I'm fairly new to tarot and am wondering if there is such thing as a good spread for beginners? I usually use the celtic cross but it is complex. I know there are 1,2,3,4,etc. card spreads is there a good one for newbies?
Help!

You can start by using this everyday spread:

........1
2......3........4
5......6........7

1 - you and how you feel
2 - love
3 - friends
4 - work (if you don't have a job, it shows what you do over the day)
5 - money
6 - health
7 - surprise

I use it every day and it works... Once a day is enough and at the end you can see what happened, according to the significations of the cards... This way you can learn faster and more than using complex spreads. Hope my info helps you.

Hey Shaggy!
Nice to meet you,
I've been posting a few situation cards on the forum for everyone to practice,
Give it a shot,
All you do is read both the cards and make sense out of them then tell me what you think the situation is,,,

One of the posts is for my situation that's bothering me,,



Another in a different post is for someone elses situation, Called give it a try

All is for fun to learn and share our thoughts.

Kelley

There's a great intuitive exercise to help you learn to read the cards.  Every day when you get up, draw a card from the deck.  In a journal, write down what you notice about the card, how it makes you feel, what you think the message is, etc.  Carry the card with you for a time; I recommend between breakfast and lunch, but you could carry it for an hour, a day, a week, etc.  At the end of your chosen time period, take out the card and look at it again.  Add any new details to your journal, and follow that with a description of what happened in your life while you carried it.  Draw another card and repeat the process (ie, carry another card from lunch until dinner, then another between dinner and bedtime.)  Do this until you've analyzed every card in the deck.  At the end of this time, you will find that you've written a guide to your personal Tarot meanings- and that you've learned them along the way.

There's always the good ol' Celtic Cross

http://www.learntarot.com/ccross.htm

I also like the High Priestess' Secret Spread,it's got its share of mystery

http://www.annak-tarot.at/Anna_Englisch/geheimnis_hohepriesterin_e.html

Or you could use simple spreads like the Path

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/tarot-handbook/

There could also be my two favourite 4 cards spreads:

the cross

  3
1    2
  4

1 - what it's all about/the theme
2 - to avoid, though tempting/what started it all
3 - right path/what the querent should do
4 - outcome

and the Blind Spot

http://www.corax.com/tarot/spreads/blindspot.html

My first spreads I used were from Hajo Banzhaf's Tarot Handbook. I still use them and I recommend them to anyone.

Of course there are myriads of spreads concerning from general matters to love and health, but IMHO, the basic spread is the CC.