The Five-Element Spread
A five-card spread built on the pentagram, with Spirit at the top point and Air, Fire, Water and Earth at the other four, suited to diagnosing a state across several dimensions.
Structure and origins
This is a five-card spread built on the shape of a pentagram (the Pentagram Spread): the top point stands for Spirit, and the other four points stand for the four elements, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. The match between the four points and the four elements is not arbitrary. It follows the traditional occult correspondences of the four corners in Major Arcana images such as the Wheel of Fortune and the World, where the corners show a bull (Taurus / Earth), a lion (Leo / Fire), an eagle (Scorpio / Water) and a human or angel (Aquarius / Air). Moving this set of correspondences onto the pentagram gives a structure with Air, Fire, Water and Earth each at one point and Spirit at the top.
The five positions and the questions they suit
What each position looks at: Spirit, the overall state of mind and what affects it; Air, abilities and influences in thinking and communication; Fire, abilities and influences in drive and courage; Water, abilities and influences in feelings and relationships; Earth, abilities and influences in material matters, health and the outside environment. Types of question it suits: the inner energy of each of the five dimensions right now; for a specific problem, which direction to put effort into in each of the five dimensions; diagnosing the root of a problem, by looking at where things go wrong in each of the five dimensions and then combining them into one overall root.
Reading points
When drawing, you do not need to make the suits match the positions. Any position can receive any suit or a Major Arcana card. Read the card you actually drew, and do not insist that "the Water position must get a Cups card." A more advanced use is to add the active/passive polarity judgment from elemental dignities. In the Air and Fire positions, Wands or Swords (active) count as dignified and the energy is fuller, while Cups or Pentacles (passive) reduce it somewhat. The Water and Earth positions work the other way around: Cups or Pentacles (passive) count as dignified, and Wands or Swords (active) reduce the energy. The Spirit position at the top is like a Major Arcana card; it sits at the center and takes no part in this polarity judgment.
In contrast to this way of drawing without grouping by suit, there is a simpler method. Split the deck into the Major Arcana and the four suits first, and draw only from the group that matches the area being asked about (for money questions, draw only from the Pentacles, for example). It is common in yearly readings done at turning points such as the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. This method is easier to learn, but it gives up information the cards might bring that falls outside the preset area. If, say, a love problem is really being driven by the patterns of thinking and communication that Swords stand for, drawing by group cannot show it.