There is a line of inquiry in spiritual circles that we choose our parents deliberately to assist in clearing karma and as a point of karmic expansion. I worked with this idea throughout my own healing journey and I have to admit, it is a very helpful point of meditation. It is also one of the reasons I created the Karmic Family spread about five years ago. It is a simple spread and can be used as both a reference point for karmic inquiry or as a tool for deeper healing work.

To do this spread you are first going to have to divide your deck into three piles: one for the majors, one for the minors, and one for the court cards. Lay the cards out in order as depicted in the diagram below.

Card 1: The Maternal Karmic Influence
Card 2: The Paternal Karmic Influence
Cards 3, 4 & 5: Show how these Karmic Influences from your parents formed your beliefs.This is really important information, especially if changing a a current set of beliefs is something you are working on or want to work on in the future.
Card 3: Shows your beliefs around money
Card 4: Shows your beliefs around health and wellbeing
Card 5: Shows your beliefs around relationships
Card 6: Drawn from the Major Arcana, this card illustrates the Karmic lesson that you came in to the physical world to clear, heal, or learn. Every card that has come before this one has set the stage for this lesson, this point of karmic expansion.
Card 7: You. This is the you that has been created by this Karmic energy, which flows from the bloodlineds of both your parents and vibrates through the karmic lesson. This may not be the you that is created once the lesson has been learnt, but it is the you right now. In order to embrace all this energy you myst first come to love this version of you.

To give you a better idea of what this spread looks like I have created a sample spread below.

In our sample spread we see how the maternal and patriarchal energies are pretty evenly matched, as they are both Queens. One is grounded and connected to the earth, while the other is more cerebral and allows the world to happen more inside of the mind. Neither of these queens could be described as overly emotional. They prefer to deal with things on a more practical, business-like manner.

The above is really interesting when we take a look at the beliefs section of this spread. We have water and fire, or wands and cups, two emotionally charged elements. Yet they seem pretty balanced here under the watchful eye of our two Queens. But it really is no surprise that we have the Empress as the Karmic lesson paired with the Queen of Cups.

Less head and more heart seems to be the Karmic lesson with the flowing moody nature of the Queen of Cups as its vessel. Let's face it, the Queen of Cups is the card we turn to when we need to learn how to use our emotional energy to empower us. She teaches us how to navigate our moods, manifest our dreams, and feel our way through the tides of life. I could go n and on analyzing this spread. It really does open itself up to further investigation. Journal work and offers up points of expansion for meditation. I encourage you to dive deeper with the cards you turn over and really explore the depths of your Karmic family.