Three-Card Spreads
compiled by KnightHawk

Here's various 3 card spreads. Some of these are from people on the tarotreaders list, some are from people on the Tarot-L list, some are from books, and some I made up. I haven't included most references because I really don't think I'm at liberty to publish email addresses for people not on this list. I can't imagine that this will be a problem since this isn't going to be published -- it's just for internal use for us readers.
Hope this helps!

Personal

  1. Personal (you)
  2. Interpersonal (your relationships)
  3. Transpersonal (the human environment as a whole)

Temporal

  1. Past
  2. Present
  3. Future

Consciousness

  1. Subconscious
  2. Consciousness
  3. Super-consciousness

Levels of self

  1. Body
  2. Mind
  3. Spirit

Worry Remover

  1. What past influence must I let go of?
  2. What controls the worry?
  3. What future worry should I ignore?

Decision Making

  1. The Situation that must be dealt with
  2. The Task that must be undertaken
  3. The Factor that must be dealt with

Getting or improving a relationship

  1. The dynamics of your relationships
  2. Your [patterns of] resistance to relationships
  3. Most effective ways to bring in a new relationship OR to improve your relationship

Where am I at right now?

  1. The present situation
  2. Your attitude toward that situation
  3. The main thing you must keep in mind about it

Tarot and 12 step programs

  1. situation now
  2. action to be taken
  3. likely outcome

Yes/Maybe/No 3 card spread (from the American Tarot Association)

Physical/Intellectual/Emotional (from ATA)

  1. the Physical aspect of the question
  2. the Intellectual aspect of the question
  3. the Emotional aspect of the question

Obstacles and Assistance (from ATA)

  1. Obstacles you will need to resolve
  2. The answer to your question
  3. Assistance you can expect from others

Think, Feel, Do

  1. How I should think about (it)
  2. How I should feel about (it)
  3. What I can/should do about (it)

Focus and Undercurrents

  1. Focus, main idea of the situation
  2. Commentary and extra information on Card 1
  3. (chosen from the bottom of the deck) undercurrents of either the specific question or life in general

Removing path blockages (from Susie)

  1. what's blocking your path
  2. a straight description of the road you're on
  3. the key, or what you need to do to remove the block

Various Burger & Fiebig 3-card spreads (from Burger & Fiebig's 'Complete Book of Tarot Spreads', via Swifteagle)

  1. what worries you
  2. what you should not forget
  3. how you can resolve the situation
  1. the problem / situation
  2. the challenge
  3. the talent / what will help you with the challenge
  1. this is what I'll be rid of
  2. this is I will take care of
  3. this is what I will accomplish
  1. who am I?
  2. what are my needs?
  3. how do I go about meeting my needs?
  1. this is important now
  2. I will set this aside for now
  3. this is what I have to take into consideration
  1. my partner
  2. myself
  3. our joint tasks or chances
  1. where you stand now
  2. where you want to be
  3. the path between
  1. the situation that is ending
  2. what I will let go of
  3. the next step
3-card Choice Spreads (from Starsong)

Another 3-card Choice Spread (from Swifteagle)

  1. outcome of Option 1
  2. outcome of Option 2
  3. possible 3rd, unexplored option

The Outlook spread (from SunWizard)
Here is a spread that I find quite useful for "will I get back with my boyfriend" type questions

  1. Outlook for the situation, event or project
  2. What/who will help
  3. What this will lead to

3-card Thesis / Antithesis Spread (based on Mary Greer's "Tarot Interpretations" Tapes)

  1. Thesis (or an idea)
  2. Antithesis (or reaction to an idea)
  3. Synthesis (or action needed to implement the idea)

An alternate 3-card Yes/No/Maybe spread (from John Gilbert)

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Maybe

The following was written by John Gilbert and appeared in the Jan./Feb. 1999 issue of Tapestry-Magazine:

In "Tarot For Yourself", Mary K. Greer, in describing the three card spread, says: "Every question can be examined from three aspects. Every action, for example, usually involves three choices: your current position, a new possibility or opposite action, and the integration of these two in a new way." Having read this simple and logical statement several times, it finally began to dawn on me how truly profound this really is. How often we find ourselves looking at complex problems and forgetting how basically simple the solutions to these problems really are. Three choices is an interesting concept. We can choose This, That or something in-between. Try this experiment with a problem you have right now. State the problem. Offer one solution and select a card from the deck for that solution. Offer an opposite or different solution and draw a card for that solution. Then with both cards face up before you, try to understand what the cards are saying about each solution. When you think you have an understanding, draw the third card and place it between the first two cards. This spread offers a choice between "This and That" with a "What" card in the middle. What stands for what can be done? or what is the possibility suggested by the other two cards? To use this spread one does not need to know any possible solutions. You can create solutions by using the cards."
The following are my (KnightHawk's) conclusions based upon the above article: