365 Tarot Spreads: Revealing the Magic in Each Day - Sasha Graham 2014

Imprisonment Spread

On This Day

During Alcatraz’s 29 years of operation, no prisoner successfully escaped. Shut down due to the high price of operation, it now serves as a tourist site and inspiration for pop culture films, TV shows, and literature.

At 9:40 am on this day in 1934, the first prisoners were taken to Alcatraz Island Penitentiary. Designed to hold prisoners who caused problems at other penitentiaries, this infamous jail became home to America’s most notorious bank robbers and murderers.

Summation of Spread

A fortification like Alcatraz looms on the cliffs behind the bound figure in the Eight of Swords. It appears to fade into the background, symbolic of the past disappearing and the figure’s ability to break free. Her floating nature represents the supernatural quality of this card. Interior walls and shackles can be destroyed with a single thought.

Are you held captive by something? Prison bars are not the only facility to hold people in. Destructive ideas, social expectations, limiting beliefs, and even other people can hold someone captive. This spread looks at what holds a person captive so they are empowered to break free of the ties that bind.

Cast Your Cards

Cast the cards like window bars in a dank prison cell begging to be broken.

1. What holds me captive?

2. What drains my happiness?

3. What do I wish I didn’t know?

4. How am I my own worst enemy?

5. What do I fear most?

6. What is worse than death?

7. How do I make my escape?

8. What lesson do I bring with me?

9. What lies on the outside?