Glossary
Interpretive Link: definition
An interpretive relationship between two cards, two positions, or two houses in a spread.
A liaison is an interpretive relationship between two cards, two positions or two houses in a spread. It allows moving from an isolated reading —card by card— to an overall, structured and coherent reading.
Some liaisons are obvious by spatial proximity: two cards side by side in a cross spread, two neighbouring positions in the twelve-house spread. Others appear by analogy of function or by symbolic tension between elements far apart in the spread.
Identifying liaisons makes it possible to detect the axes of the spread: axes of complementarity (two cards that reinforce each other), axes of tension (two cards that oppose), axes of transformation (a card that illuminates the passage from one to another).
A good tarot reading does not settle for defining each card individually. It brings to light the liaisons that structure the whole and that give the spread its narrative and symbolic coherence.
Learning to see the liaisons is what allows you to move from spelling out cards to truly reading a spread: meaning stops being in each card separately and appears in the web of relationships that unites them.
It is best to attend above all to the strong liaisons: cards that repeat, that oppose head-on or that occupy positions that answer each other. These usually reveal the central axis of the situation.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a liaison detected in a spread?
- Three clues: the spatial proximity of the cards, the analogy of colours or motifs, and thematic coherence with the question. A strong liaison often shows several of these clues at once.
- Are all cards in a spread necessarily linked?
- Not mechanically. All cards in a spread enter into dialogue, but some liaisons are strong and structuring, others marginal. The art of reading lies precisely in ranking the liaisons.
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