4 Card Spread Tarot Readings for Reliable Guidance
So you want an easy way to gain insight into your or a querent's life without too much mental effort?
Perfect–Four-card Tarot spreads might be just the thing for you!
If you’d like to see what these are all about for yourself, you can try a free online tarot card reading.
In this article, we'll first walk through why 4 Card Spreads are particularly efficient, then we'll give you three Four card Tarot Spreads:
A Love Spread
A Personal Finance Spread and
A Self-Development Spread
Let's jump in!
Why use a 4 Card Tarot Spread?
Four card Tarot Spreads strike the perfect balance between depth and simplicity. Adding more cards to a Tarot spread increases the complexity, but using a spread with fewer cards offers less detail.
A lot of members of the Tarot community have noticed that 4 cards give more "bang-for-your-buck" than five or three card spreads.
Why Four Cards Instead of Five (or more)?
A Five Card Tarot Spread (or one with more, such as the Celtic Cross) can give you finer detail, but it can also step into more confusing territory. Often, these types of spreads peer into underlying influences, long-term effects, and externalities of a situation.
That's great if you're looking to dive deep into something, but if you're looking for concise answers, especially in a time-sensitive setting, a Four Card Tarot Spread gives you the gist, quickly and without any fluff.
This begs the question, why not use a three-card Tarot spread?
Why Four Cards Instead of Three?
The answer is that the addition of a fourth card can provide significantly more insight than just three. Three Tarot cards are generally needed to understand the energies and theme of a circumstance, so it's the fourth card that carries the real punch.
If you are in a rut in some area of your life, you probably need deeper guidance than what a three-card spread would offer. Past present future is great and all, but realistically you want more detail if you are facing a tough circumstance.
A four-card spread gives you just that without muddying the waters.
So, let's see what we've got.
The best 4 Card Tarot Spreads for Love, Finance, and Self-Development
The following spreads offer guidance in the key areas of life your querent will inquire about. Depending on your skill level and the time allotment of the reading, you can quickly uncover meaningful and straightforward insight with these spreads.
Make sure your deck is charged, as you want your Tarot deck to have a high resonant vibration to have the best reading possible.
Love Four Card Tarot Spread
This Spread will help you find out when love is... or isn't... in the air. It's an easy way to see what place your special person is in and how you can expect your romance to develop.
New relationships are always exciting, so it's easy to get swept away by the tides of your emotions. This can help ground you and give you realistic expectations of what's to come.
Maybe you'll find out that they aren't looking for the same things as you. That stings, of course, but it's part of relationships. Besides, when one door closes, another opens. Everything works out in the end, so if this is the result of your reading, take it with a grain of salt.
If your special person is someone you've shared intimacy with for some time, you may be wondering where you both stand. Perhaps you've lost some spark and hit a rough patch, or are making serious decisions about your path forward as a couple.
This card represents your person. This is the most personal, context-dependent Tarot card in the spread, so rely on your intuition for this one.
The second card in the Love spread will embody your physical connection. If you have strong sexual attraction, you can expect to see The Lovers or even The Devil here.
The Third Tarot card in this Spread highlights your metaphysical connection. Expect to draw Cups and Swords cards frequently here. The card that emerges in this position may suggest that you have more of an intellectual connection, lots of emotional common ground, or even a lack of mental connection that's compensated for by your physical relationship.
The moment you've been waiting for: the fourth card in this spread will give you insight into your future together. Perhaps you get the 10 of Cups, indicating that you will have a long, fruitful relationship. Alternatively, if you get the 3 of Swords... you do not need to be an expert Tarot reader to figure out what that means.
Personal Finance Four Card Tarot Spread
This spread is useful for answering any questions related to money.
It can be anything from coming up with rent, to figuring out how you're going to pay for a replacement car battery. Maybe you're deciding if it makes sense to go on that vacation or leave your current job. Regardless, the finance spread serves as a useful decision-making tool and a great reality check for your money situation.
Expect primarily Pentacles cards to emerge here, as they of course relate to career and financial matters.
The beginning card will embody your current situation with money and serve as a foundation for the remainder of the reading.
The second card will illuminate opportunities for monetary gain that are available to you
This card will identify a risk you should be aware of to prevent a bad scenario.
The last card will show you what you should do moving forward from here.
If you need greater detail on money matters, try a more advanced personal finance spread.
Self-Development Four Card Tarot Spread
Our external reality is a product of our internal reality. If you keep finding yourself running into the same problems, dealing with the same issues, and spinning your wheels seemingly without making any forward progress, there may be something within you holding you back.
A vital part of reaching fulfillment is cutting away at the unnecessary, negative attitudes and behaviors that hold us back, and elevating our vibration. This leads to abundance and success in all areas of life.
Here, you'll learn what about your character is causing problems for you as well as how you can improve. This spread has a very grounding effect but may require some more mental effort because you must take an honest introspective look at yourself for it to have value.
The first card highlights what part of your life journey you are at currently. This card will typically be from Major Arcana so consider where it falls in the Fool's Journey.
An unhealthy habit or attitude that is holding you back and that you'd do well to release.
Where you should put your effort and attention in the present to bring about a better future
The conclusion card is key. It will tell you how to connect with your Higher Self which will unlock the greatest version of yourself.
How to Get the Most out of 4 Card Tarot Readings
As we talked about, 4 Card Readings give you important takeaways for financial, romantic, and personal growth matters without bogging you down with excess information. Here are some things to keep in mind during your readings:
Be Mindful of Time
It's important to be mindful of the time you have for a client session.
You may commonly find yourself using these spreads for a querent since they're quick and simple. If you are doing a shorter session, you might not have time to deploy a full Celtic cross for all your questions.
Take into account the complexity of a querent's questions as well as the duration of your session. If they want a lot of detail on a single topic then larger spreads are the way to go. If you need to receive a variety of answers for a querent in a time-sensitive setting, then four card spreads are a perfect size.
Use Your Intuition
Don't rely too heavily on the book meanings of the cards, or even the descriptions of each card position in the Tarot spread.
There is so much nuance to Tarot interpretation, you do not want to be robotic in your approach. Your Spirit guides may be trying to deliver more abstract messages to you. Lean on the context of the question and take a careful look at the imagery of the cards.
Ask yourself if you feel like there is a deeper wisdom being conveyed to you. Remember that Tarot Spreads are used to provide structure for your Intuitive abilities to shine. You should always lean towards what feels "right" to you over a rigid description of the cards' meanings.
Meditate on the Question
Whether you are performing a reading for yourself or a querent, you must expand the energy of the question.
Take a moment to sink into the question. Feel the emotions of the circumstance. Let all the vibes associated with it flow through you and into your deck.
While the four card Tarot spreads outlined here focus on specific aspects of life, you should go even deeper than the general energy of romance, finance, or self-improvement.
For example, if you are doing a personal finance spread for yourself, lean into the feelings associated with money. Do you feel like your back is up against the wall? Do you resent money on some level, causing it to elude you? Are you ambitious to start pulling in big money but are afraid or lost?
Be honest, and sink into these emotions. Align with their vibration. Do not feel ashamed in any way, because convincing yourself of something that isn't true will reduce the veracity of your reading.
You must call your true underlying motives, beliefs, and attitudes into the light in order to make sense of what is going on.
Closing Thoughts
The spreads we have covered here today are intermediate-level. As you grow in your practice, you may be interested in implementing more complex spreads. If that's the case, take a look at the Birthday Spread or the Tree of Life Spread spread.
Four card spreads are quick, easy, and effective. If you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with them, you'll have a handy tool in your arsenal for reading.
If you are excited about the journey of becoming an incredible Tarot reader, check out our Tarot Masterclass. It covers a variety of spreads and interpretations for all skill levels—you’ll be an expert in just a few weeks.