The Love Triangle Spread
Difficulty: Complicated
Casually referred to as the Love Triangle, this spread can be used to determine the dynamics of the relationship between three people, regardless of whether romance is involved. This spread is arranged in the form of a hexagram, consisting of several large and small triangles. This tarot spread may seem somewhat complicated, but it is not entirely that difficult.
The first step is to interpret the card for each individual position in the spread. Generally, one might ask about a relationship they are involved in, but this does not have to be the case. Ordinarily, the reader's representative card is #1, their main person of interest is #2, and the other person would be #3.
The second step fills in the downward triangle and involves further examination of the individuals through their views of the other people. Each person has two more cards showing the way they see and relate to the other members of the triangle. For example, Card #6 indicates how Person #3 relates to Person #1, while Card #9 stands for Person #1's attitude toward Person #3.
The next step completes the upward triangle and the hexagram, focusing on cards #10–13. It also completes the many smaller triangles and hints at the potential for each relationship. The final card, #13 can be considered the significator of the reading, which suggests the overall potential for this three-way relationship.
Your Love Triangle Reading
| P#3 | 3to2 | 2+3 |
2to3 | P#2 | ||
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3to1 |  |
Overall |  |
2to1 |  |
| 1+3 |  |
1to3 |  |
1to2 |  |
1+2 |
 |
 |
P#1 |  |
 |
||
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1: Person #1
Leo
Also known as Lust or Strength. The carnal experience. The whore rides the great beast of the apocalypse. She knows one way to tame the beast.
Meaning:
Strength, courage, energy, control of vital forces, resorting to magic, love affair.
2: Person #2
11:00 – 1:00 Female
Aries
The Queen of Wands sits on a throne of flames. She holds a torch in her left hand and grasps the horn of a white ram in her right hand. The ram's eyes glare forward, but her eyes are closed, with a look of contentment on her face. She represents a strong figure of feminine authority with a laid-back attitude.
Meaning:
A calm attractive woman. Strength relaxed. Persistent, adaptive, but intolerant of opposition.
When ill-dignified: a vengeful, domineering woman with an itchy trigger finger.
3: Person #3
Moon in Libra
Two swords stuck in a mound form the shape of a V, the symbolic gesture of peace like the hippies were so fond of. The owners have thrown their arms down in the spirit of harmony.
Meaning:
Contradictory characteristics of the same nature coming together. Pleasure after pain. Quarrel resolved.
4: Person #1's view of #2
2:00 – 4:00 Female
Libra
The Queen of Swords sits on the throne of heaven. The moon has eclipsed the sun, making for a strange overcast. The eclipse is a symbol of two that are one, a reference to the dual nature of Libra. The eclipse also represents her as a dominant female, overshadowing the male, and this is also apparent in her left hand. She represents clear perception and the pinnacle of thought. However, superficial attractiveness coupled with a lack of empathy makes her the most dangerous female in the deck.
Meaning:
A confident, gracious, just, perceptive, graceful, elegant woman.
When ill-dignified: A cruel, sly, deceitful, unreliable woman who uses charm as a weapon.
5: Person #2's view of #3
The Root of Air
The initial embodiment of the spirit of air is the bearer of light. The sword penetrates the crown of Kether. In the background ten rays pour out of the spiritual sun, indicating the full potential contained within the seed of the Ace. The beginning of a new way of thinking.
Meaning:
Invoked force, conquest, strength through tribulation, triumph of force. A spiritual understanding with heaven.
6: Person #3's view of #1
Moon in Taurus
Understanding is represented in this card by the colouration of the stained glass in the form of a rainbow spiral. The six moons revolve around the swastika-sun, each also representing a day of the week. Everything is in order here, as you achieve what you set out to do.
Meaning:
Success, accomplishment, gain. Influence, philanthropy, nobility.
When ill-dignified: conceit in success, insolence.
7: Person #2's view of #1
Scorpio
A skull and crossbones present obvious symbolism here. Something coming to an end, a necessary transition into the next stage.
Meaning:
Transformation, change, transitional period leading to a new way. Loss of the status quo.
8: Person #3's view of #2
Venus in Virgo
Six of the nine disks have now turned to coins, representing material gain. The three spiritual disks converge in the centre, forming a colour wheel and a rainbow. There are two triangles formed by the coins, one male and one female. A card of material gain.
Meaning:
Inheritance, increase in wealth, material fortune, accomplishment.
When ill-dignified: envy, theft.
9: Person #1's view of #3
Jupiter in Libra
Four swords come together in union. The square formed in the centre is a white flag. This card represents reconciliation. The Process.
Meaning:
Recovery from a period of trouble. An oasis. Authority in the realm of intellect. Establishment of dogma.
10: Overall relationship between persons #1 and #2
Mars
This is the dark side of The Magus; the lower self. The Demiurge has come out to play. Many are struck down on their quest to the top. Only the chosen one can climb the stairway to heaven. He must first acquire the proper understandings and tools or his climb will certainly be disastrous. Now is the time to use what you've been building up inside. Often a card of war.
Meaning:
Danger, destruction, quarrel, combat, ambition. Escape from prison. Rise to the top at the expense of others.
11: Overall relationship between persons #2 and #3
Venus in Aquarius
The pale blue background of this card symbolises airy weakness. A chipped sword attempts to battle four bent swords in the shape of a pentagram. A hopeless struggle, this solitary sword is the weakest of the five.
Meaning:
Weakness, loss, spite, malice, trouble, dishonour, degradation, infamy, revocation, loss, humiliation, anxiety. A driver of wedges.
12: Overall relationship between persons #1 and #3
Moon in Sagittarius
Great Strength. Eight arrows have been collected and are now under the authority of a headmaster arrow. They have been completed by this arrangement and the addition of the moon-heads. The driving force that empowers them is the sun.
Meaning:
Great strength, tremendous force, power, competition, warrior spirit, focused rage. Change is stability.
13: Overall 3-way Relationship
Saturn in Sagittarius
The wands have now become bars. We live in prisons of flesh. We are each our own warden and we all do our own time.
Meaning:
Brute force with no apparent spiritual source. Lies, repression, cruelty, malice. The element of fire in its most destructive form.
