Three cards are enough when the positions are clear
Past, present, future is only one version. You can also use situation, obstacle, advice; self, other, relationship; or option A, option B, recommended focus.
Define the positions before drawing. If you change the question after seeing the cards, the reading becomes a mirror of anxiety rather than insight.
Read the movement between cards
Do not read three isolated dictionary entries. Ask how the first card creates the second, and how the second opens or blocks the third.
A clear three-card reading should become one sentence: because of this past pattern, the current situation looks like this, and the next useful movement is that.