Spreads or freeform readings?
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Do you prefer reading with positional meanings and predefined spreads, or do you read more freeform, letting the cards speak without assigning specific meanings to each position?
If you read freeform, what's your actual technique? Do you read left to right as a narrative that you form while pulling cards, do you look at elemental interactions, focus on visual relationships between the cards, build a story, or something else?
Personally, I tend to prefer spreads with clear positional meanings. As a reader, I find them more precise and better suited to the kinds of questions people bring me. Having defined positions helps me stay focused and gives the querent a clearer structure. My querents are used to getting clear and direct answers to their questions so this helps.
However, when I read with TdM, I often do simple three-card pulls without assigning any meanings to the positions. I just read the cards in sequence, as one sentence, usually using visual rhymes rather than any "this means that" system, following Elias and Enriquez.
I'm interested to hear how others do it and what you feel are the strengths and limitations of each approach.