Man, I gotta tell you, the journey with Thoth Tarot, especially getting to the point of offering free spreads, has been a wild one. It wasn’t some grand plan I hatched, you know? It kinda just… happened. Like most good things, it started with a bit of a scramble and a whole lot of head-scratching.
I remember it clear as day. I was sitting there, deck in hand, feeling like I had this powerful tool, but also, it felt kinda gatekept, if that makes sense? Every time I wanted a specific spread layout, a good interpretation, or just a deep dive, it always felt like there was a paywall, or some exclusive club you had to join. And let me tell you, my wallet wasn’t exactly overflowing at the time. I was just trying to make ends meet, and yet, this spiritual stuff really called to me. So I thought, there’s gotta be a better way for folks like me, who just want to explore without breaking the bank.
Getting My Hands Dirty
My first move? Just dove headfirst into using the deck. Not just one card pulls, but actual spreads. I started pulling out old books, scouring forums – back when forums were still a big thing, remember those? – just trying to grasp the nuances of Thoth. It’s not your average Rider-Waite, that’s for sure. The symbolism is dense, the Qabalah connections… it’s a whole beast. I’d try a spread, lay out the cards, and then spend hours just staring at them, trying to piece together the story. Sometimes it felt like I was trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing.
Then came the urge to document it. I started with a simple notebook. Just sketching the layouts, jotting down my interpretations, how the cards spoke to each other. It was messy, full of cross-outs and question marks. But it was my process. I noticed quickly that some spreads were amazing for certain questions, and others just didn’t cut it. The classic Celtic Cross, for example, felt a bit clunky with Thoth for me sometimes. I wanted something more direct, more tailored.
The “Aha!” Moment and Building It Out
The “aha!” moment hit when a friend asked me for a reading, and she was in a tough spot financially. I did the reading, explained everything, and she was so grateful. That’s when it clicked: why couldn’t I make this more widely available? Not just my personal scribbles, but actual, useful spreads, for free.
I wasn’t some tech guru, far from it. My idea of a website was maybe a Geocities page from way back when. But I was determined. I started looking into simple ways to put stuff online. I didn’t want anything fancy, just a clean space where people could find what they needed.
- First, I picked the spreads. I went through my notebooks, picked out the ones that consistently gave good insights. Some were variations on traditional ones, some were my own Frankenstein creations, born from trial and error. I focused on layouts that felt intuitive with the Thoth deck’s energy.
- Next, the descriptions. This was a big one. I didn’t just want to list card positions. I wanted to give context, a guiding hand. I wrote out what each position meant, and then, crucially, how to interpret it with the Thoth deck’s unique vibe. I kept it simple, no overly academic language. Just honest, down-to-earth advice.
- Then came the “how to make it free” part. This was the biggest hurdle. I knew I couldn’t host a full-blown interactive app, that was way out of my league and budget. So I thought, what’s the simplest way to share? PDFs! Easy to download, easy to print. I started designing simple, clean PDF templates for each spread. A picture of the layout, a clear description of each position, and maybe some quick tips.
- Finding a home for it. I settled on a very basic blog platform. Something free, easy to set up. I learned to embed the PDFs so people could download them with a single click. It took a lot of fiddling, a lot of late nights staring at code snippets I barely understood, but I got it done. Pictures of the actual cards, carefully chosen to represent the spread, went up alongside the text.
The Bumps in the Road and the Joy of Sharing
Oh, there were bumps. Plenty of them. Formatting those PDFs was a nightmare sometimes. Getting the images to look right, dealing with font issues. And then, the constant doubt: “Is this even good enough? Will anyone even care?” I worried about copyright, about making sure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes. I just wanted to share something helpful, you know?
But the feedback started trickling in. Little comments, emails from strangers saying “Thank you, this helped me so much.” That’s what kept me going. It wasn’t about getting rich, or becoming famous. It was about seeing other people connect with this powerful tool, without the usual barriers. It was about creating a little corner of the internet where you didn’t have to pay to explore your own intuition and understanding. It felt good. Really good. And that’s pretty much how we got to where we are now, just a place for free Thoth Tarot spreads, made from the ground up, for anyone who needs them.
