Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards: Tutorial and Sample Reading Part 5

Purchase the Traveler's Magic Oracle, my original modern GW deck. Or the original Gypsy Witch. 

This is my fifth installment of the Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards (GW) series. I hope these articles have been helpful so far.

In the last article, I showed directional reading with the GW. Now I will show you the classic Grand Tableau without Directional Cues. This spread utilizes the entire deck except for the Joker(s) and one Main Person Card. The Main Person card used is determined by the seeker’s gender identification. In our example, I am using the Lady, Card 18.

1. Remove both Main Person cards (Card 18 and 19) and all Jokers in the deck.
2. Shuffle 10 to 12 times.
3. Cut the deck into 6 small roughly equal stacks and pick up at random.
4. Now it gets tricky and requires a lot of space. Lay out the cards in rows. The first row is 6 cards. The second row is 8 cards with the first and last cards aligned under the empty spaces of the first row. Then lay another row (row 3) of 8 cards under the second row. See the diagram below.
5. Your third row of 8 (row 4) begins with 3 cards. Next place your Main Person, in this case, Card 18, The Lady, in position 4. Finish out the row with the next 4 cards.
6. Rows 5 and 6 are each 8 cards.
7. The final row (row 7) is made up of 5 cards. They begin under the second card in the row above. There will be two “blank spaces” at the end under the row above.

The last section of the image above is the diagram from the Little White Foldout that comes with the U.S. Games deck. It shows how the cards are laid. The numbers are from the example in the foldout, and have no bearing on the example in this post.

Reading the Cards

Reading begins with the card directly to the left of the Main Person, and is read in concentric rectangles. The farther out the rectangles lay, the farther in the future the messages pertain to. They begin with the recent past, blended with present circumstances and the immediate future. For the example spread, the cards shown in the first rectangle are Broken Glass, Lightning, Money Safe, Sun, Amor, Ring, Birds, and Heart. Follow the cues of distance to interpret. There are also positive, negative, and neutral cards to balance.

Here is my interpretation for my seeker. Recently, she has had a run of bad luck and nasty surprises (Broken Glass and Lightning). The Money Safe is directly above the Lady, so she is just making ends meet. The Sun over Amor tells us that her husband has been very supportive and is loyal and committed (Ring). They have a stable marriage, although there are some gossipy people who speak ill of them (Ring, Birds, and Heart).

The next rectangle begins with the card diagonally down and to the left of the last card in the first rectangle. For the example spread, the cards are Flowers, Roads, Ship, Moon, Rider, Stork, Rapiers, Pig, Rose, Shepherd, Mouse, Fish, Anchor, Lion, Railroad, and Lily.

My interpretation for this segment is for the next 6 to 12 months. Overall, the next period in the seeker’s life will be happy (Flowers). The Roads are next, they are turned toward the dark side of Clouds (in the last rectangle), but far away, so any decisions made should be met with positive results after some bumpy events. The Ship is next and talks about a better financial outlook. The Moon is next (only 2 cards from the Lady, so it’s considered close) and it is under the Rider. Good news is on the way, and problems will be solved. The Stork and Rapiers together tell of conflict surrounding the seeker’s residence. However, the Pig and Rose with the Shepherd under the Rose tell us that the seeker will prevail, coming out in better “shape” than before, especially with good guidance and advice. The Mouse over the Fish shows some financial or property loss due to theft or mismanagement. They are still close to the Lady, so any losses will be regained. Additionally, the Mouse is beside the Flames in the next rectangle, so the strength of the Mouse is greatly reduced (bad luck is burned away). The Anchor is next and is directly above the Dog (in the next rectangle), so this shows help from a faithful partner will keep the seeker’s life on track. The Lion, the Railroad, and Lily together warn of an unexpected loss that also requires a journey…with Lily here, this could be a death in the family.

The next to last segment in this spread is shown by the next rectangle. It begins to the left of the last card read. The cards in order are Snake, Letter, Mountains, Bear, Tree, Whip, Order, Children, Clouds, Eye, Clover, Book, Park, Flame, Key, Scythe, Dog, Wine, Star, Bride, and Coffin.

I use this to show possibilities for the next year or two. It begins with the Snake, which is far from the Lady. This shows challenges and ill will on the part of another person, but with the distance, it should be easily resolved in the favor of the seeker. With the Letter and the Mountain above this, it appears to be a legal issue. The Bear and the Tree indicate good financial returns. Next, the Whip, Order, Children, and Clouds discuss career success that comes at the expense of the family (the dark side of the clouds faces the Children). The Eye would normally show suspicious actions but it is next to the Clover, which cancels out the negative influence of the card. These two cards nullify one another. Below this is the Book and the Park. Both are far away and show that a social connection from the past (Books can be history) will resurface. The Flame, Key, and Scythe are next. These cards combine to tell about the resolution or diagnosis of long-standing issues (it could be health in traditional fortune telling, but most modern readers do not make statements regarding health due to ethical ramifications). The Dog, Wine, Star, and Bride taken together show the seeker’s marriage will be mostly happy with some small disagreements (the Bride is far from the Lady). The final card, the Coffin, is also far from the Lady. This shows that any truly disastrous events will be averted.

The line of cards remaining makes up the far right column. These five cards show an overview or wrap-up for the reading. Some readers begin with this line instead of leaving it for the end. In the example spread they are House, Cat, Tower, Hand-in-Hand, and Fox. The seeker’s home life and actual residence are the focus areas of the reading (House). Any people who hope to harm or malign the seeker will be “locked away” or kept from her (Cat and Tower). Instead, friendships and her partner will keep any ill from occurring (Hand-in-Hand and Fox). Also, the Fox is far from the Lady…this tells us that any negative influence is softened and with Hand-in-Hand above, tells us that relationships negate the Fox’s usual negativity.

I plan to publish more articles on proximity (near and far) combinations, and positive, negative, and neutral combinations. Stay tuned.