Tarot cards come in all shapes and sizes, but have you ever enjoyed the captivating mystery of gypsy tarot? Being around for hundreds of years, gypsy tarot has embraced multiple forms overtime, with different communities having their own cards and interpretations.
Over the past century, gypsy meanings have mixed in a more general interpretation. While it’s definitely hard to figure out an antique gypsy tarot deck, let’s find out what these days’ tarot cards can tell you if interpreted correctly.
The Most Popular Gypsy Tarot Spread
Whether it’s a tarot deck based on the classic tarot or a more individualized alternative, each card has its own significance, just like the traditional Minor Arcana or Major Arcana. Gypsy tarot can provide insights into the past and present before anything else, but also an outcome for the future.
Whether the reading is about love, career, health or other aspects of life, this is the most popular gypsy tarot spread out there and can take you through an esoteric journey of insights, helping you make better and more informed decisions.
The spread doesn’t necessarily need a gypsy tarot deck. Instead, you can do it with traditional tarot cards as well. However, unlike other spreads, it offers a dynamic interpretation based on different aspects of life.
The gypsy tarot spread covers 21 cards. It sounds difficult for a newbie still working out spreads or struggling with basic three card spreads. However, unlike other spreads with numerous cards, this one can be easily done and interpreted.
There are, indeed, many possibilities that might connect, but at the end of the day, it’s straightforward and makes a good training practice, too.
The 21 cards are spread over three lines and seven columns.
The first seven cards go on the first row, from left to right. The second and third rows display the next cards in the same manner.
The first line represents the past. The second one is the present, and the third one covers your potential outcomes in the future.
How to Interpret the 21-Card Gypsy Tarot Spread
Despite cards being drawn and displayed in a horizontal manner on three rows, the actual interpretation is vertical, by columns.
The First Column
The first column has cards 1, 8 and 15. It represents the true self. This column showcases what’s important for you at the moment, so it helps you rediscover yourself and find out more about your inner self.
The first card is the past and showcases what defines you as a person today. The eighth card, which is underneath, is your present. It tells you where you are in life. If you don’t make any changes, the 15th card will define your future outcome.
The Second Column
The second column refers to your settlement, your home, or whatever you want to call it. It’s not necessarily about a physical building, so it’s not a literal interpretation. Your home could be your city, your country, the community you live in, nature or a big city, it could go in more directions.
This column has cards 2, 9 and 16. Like in the first column, these cards are about your past, present and future. The same concept applies to all columns; only each column defines a different aspect of life.
The Third Column
This third column has cards 3, 10 and 17. It refers to your hopes and fears. It defines what you’re trying to achieve in life, but you’ll also see how your goals and priorities have changed overtime.
Your fears will also be reflected in this column, helping you understand what you fear losing the most, whether you know it or not.
The Fourth Column
The fourth column in this gypsy tarot spread covers cards 4, 11 and 18. It signifies some of the known factors in your life. Practically, it defines things you’ve been working towards, whether in the past or present, but it also showcases your potential future goals.
This column is related to the third column, which defines both goals and objectives in life.
The Fifth Column
Using cards 5, 12 and 19 for your past, present and future, the fifth column is where things start getting interesting because it signifies some hidden factors that could affect your life. From some points of view, this is the hidden destiny.
There are things that may not always make sense or may require some reflection later on. That’s why it’s important to take notes. And besides that, it must be interpreted based on your unique circumstances in life.
The Sixth Column
The sixth column is defined by cards 6, 13 and 20. It reveals a potential outcome that’s likely to happen in the near future. Of course, like for any tarot card reading, this is an interpretation, but then again, your decisions in the future may change it.
The outcome is seen as it is at the moment, without any changes at all. It’s an immediate outcome. It doesn’t have much to do with your long-term goals but with your short-term future instead.
The Seventh Column
Last, but not least, this column reveals the long term future. Given its strength, it’s of particular interest to most people going through a gypsy tarot reading.
Since the last two columns also interpret things of the past, these things will basically showcase how they can affect your future.
This is the long term result of your life as it is now. However, just like for the immediate outcome column, this one can be altered by the decisions you make, as nothing’s set in stone.
As a final conclusion, gypsy tarot can be quite confusing for a newbie. There are, of course, smaller spreads as well, covering just a few cards. Moreover, this 21 card spread may have different meanings and interpretations. Again, different communities have different cards, and they see them differently.
More experienced gypsy tarot readers even make their own cards or spreads, but it takes time, practice and quite a few years of experience.
