Why does each position draw from a separate pile?

That is how Masino built it: the deck is sorted into the four suits and the Major Arcana, and each pile is shuffled separately, so the theme always comes from a Major Arcana card and every area of life gets exactly one card. A single shuffled deck can hand you three Cups and no Pentacles. Here the five piles are shuffled for you; with a physical deck, sort the cards into five piles first and shuffle each one.

Are court cards included in the suit piles?

Yes. Each suit pile holds all fourteen cards of that suit, Ace through King, so a Page, Knight, Queen or King can come up in any of the four outer positions. Read a court card there as a way of handling that area this season — a stance or a role you might try on — rather than as a particular person arriving.

Do I have to do it on the exact day of the equinox or solstice?

No. Masino casts it on the day itself, and the four days are natural markers, but any day close to them works, and so does any moment when one stretch of your life is turning into the next. South of the equator the March equinox opens autumn and the June solstice opens winter, so name the season you are actually entering.

Can the Four Seasons spread tell me what will happen in the next three months?

Not here. Masino wrote it as a seasonal forecast and offered ways to time events; Lunarcana keeps the five piles and leaves the forecasting out. Each card shows what the season asks you to notice in one area — a focus to write about and return to when the season turns, not a date or an outcome.

· Cycles · 5 cards ·

Four Seasons

Five cards from five separately shuffled piles at an equinox or solstice — the season's theme from the Major Arcana, then what it asks of your drive, feelings, thinking and body

5 cardsBeginner~8 min

Select cards from the deck

How to lay out the Four Seasons spread

The 5 positions of the Four Seasons spread

From the Major Arcana — the theme this season keeps returning to

Position I · Pivot

The Major Arcana card sets the season's theme: the larger lesson or mood these months keep coming back to. Masino turns it over first and calls it the spiritual theme that governs the season. Read the four suit cards around it as that theme showing up in one area each.

Reversed, it may be a theme you are resisting, or one working on you quietly, below notice.

From the Wands — where your drive and enthusiasm want to go this season

Position II

Drawn from the Wands alone, so it always speaks about drive: where your enthusiasm, will and wish to start something want to go this season. Compare it with the Pentacles card above the centre, because drive needs ground to land on.

Reversed, it often points to energy that is stalled or scattered, or to a want you have not yet admitted to yourself.

From the Cups — your feelings and the bonds that matter this season

Position III

Drawn from the Cups: your feelings, the people close to you, and what those bonds ask of you this season. It reads your side of them, not anyone else's mind. Set it beside the Swords card on the right, since what you feel and what you think often pull in different directions.

Reversed, a feeling may be held back, or turned inward instead of shared.

From the Swords — how you think, decide and speak this season

Position IV

Drawn from the Swords: how you think, decide and speak this season — the attitude and focus worth bringing to it. Read it against the Cups card; together they show whether head and heart are working on the same thing.

Reversed, it can mean thoughts going round in circles, or words left unsaid that may need a quieter outlet, such as a page of notes, first.

From the Pentacles — body, work and money: what needs practical care this season

Position V

Drawn from the Pentacles: body, work, money and the daily routines that carry the season. It shows where practical attention pays off, not a sum to expect. Read it with the Wands card: plans need a body and a budget to stand on.

Reversed, it may point to a routine that drains more than it gives, or to rest that work keeps postponing.

How to read the Four Seasons spread

1
On or near the equinox or solstice, frame the question around the season as a whole, or one thread you want to follow through it — what to notice, not what will happen.
2
Each card comes from its own pile: the Major Arcana card in the centre, Wands to its left, Pentacles above, Swords to its right, Cups below — Masino's diamond.
3
Turn the centre card first and name the season's theme in one sentence.
4
Read the four suit cards as that theme in action, feeling, thought and the body, then compare across the diamond: Wands with Pentacles (drive and ground), Cups with Swords (heart and head).
5
Write one line per card and one thing to tend this season; reread the notes at the next equinox or solstice.

What else lies between the cards

Each position gives its card a place of its own. Between the cards run a few quieter relationships — the star lines trace them.

Where the figures are looking

The simplest drill: after drawing three cards, don't speak yet — look at which way the figures on each card are facing. If the first figure's gaze lands on the second, there is a “looking” line through the spread. If the last figure's back is turned to the middle card, the energy is leaving the scene. Positional reading alone will not show this. Direction is a silent grammar.

Elements of adjacent cards

The mainstream rule is short: Fire and Air (both active) strengthen each other; Water and Earth (both passive) strengthen each other; Fire and Water, and Air and Earth, weaken each other. Fire-Earth and Water-Air are counted as neutral or mildly weakening. When two adjacent cards are elementally friendly, both meanings amplify; when opposed, both are weakened, sometimes cancelled. Read the element distribution first, the card-specific meaning second — an old Golden Dawn shortcut that still pays.

One hand, four ways to read it

PositionalEach card's meaning is shaped by the slot it lands in.
NarrativeRead the spread as beginning, middle, and end of a small story.
DialogicLet two cards (or two groups) ask each other questions.
IntuitiveIgnore the grid — notice which card catches your eye first.

Four Ways to Read a Spread →

Example questions

Other 5-card spreads

Spread	Positions	Best for
Four SeasonsThis page	From the Major Arcana — the theme this season keeps returning to · From the Wands — where your drive and enthusiasm want to go this season · From the Cups — your feelings and the bonds that matter this season · From the Swords — how you think, decide and speak this season · From the Pentacles — body, work and money: what needs practical care this season	Five cards from five separately shuffled piles at an equinox or solstice — the season's theme from the Major Arcana, then what it asks of your drive, feelings, thinking and body
Birthday	What the past year ripened · What can stay in the old year · The keynote of the new year · What to tend · A gift to yourself	Five cards for your birthday: what the past year ripened, what can stay in it, the keynote you choose for the new one, what to tend, and a gift to yourself
Two Paths	The Crossroads · Path A · How it unfolds · Path A · Outcome · Path B · How it unfolds · Path B · Outcome	Weigh two paths — how each unfolds and where it leads
Career	Likely outcome · Your strength · Action to take · The challenge · Current situation	Examine your vocation — ground, strength, step, trial, horizon
Shadow Work	Mask · What I show · Origin · Where this pattern of hiding began · Shadow · What I hide · Gift · Hidden boon · Integration · Wholeness	Meet what you hide — mask, origin, shadow, gift, integration
Relationship Potential	Essence of the bond · Current phase · Hidden force · Task to face · Possible horizon	Trace a bond's arc — essence, phase, hidden force, task, horizon
Ancestors	The strength that came down to you · The wound or weight that came down with it · What remembering them asks of you now · What stops with you — the pattern you choose not to pass on · What you choose to pass on	Remember the line you come from — what you received, what you keep, what ends with you
Self-Love	How you see yourself · How others see you · Inner wound to heal · Innate strength · Next step to self-love	Five cards to look upon yourself with gentleness
Five-Card Cross	For — what works in your favour · Against — the resistance to watch · The judge — which side to take · Where the weighing leans, if nothing changes · What everything hinges on — calculated from the four	Wirth's Marseille cross: four Major Arcana weigh what speaks for and against, and a fifth, the sum of their numbers, names what everything hinges on

Four Seasons spread: common questions

Why does each position draw from a separate pile?: That is how Masino built it: the deck is sorted into the four suits and the Major Arcana, and each pile is shuffled separately, so the theme always comes from a Major Arcana card and every area of life gets exactly one card. A single shuffled deck can hand you three Cups and no Pentacles. Here the five piles are shuffled for you; with a physical deck, sort the cards into five piles first and shuffle each one.
Are court cards included in the suit piles?: Yes. Each suit pile holds all fourteen cards of that suit, Ace through King, so a Page, Knight, Queen or King can come up in any of the four outer positions. Read a court card there as a way of handling that area this season — a stance or a role you might try on — rather than as a particular person arriving.
Do I have to do it on the exact day of the equinox or solstice?: No. Masino casts it on the day itself, and the four days are natural markers, but any day close to them works, and so does any moment when one stretch of your life is turning into the next. South of the equator the March equinox opens autumn and the June solstice opens winter, so name the season you are actually entering.
Can the Four Seasons spread tell me what will happen in the next three months?: Not here. Masino wrote it as a seasonal forecast and offered ways to time events; Lunarcana keeps the five piles and leaves the forecasting out. Each card shows what the season asks you to notice in one area — a focus to write about and return to when the season turns, not a date or an outcome.

When to use

Use it on or near an equinox or solstice — around March 20, June 21, September 22 or December 21 — or whenever one stretch of your life is turning into the next and you want one look across all of it. The Major Arcana card names the season's theme, and because each suit card comes from its own pile, drive, feelings, thinking and the practical side of life each get exactly one card. Five cards take about twenty minutes with notes; keep them, and reread them when the next season turns.

Origin

Marcia Masino published the Four Seasons Spread in Best Tarot Practices (Weiser Books, 2009), chapter 6, pp. 98–105. The deck is sorted into five piles, the four suits and the Major Arcana, and each pile is shuffled on its own; on the day of an equinox or solstice a card is drawn from each pile and the five are laid in a diamond, the Major Arcana card at its centre. Masino turns the Major Arcana card first as the season's spiritual theme and presents the spread as a forecast for the season, with ways of timing events. Lunarcana keeps her five piles and her diamond and drops the forecast: each card is taken as what the season asks you to notice in one area. In Chinese-language tarot the spread circulates widely as 四季牌阵 and is posted every quarter under the names of the four days.

When not to use

Reading it as a three-month forecast: dates, events, what someone else will do. Each card shows what the season asks you to notice in one area of your own life, not what will happen there. If a single question fills your whole attention, a spread built around that question will serve it better than five areas side by side.

Related spreads

Bring a single question, and turn these 5 cards over slowly.