The Past, Present, and Future
Tarot Reading

This simple 3-card spread is read like a chronological story. The positions are apparent, and there's not much need to give instructions based on the simplicity of this spread. One of the most commonly known spreads, if it didn't already exist in every book and tarot reading website there is, probably everybody that ever used tarot cards would have invented it themselves.

A blindfolded woman holds 2 heavy swords forming the shape of a V. She is seated in a chair on the edge of the sea, like several cards of the Cups suit. Considering the suit this card is part of, this is probably not such a bad sign in light of the rest of the deck. She bears the burden of thought, as if she must solve a difficult math equation entirely in her head.

The wickedness of being left to the whims of one's own thoughts may be just getting started here. The picture seems to signify burdensome thoughts building inside the mind of the young woman. The more she thinks, the more trouble she creates for herself.

The only hope for this card is that she is paused, so she may stop her insane quest here before she goes too far. Where this card shows up in a reading probably says that there is a need to pause and reflect, and maybe stop whatever it is you were thinking about doing.

Reversed keywords: anxiety, imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyal, worry, alienation, subversive

A creepy hand appears out of a dark cloud to begin the suit about thinking and thoughts, the Swords. All knowledge of this world is inherently evil. Swords are dangerous as the pursuit of worldly knowledge does nothing but pile evil on top of evil as if it were an unholy Tower of Babel.

Like the aforementioned story, the card shows an intellectual effort to know the heavens - the very definition of EVIL! The entire Swords suit does nothing but continual evil as it plays out, and this card is the root of it all.

The giant sword penetrates the crown in the sky as if to violate heaven. Knowledge of the heavens represents the ultimate evil. Those who seek wisdom of such are blasphemous false prophets who should be cut off from among their people at the very minimum.

Reversed keywords: excessive force, hatred, disaster, heavy-handed, malevolent, domineering, bully

The 8 of Swords is a card of cruelty, bondage, and suffering. A blindfolded woman has been abducted and tied up. She stands upon the sandy forks of the delta, where the river meets the sea. She is surrounded by the 8 swords to remind her that she isn't going anywhere. In the distance a castle sits atop a high hill by the seaside.

This is a card of certain evil. Someone may have performed an evil love spell of bondage. It is not love if it seeks to capture and enslave. This is sin. It is also folly. One can not possess another person. Any desire to do such is wickedness.

It is a sign of oppression and interference. The castle on the shore taunts her with the vision of an unattainable paradise. Of course she can't see it being blindfolded, but she can certainly hear it. She is bound to her evil ways.

Reversed keywords: cruelty, bondage, oppression, evil, malevolent, sinister, sadism