How To Read A Simple Pyramid Spread

As you’ll know, I usually tend to stick to 3-card, 5-card, 9-card and Grand Tableau spreads, as they usually fulfil all my needs AND the smaller ones are actually ‘part of’ the jigsaw of the larger Grand Tableau.

BUT, although I don’t use it in my own professional readings, I find that a Pyramid reading (which is cribbed from Tarot and other cartomancy systems) and is one you may have seen about, has its uses sometimes in my personal readings.

When does a Pyramid reading work best?

When focusing on particular situations in which you want a specific overview and advice. So it’s not really a general “What might happen today?” kind of reading. More of an, “Oh my god, my work situation, what on earth shall I do?” kind of thing.

It’s not a yes-no reading, but it is pretty simple to do

It’s not necessarily for a specific question (although it can be) but gives a great overview and is a rounded reading in a specific situation.

It can be used to focus a reading for someone else who hasn’t given you a question (you use the “crowning” card as a key card)

It also incorporates a number of the techniques we’ve talked about here

Lenormand Techniques Used In Pyramid Spreads

• Applying card meanings to a context 
• Applying card meanings to a specific question or aspect of that context
• Reading card combinations
• Reading cards in a chain and creating a narrative
• Mirroring techniques

It’s important to note, this isn’t the only version you can do of a pyramid spread, by the way, and you can make up your own variations but it’s a useful one that works really well with Lenormand cards. There aren’t really any ‘rules’ but as I say, it’s great for practicing applying card meanings to different Lenormand contexts.

So if you want to try one of these, let’s take a look at an example Pyramid spread.

1. Shuffle the cards in your usual way
2. Lay the cards out as follows:

Card 1 – Influence, “Crowning” the situation, the situation itself

Cards 2 + 3 Actions you could or are taking 

Cards 4 + 5 + 6 Underlying energies or factors to the situation

Cards 7 + 8 + 9 + 10: Advice in this situation

Influence, What “Crowns” The Situation

      

Actions You Could Take

 

Underlying Factors

   

Advice From The Cards

    .   

 

Let’s do an example

Kelly wants to know how she can make the changes she wants in her life.

Here are the cards we drew:

Influence, What “Crowns” The Situation

Actions You Could Take

Underlying Factors

Advice From The Cards

 

For each line, you can:

Read the cards individually

Then read them in combinations or a chain, applying the meanings to that question

So here:

Q: How can Kelly make the changes she wants in her life?

Influence, What “Crowns” The Situation

This reading is focused on and all about success and positivity (Sun)

Actions To Take

The cards read Change (Storks) and Commitment (Ring). Together they tell us that an action Kelly can take is to actually commit to making changes.

Underlying Factors In The Situation

The cards individually read Knowledge (Book) Independence or Business (Fish) Status, Officialdom (Tower)

Now, this will depend on the context of the changes and success Kelly wants. Say the context is her career. These cards suggest Kelly has formal of education and official or corporate knowledge (Book-Tower) about business (Fish). She has business or related knowledge (Book-Fish) of how big businesses and corporates operate and are organised and run (Fish-Tower).

Advice From The Cards

In this line, try to make the cards read as advice for yourself or the person asking in response to the question.

Individually, the cards talk about news, writing, messages and documentation (Letter) luck, opportunity and positivity (Clover) communicating, especially verbally (Birds) and a woman, likely Kelly herself (Woman). So how would we put this in the context of advice? 

Well, the cards suggest positive messages, that Kelly should communicate and speak positively and with luck in mind and it’s her communication, so it’s likely to be about Kelly needing to use her best communication skills and ‘communicate’ herself.

But what if the spread doesn’t quite fit what you want or how you would like it to be?

Well, a Pyramid spread is really adaptable.

Ways You Can Adapt This Spread

• Change what each line ‘means’. For example, have the second line as advice or life lessons instead, and the last as’ the future outcome’ or “how it will all turn out in the end?” Make up your own rules! Or follow the lines already present in different Tarot spreads you find.
• Change the number of cards. You could make ALL the single cards here into a pair, for instance, and read them together as combinations
• Add a line with more cards
• Make the reading more or less fortune-telling focused
• Make it more or less personal development-focused

 

Do You Need More Guidance?

Go to my Lenormand Tips page for more tips about common issues and problems.

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Want A Lenormand Reading?

As well as doing personal readings, I can also help you interpret your very own readings: your own layouts you’ve done with your own cards.  If you’d like some help, please see my service pages here for how to order.  You can check out samples of some reports here:

SAMPLE ONE QUESTION 9-CARD READING

SAMPLE 5-CARD INTERPRETATION

SAMPLE GRAND TABLEAU READING

As a reminder, I don’t offer 3-card readings or Pyramid spreads as part of this service.