Comic Strip Spread

Difficulty: Easy
Note: This spread works best with decks like the Diary of a Broken Soul or Surrealist Tarot because they display scenes rather than pips and do not use reversals.
The Comic Strip Spread is a simple nine-card chronological spread that looks like a page of a comic book. This method should be used to get a glimpse of the future as it would pan out naturally. It may be insightful to use this spread in coordination with biorhythms. The spread is easy to read as a storyboard, just like a comic strip.
The main subject is apparent in the first card, while the story plays out through the following tarot cards.
It is important to pay particular attention to the cards and the relationships with their neighbours. Notice which directions the cards are facing, and how they interact.
Your Comic Strip Reading
2 of Pentacles![]() |
5 of Cups![]() |
The Hermit![]() |
9 of Cups![]() |
Page of Swords![]() |
5 of Swords![]() |
Page of Pentacles![]() |
10 of Swords![]() |
6 of Wands![]() |
Card 1: 2 of Pentacles
Some cultures to this day place coins upon the eyes of the dead to pay the ferryman who will take them to the land of the dead. I'm guessing one eyed individuals travel at half fare and the blind go for free.
In reality, you can't take a cent with you. Spend it while you're alive.
Card 2: 5 of Cups
The problem with a hand of glory is that wax melts and glory fades.
Card 3: The Hermit
4:00 – Card 5
Male, Air, Virgo.
A card of loneliness, disconnection and solitude. Also, a card of hope – If you have half of something it means the other half is out there somewhere. It may be far away, you may have to wade through the nastiest slums to find it, but when you do it's brilliant.
Card 4: 9 of Cups
A whole lot of cargo looks minimal when it's loaded onto a gigantic ship. This applies to more than one might expect.
Card 5: Page of Swords
Chaos is dangerous to both belligerents. If you have all the arms and all the thorns in the world, you're just as much a danger to yourself if you don't keep track of them.
Card 6: 5 of Swords
An homage to Bosch and Bruegel, and a card symbolic of victory to the well-armed and pain to the unprepared or unwilling to defend.
Card 7: Page of Pentacles
An homage to Arthur Edward Waite, Aleister Crowley and George Sprague, the three revolutionary authors of Tarot systems that inspired this deck. Also, a very bad pun, apologies.
Life demands study, not worship. Study your problems, don't just pray for them to go away.
Card 8: 10 of Swords
Classic iconography. Classic significance: Absolute destruction.
Card 9: 6 of Wands
If you're stuck, the first step to freedom is to examine what's holding you in place.