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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2to1 | ![]() |
1+3 | ![]() |
1to3 | ![]() |
1to2 | ![]() |
1+2 |
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P#1 | ![]() |
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1: Person #1
The Sun
Glory, gain, riches, triumph, pleasure, frankness, truth, shame-lessness, arrogance, vanity, manifestation, recovery from sickness, but sometimes sudden death.
2: Person #2
Venus
Love, beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, completion, good fortune, graciousness, elegance, luxury, idleness, dissipation debauchery, friendship, gentleness, delight.
3: Person #3
Aries
War, conquest, victory, strife, ambition, originality, over-weening confidence and megalomania, quarrelsomeness, energy, vigour, stubbornness, impracticability, rashness, ill- temper.
4: Person #1's view of #2
Pisces
Illusion, deception, bewilderment, hysteria, even madness, dreaminess, falsehood, error, crisis, 'the darkest hour before the dawn', the brink of important change.
5: Person #2's view of #3
Capricorn
Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous, ambition, temptation, obsession, secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.
6: Person #3's view of #1
Mars
Quarrel, combat, danger, ruin, destruction of plans, sudden death, escape from prison.
7: Person #2's view of #1
Mercury
Skill, wisdom, adroitness, elasticity, craft, cunning, deceit, theft. Sometimes occult wisdom or power, sometimes a quick impulse, a brain-wave. It may imply messages, business transactions, the interference of learning or intelligence with the matter in hand.
8: Person #3's view of #2
Virgo
Illumination from within, secret impulse from within; practical plans derived accordingly. Retirement from participation in current events.
9: Person #1's view of #3
Cancer
Triumph, victory, hope, memory, digestion, violence in maintaining traditional ideas, the 'die-hard', ruthlessness, lust of destruction, obedience, faithfulness, authority under authority.
10: Overall relationship between persons #1 and #2
Water
Enforced sacrifice, punishment, loss, fatal or voluntary, suffering, defeat, failure, death.
11: Overall relationship between persons #2 and #3
Air
In spiritual matters, the Fool means idea, thought, spirituality, that which endeavours to transcend earth.
In material matters, it may, if badly dignified, mean folly, eccentricity, or even mania.
But the essential of this card is that it represents an original, subtle, sudden impulse or impact, coming from a completely strange quarter.
All such impulses are right, if rightly received; and the good or ill interpretation of the card depends entirely on the right attitude of the Querent.
12: Overall relationship between persons #1 and #3
Taurus
Stubborn strength, toil, endurance, placidity, manifestation, explanation, teaching, goodness of heart, help from superiors, patience, organisation, peace.
13: Overall 3-way Relationship
Aquarius
Hope, unexpected help, clearness of vision, realisation of possibilities, spiritual insight, with bad aspects, error of judgment, dreaminess, disappointment.