Eight Card Tarot Spread Is Different From The Others
The eight-card tarot spread is not meant for beginners, as you need to be a lot more well-versed in tarot before attempting to try these spreads. Anything larger than six cards in a tarot spread can be complex, so the eight-card tarot spread differs from spreads involving fewer cards because they reveal profound answers and outcomes. There are eight-card tarot spreads involving your relationships, life purpose, and path; there is even a past, present, and future eight-card tarot spread.
These eight-card tarot spreads can be laid out in a way that is easier for you to remember. On the top, you will lay the cards out from one to four, going from left to right, and at the bottom, the cards five to eight will be beneath cards one to four.
Let’s start with the past, present, and future eight-card spread and take a good look at that.
Past, Present, Future Eight Card Tarot Spread
The past, present, future, eight-card tarot spread is much different from the past, present, future three-card spread. Let’s go over this now. The first card will not be past but will indicate the theme of the issue you are looking at. The second card will represent the past, and the third card will represent the present.
Then the fourth card represents the future. When you look at the fifth card represents the best course of action, whereas the sixth card represents the influences. The seventh card indicates your hopes and fears, and the eighth represents the outcome. Therefore, this is a good one for you if you look at a past, present, and future tarot spread that contains much more profound insight than the three-card spread.
Now, let’s go over the relationship eight-card spread.
Relationship Eight Card Spread
Here is an eight-card tarot spread that can help you understand your partner in your relationship. If you are wondering what your partner is thinking about their relationship with you, this spread will give you the insight you need. Card one represents your partner and how they feel about themselves. Card two represents your partner’s view on your relationship with them.
Then card three represents your partner’s needs and desires. Card four represents your partner’s leading quality that they show in the relationship. Card five represents how your relationship makes the partner feel.
Card six shows your partner’s actions and how they influence the relationship. Then card seven shows the foundation of your relationship and how your partner contributed to it. And finally, card eight shows the challenges that are affecting the relationship. Therefore, with this spread, you will gain a lot of insight into how healthy your relationship is and how your partner truly feels. Finally, I will show an eight-card spread that can help you become the best version of yourself.
The Eight Card Tarot Spread Representing Your Soul
Here is a spread that can give you insight into improving yourself, which is a highly spiritual spread. Card one represents your soul and describes it. The second card indicates how you can keep your thoughts quiet. The third card shows how you can trust your intuition better than you do. Then the fourth card suggests how you can express your truth, and the fifth represents anything you need to accept.
The sixth card represents anything you need to embrace. Card seven shows how you can become the best version of yourself, and finally, the eighth card shows what your soul is trying to tell you.
That spread is one of the most spiritual, perfect for doing shadow work. Now, let’s go on to doing a sample reading, and let’s do this particular eight-card spread that represents your soul.
Sample Eight Card Tarot Spread
Let’s go over a profound example of the eight-card tarot spread resulting your soul. The querent had a difficult childhood and is leaning a lot towards spirituality. Their childhood type was a lot of strictness as they grew up in a very religious home and would suffer dire consequences if they did not obey their parents.
To make matters worse, they experienced a lot of bullying in school, which caused them to suffer as they face trauma today. The querent also suffered devastating losses in adulthood, including a good friend. Therefore, the querent struggles with mental health issues and feels very imbalanced.
They are also working at low-paying jobs because they don’t feel they are deserving of anything better. As a result, they are unhappy with the job, as they know deep within that they are meant to do something much more meaningful in life.
You can see that the querent had a traumatic past and is suffering from low self-esteem but is ready to do shadow work to see how they can heal from their trauma so they can go after their calling, which is finding the spiritual belief that fits them, and also the line of work that fulfills them. So let’s do the soul spread now:
Card one represents your soul and describes it, and the Eight of Wands shows up.
Card two indicates how you can keep your thoughts quiet, which the Knight of Cups shows.
Card three shows how you can trust your intuition better than you, represented by Judgement.
Card four suggests expressing your truth, shown by Temperance.
Card five represents anything you need to accept, which is Tower.
Card six represents anything you need to embrace: Six of Swords.
Card seven shows how you can become the best version of yourself, Hierophant.
Card eight shows what your soul is trying to tell you, Eight of Cups.
Here is a hefty spread; there is much to reveal about the querent’s soul. As card one shows, the querent’s soul has the Eight of Wands. Therefore, it must mean that before the querent’s soul incarnated, it desired to evolve quickly, as the soul is growing very fast. It has been said that those who deal with tough life challenges are eager to develop, even though their egos disagree.
However, old souls in a family with younger souls often deal with these challenges, as they often feel repressed by their family. Old souls are also sensitive, and that can, unfortunately, attract bully magnets. Other losses and trauma the querent faced also show the soul wanted to evolve quickly.
As you can see, card two shows that the querent keeps their thoughts quiet based on what the Knight of Cups shows. It shows that the querent may dissociate, which could manifest as maladaptive daydreaming. The querent may also tend to vent emotionally if triggered. Therefore, the querent is not acknowledging their thoughts and keeps them quiet in unhealthy ways until triggered. Based on card three, the querent can trust their intuition based on Judgment, which is a sign that they need to reinvent themselves!
That will open themselves up to an awakening. Based on card four, the querent should find their truth through Temperance. The querent needs to be patient with themselves and give them time to express the things they need to share without feeling rushed. Art is also related to Temperance, the Artist card in some decks.
The querent is imaginative based on card two. They can express their truth through art through poetry, painting, drawing, or music.
Now, let’s go to card five, which shows anything the querent needs to accept. The Tower comes up, which means they have to find a way to learn to accept unexpected situations that can throw them off course because anything that is beyond their control will happen. They also need to accept that they must do plenty of shadow work because they will keep facing devastating and unexpected losses of jobs, relationships, and anything else that is not good for them.
And card six represents anything that the querent needs to embrace, which shows up as the Six of Swords. They must embrace the fact that they need to move on and move forward in life (and a physical move may need to happen) even in the face of grief and baggage they are carrying.
Card seven indicates how the querent can become the best version of themselves, and the Hierophant represents that. They can be the ones who can use their experiences and pass them on as wisdom to others. But they have to embrace their lessons and be at peace with their lessons to get to that point, which makes them the best versions of themselves too.
And finally, the last card indicates that the querent needs to walk away from anything that is no longer fulfilling them based on the Eight of Cups. It may be in the querent’s best interest to make a physical move as they work on themselves to find themselves and use their lessons as wisdom to pass onto others. That is the best way they can heal.
If you know of other eight-card tarot spreads, please share them!