Larisa
In short
Mirror of the Heart is a seven-card Katina spread for love and relationships. It gives separate positions to the bond, each person's feeling themes, the visible and unspoken aspects, possible development and guidance. Compare the cards with your own feelings and observed behaviour to explore the relationship as a whole.
What is Mirror of the Heart and when should you use it?
Mirror of the Heart is a seven-card love and relationship spread laid with the Katina deck. Its two feeling positions sit on either side of the bond’s essence. Compare your feelings, observed behaviour and shared experiences through those headings. Katina focuses mainly on relationships, and this layout gives their emotional themes room.
It is useful at the start of a new relationship, at a turning point in a long one, after a breakup, or at any moment when your feelings have become tangled. It focuses on an emotional matter with one person. It can be used for a work relationship or a family matter too, but its real strength shows in romantic bonds.
What sets Mirror of the Heart apart is that it gives Visible situation and Hidden or unspoken thing separate positions. Compare events and words you know with a subject you have not discussed. Name where your own interpretation goes beyond what has actually been said or done.
How to ask a question for a Katina love reading
Mirror of the Heart answers best when you are curious about the dynamic of the relationship. Questions that want a one-word answer, such as “Do they love me?” or “Will they come back?”, shrink what the spread can offer.
- Better: “Why does the distance between us not close?”, “What do I really need in this relationship?”, “What kind of bond is forming with the person I have just met?”
- Ask about the relationship itself. Name an exchange or recurring situation and how you took part in it. That gives each card a concrete context and helps you identify a subject you want to discuss.
- Focus on one relationship. Name the person and the situation you want to explore; keep a comparison with another relationship for a different reading.
After a breakup, ask “What remains of this relationship in me, which behaviours increased the distance, and what did I leave unsaid?” Note your feelings, remembered events and unspoken subjects separately. From those notes, choose one matter you want to address now.
Write the question in one sentence, keep it in mind while you shuffle, and draw seven cards in order.
Mirror of the Heart: the 7 positions
The cards are laid out like this: card 4 at the top; beneath it, from left to right, cards 2, 1 and 3; below them card 5; and at the bottom card 6 on the left and card 7 on the right.
| Order | Position | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essence of the emotional matter | A central theme for comparing shared experiences, closeness and distance |
| 2 | Your true feeling | What you really feel in this relationship |
| 3 | Their true feeling | Feeling themes considered alongside the other person’s words and observed behaviour |
| 4 | Visible situation | Words, events and behaviour you can describe from experience |
| 5 | Hidden or unspoken thing | A subject to examine through your own words, omissions and questions |
| 6 | Near emotional development | Near-term feeling themes considered under current conditions |
| 7 | Heart guidance | The stance that guides you in this relationship, and the lesson to take |
The three heart cards (1, 2, 3) form the horizontal axis. The essence card gives the two feeling themes a shared context. With similar cards, name the common theme: closeness, distance or expectation. With different cards, consider your own need and the behaviour you have observed separately, then relate both to events in the relationship.
The visible and the hidden (4, 5) form the vertical axis. Describe the events you associate with Visible situation and the subject you connect with Hidden or unspoken thing. Consider where your words matched your feelings and where you left something out. Use an actual exchange to examine that contrast.
Development and guidance (6, 7) close the spread. The near emotional development is not fate but the movement that comes forward if today’s dynamic continues. The heart’s guidance is the advice the spread leaves you with.
How to read Mirror of the Heart
Begin with the central Essence of the emotional matter, then compare Your true feeling and Their true feeling with it. Next examine Visible situation alongside Hidden or unspoken thing, keeping each theme connected to the question.
- Compare the two hearts (2 and 3). Which themes do they share? A lady, lord or sultan card introduces the qualities of a person type. Compare those qualities with words and behaviour in the relationship, keeping your own interpretation distinct from what has been expressed.
- Place the essence between them (1). Compare its theme with both feeling positions. Name how your own need, the behaviour you have observed and your shared experiences connect with that central theme.
- Connect the visible to the hidden (4 and 5). Use the two themes to compare a conversation you have had with a subject you have left unnamed. Identify which words were spoken, what you felt and what you still want to ask.
- Read the development and the advice together (6 and 7). Name a difficult development theme directly, then consider the guidance alongside the resources, choices and limits in your current situation. Identify an attitude you want to bring to the next conversation.
Read reversed cards according to the situation: in Katina a reversed card shows the same theme delayed, overdone or in shadow, and takes its meaning from its neighbours. Close with “In this relationship I feel …; the behaviour I have observed is …; the subject I have not discussed is …; and what I want to express today is …”.
Example reading: a distance that will not close
This example spread shows how the two hearts and the unspoken are read side by side.
Question: “Why does the distance between us not close?”
| Position | Card |
|---|---|
| 1. Essence | the Heart |
| 2. Your true feeling | the Letter |
| 3. Their true feeling | Mida |
| 4. Visible situation | the Clouds |
| 5. Hidden or unspoken | the Fox |
| 6. Near emotional development | the Road |
| 7. Heart guidance | the Dervish |
Essence: the Heart. The Heart brings love, closeness and care into the bond’s central theme. Compare them with your own feeling and the sharing you have actually experienced. Name the kind of closeness you want rather than assuming the card confirms it.
Your true feeling: the Letter. Communication is the card’s theme. In your own feeling position, consider what you want to say and what you want to ask. Write those separately: an expression of feeling and a question seeking an answer serve different purposes.
Their true feeling: Mida. Mida describes a distant, cold and touchy person type. In this position, consider the distance you have observed: which behaviour felt cold, and which hurt has been stated openly? Compare those events with the card’s qualities without adding a cause to the withdrawal.
Visible and hidden: the Clouds and the Fox. The Clouds bring incomplete information and uncertainty; the Fox emphasises masks and the gap between words and actions. Write down what you know, what you are assuming and what you want to ask. Notice where you have filled a gap with your own explanation.
Development and guidance: the Road and the Dervish. The Road introduces choice, direction and consideration of a next step. Identify the options currently open to you. The Dervish advises an unhurried, plain-spoken approach that draws on your experience and observations.
Together. A wish for closeness, distance and incomplete information sit side by side here. The Letter and the Dervish advise expressing your experience plainly. Prepare a short conversation that states your own feeling and includes the question you want answered.
To read your own relationship, choose the Katina deck in the Larisa app and open Mirror of the Heart; the reader interprets both hearts, the visible situation and what goes unspoken one by one, then ties them together with the heart’s guidance.
Larisa's approach
Katina is, on the whole, mostly about relationships. When I look at a relationship, I don't build the reading only on “do they love me or not?”; I weigh both people's points of view, their feelings and intentions, the dynamic between them and what is left unsaid or hidden, all together. My aim is to understand why the relationship has reached this point and where it is heading.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are in the Katina relationship spread?
Mirror of the Heart uses seven cards. The essence of the bond sits in the centre with each person's heart on either side, the visible situation above, what goes unspoken below, and the near emotional development and the heart's guidance at the bottom. The whole 65-card Katina deck is used.
Does Mirror of the Heart show what the other person thinks?
Read Their true feeling as a heading for considering feeling themes alongside behaviour you have observed. Compare distance, closeness or hurt in the card with what the person has said and done. Note your own expectations, the behaviour you know and the question you have yet to ask separately.
Are reversed cards read in a Katina spread?
Yes. A reversed Katina card has no fixed meaning; it is read according to the situation, the question and the cards around it. Consider the same theme delayed, overdone or in shadow. In Hidden or unspoken thing, relate the reversal's theme to a subject you have not named or discussed, keeping your own feeling separate from the events you know and the answers you are seeking.
How is Mirror of the Heart different from the tarot Relationship spread?
Both use seven cards and read the two people separately. Mirror of the Heart is laid with the Katina deck and gives its own places to what goes unspoken and to the heart's guidance, speaking in Katina's relationship-centred language. The tarot Relationship Spread compares each person's conscious attitude, feelings and unconscious influence in a symmetrical layout, with a seventh card for the shared relationship energy.
Keep exploring
The readings offered by Larisa Tarot are provided for personal awareness, self-reflection and entertainment. They contain no certainty, no guarantee about the future and no promise of a particular outcome.