What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons Tarot Spread
This spread helps you reflect on a situation by looking at what worked, what didn’t and what lessons you can take forward. It’s perfect for evaluating projects, relationships and personal growth. It encourages objective reflection and helps you celebrate progress while learning from missteps.
Why This Spread?
When you want to learn from an experience, this spread offers structured reflection. It acknowledges successes, recognises failures and extracts wisdom to inform your next steps without dwelling on regret. It emphasises growth and encourages you to view every outcome as a learning opportunity.
3 Card Tarot Card Spread
What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons Tarot Spread Breakdown:
Card 1: What Worked – This card shows what actions and approaches proved successful.
Card 2: What Didn’t Work – This card reveals what didn’t go as planned or created obstacles.
Card 3: Lessons – This card highlights the lessons you can take from the experience.
When To Reflect On Lessons
Use this spread after finishing a project, ending a relationship or completing a significant chapter. It’s useful for post-mortems, closure and celebrating progress while identifying areas for improvement. Reading after milestone events helps you capture insights while memories are fresh.
Questions About Learning
Reflection Mantras
Prompts For Reflection
Tips For Learning From Experience
How Tarot Illuminates Lessons
Tarot provides clear reflections on past experiences, allowing you to objectively view what worked, what didn’t and the wisdom gained. The cards encourage self-awareness and help you transform experiences into tools for growth, rather than regrets. It also supports emotional release, allowing you to move on with wisdom and grace.
Exploring Experience And Growth
By separating success, failure and lessons, this spread shows the different facets of any experience. It reminds you that every outcome offers value and that learning from both achievements and mistakes leads to progress. By recognising patterns, you can consciously choose new behaviours that lead to better outcomes.
Key Reflection Areas
This area highlights what you did well. It celebrates your strengths, the strategies that succeeded and the support you received. Recognising what worked builds confidence and encourages you to repeat successful patterns. Celebrate your achievements fully to reinforce confidence and motivation.
This area exposes obstacles, mistakes and challenges. It invites you to acknowledge missteps without self-blame. Understanding what didn’t work allows you to refine your approach and avoid repeating unhelpful patterns. Being gentle with yourself ensures mistakes become stepping stones rather than barriers.
This area synthesises insights from both success and failure. It shows the deeper learning or wisdom you can carry forward. The lesson may involve a change in mindset, a new skill or a shift in priorities. This area encourages you to incorporate insights into everyday decisions for sustainable growth.
Frequently Asked Questions about the What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons Tarot Spread
What does the What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons spread reveal?
It helps you evaluate a situation by showing what you did well, what didn’t go as planned and the lessons to carry forward. This clarity turns experiences into learning opportunities and informs future choices. It also shows you how to use reflections to improve future decisions.
How is it different from the Past / Present / Future spread?
Past / Present / Future focuses on the flow of time and influences from your past, current situation and future potential. What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons provides specific feedback on a completed experience, highlighting success, challenges and lessons for growth.
When should I use this spread?
Use it after completing a project, ending a relationship or reaching a milestone. It’s ideal for reflecting on achievements and challenges, offering actionable insight before embarking on new ventures or cycles. Take time to understand the story behind the results and celebrate growth.
Can this spread help with professional development?
Yes. It can identify what strategies helped you succeed at work, what obstacles hindered progress and what lessons will improve your skills. This reflection supports career advancement and professional growth. It’s useful for performance reviews, project retrospectives or personal development.
How do I interpret the lessons card?
The lessons card synthesises the experience’s message. Look for overarching themes or shifts it suggests, such as patience, collaboration or clarity. This card may encourage you to adjust your mindset or actions in future situations. Taking time to reflect on these insights helps you apply wisdom across all areas of life, turning setbacks into stepping stones.
How does this spread compare to Opportunities / Difficulties / Advice?
Opportunities / Difficulties / Advice focuses on current situations and guidance. What Worked / What Didn’t Work / Lessons is retrospective, analysing past experiences for learning. Using both offers a robust view of where you’ve been and where you’re heading. Together they give you context about where you are now and how you can improve.
What if I feel upset seeing what didn’t work?
Feeling disappointed is normal. Treat the card as feedback rather than criticism. Focus on what you can learn from the experience and how the insight can help you grow. Self-compassion is key to integrating lessons. Treat the information as constructive feedback to encourage progress, not criticism.
How often should I use this spread?
Use it whenever you complete significant projects or events. Regular reflection after major milestones builds self-awareness and ensures continuous improvement. However, avoid reading it every day to prevent over-analysis. Spacing out readings allows time to implement changes before the next review.
Can I share the reading with others?
Yes, sharing with trusted friends, mentors or team members can provide additional perspectives and support collective learning. It encourages openness and collaborative growth, especially after group projects. Sharing encourages accountability and invites support to help you implement lessons. It also fosters a culture of mutual learning and respect.
How can I integrate the insights?
Write down the successes, challenges and lessons. For each lesson, create an actionable plan. For example, if patience is a lesson, set small goals that require patience. Revisit your notes before future endeavours to remind yourself of what you learned.
Explore More Direction/Guidance Tarot Spreads
3 Cards Lessons Learned Tarot Spread
This spread helps you reflect on a situation by looking at what worked, what didn’t and what lessons you can take forward. It’s perfect for evaluating projects, relationships and personal growth. It encourages objective reflection and helps you celebrate progress while learning from missteps.
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3 Cards Thought Emotion Action Tarot Spread
This spread explores how your thoughts, feelings and actions align. It reveals where your thinking influences your emotions, where feelings guide or misguide you and how your actions reflect or resist your inner landscape. It offers a clear framework for self-analysis and promotes greater self-awareness.
3 Cards Motivation Insight Tarot Spread
This spread helps you understand the difference between your needs, your deepest desires and the fears that hold you back. It clarifies what truly motivates you and how hidden fears influence your choices. It offers a structured way to explore your inner world and is useful for personal growth and self-awareness.
3 Cards Role and Potential Tarot Spread
This spread reveals who you are, your position in the situation and where your potential lies. Use it for self-reflection, goal setting and clarifying roles in relationships or projects. It helps you understand your identity, your current role and how your potential can unfold, offering a holistic view of your path.
3 Cards Creative Balance Tarot Spread
This three-card spread helps you understand how your passion, imagination and logic work together when making decisions. It’s ideal for creative projects, problem solving and exploring the balance between dreaming big and staying grounded. By separating each element, you gain clarity on how they influence each other and how to balance them.
3 Cards Emotion Insight Tarot Spread
This three-card spread reveals your current emotion, the source of that feeling, and advice on how to handle it. It encourages emotional honesty and helps you explore where your feelings originate so you can process them thoughtfully and support yourself.
3 Cards Fear Response Tarot Spread
This three-card spread examines a fear you’re facing, how you currently respond and what a healthier response might be. It helps you understand why you react a certain way and offers guidance on shifting towards a more empowering and compassionate approach.
3 Cards Opportunity Challenge Tarot Spread
This spread highlights where opportunities await, what difficulties you need to overcome and the advice that will help you progress. It provides a clear overview of your current situation, showing strengths and obstacles so you can make informed choices with confidence.
