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Hexagram

A six-pointed star — time on the upward triangle, your response on the downward one, the outcome at the centre

7 cardsIntermediate~11 min

How to lay out the Hexagram spread

Select cards from the deck

The 7 positions of the Hexagram spread

What was
The top point of the upward triangle: what led here. Look for the event or decision that set the current pattern moving. Read it with the present and the near future as one line of time — together the three show the direction of travel. Reversed, it may point to something from the past still unresolved and being carried forward.
What is
The lower-right point of the upward triangle: where things stand now. Compare it with the heart card directly above it — the distance between what is happening and what you actually want is often the core of the reading. Reversed, it can suggest the present is being endured rather than chosen.
What is coming next
The lower-left point of the upward triangle: what is taking shape next if the current line of time continues. Read it as the weather of the coming weeks, not a fixed event, and check it against the surroundings card above it. Reversed, something may be delayed, or still forming before it can show.
What to do
The bottom point of the downward triangle: what to do. It answers the whole upward triangle — given where things have come from and where they are heading, this is the stance or action worth trying. Reversed, the advice may be to stop, wait or let go of an approach rather than push harder.
The people and circumstances around you
The upper-left point of the downward triangle: the people and circumstances around you — in a relationship question, often the other person's stance. Read it against the heart card opposite: are you and your surroundings pulling the same way? Reversed, it may point to an influence you have not noticed, or a pressure you have quietly taken on.
Your true feelings and wish
The upper-right point of the downward triangle: your true feelings and wish — what you want beneath what you say you want. It is the card most worth being honest with. Set it against the outcome at the centre: when they agree, the path fits you. Reversed, the wish may be hidden from yourself, mixed, or held back out of fear.
Final outcome
The centre, where both triangles meet: where this is heading when time, circumstances and your own response are taken together. A trajectory, not a verdict — if it troubles you, the advice card is the lever. Reversed, the result may still be unsettled, waiting on a choice you have not made yet.

Example questions

Related spreads

When you want one question seen along two lines at once — how it has moved through time (past, present, near future) and how you might meet it (advice, the people and circumstances around you, your own true wish) — with the outcome at the centre. It suits relationship and work questions where other people's positions matter as much as your own: a stalled romance, a team conflict, a plan that depends on someone else. Where the full cross dissects one knotted problem in depth, this layout gives a balanced overview in about 15–20 minutes. Keep the question open and specific — 'how can I…' rather than 'will…'.

The seven-card hexagram — past, present and near future on the upward triangle, advice, surroundings and your own wish on the downward one, the outcome at the centre — is a standard spread in Japanese and Chinese tarot guides; Kagami Ryuji's widely read version orders the downward triangle differently. An earlier English hexagram spread, in Paul Huson's The Devil's Picturebook (1971), read one triangle as favourable forces and the other as unfavourable. No Golden Dawn or older source for a hexagram layout is known.