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Celtic Cross Spread

 

The Celtic Cross is the most well-known tarot spread and also the largest available here, involving ten cards. This spread begins with a pair of crossing cards at the center of the issue, essentially being two significators. When two significators are involved, they may strengthen or oppose each other, which speaks of the nature of the situation. Above and below the initial cross, we have two cards which are symbolic of the intellectual (top) and emotional (bottom) basis of the issue. The Before and After cards show the past and immediate future.

At the right, four cards are laid out, going upward. At the bottom you have a card representing yourself, and the next card shows how others may affect the situation. Card #9 indicates what you may be hoping for, or possibly, what you hope will not happen. Finally at the top is the outcome, meaning the distant or ultimate future.

Spread Positions

  1. This is it (what you asked about)
  2. This crosses it (strengthens or opposes)
  3. This crowns it (higher influences)
  4. It rests upon this (lower influences)
  5. This came before
  6. This comes next
  7. This is you
  8. The external world around you
  9. Your hopes, fears, and secret desires
  10. The result or outcome

 

 

 

Celtic Cross

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Celtic Cross Reading

The Crown

6 of Swords

The Outcome

The Moon


Hopes and Fears

3 of Pentacles


External Forces

The Chariot


The Querent

8 of Wands

The Recent Past

4 of Wands

The Crossing Card

The Hanged Man


The Significator

Page of Wands

The Future

7 of Pentacles


Foundation card


10 of Wands

 

 

The Significator represents what the main theme of the reading deals with, the initial situation.

 

 

Page of Wands

A young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange.

Reversed Meaning:

Anecdotes, announcements, bad news. Also, indecision and the anxiety which accompanies it.

 

 

 

 

The Crossing Card denotes an added impulse that compounds the initial card, whether complimentary or contradictory.

 

The Hanged Man

A man hangs upside down from the Tau cross. This is a card of self-sacrifice and enlightenment.

Upright Meaning:

Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, augury, prophecy, pause, reflection, ideas, imagination, meditation.

 

 

 

 

The Crown stands for what the asker is aware of consciously.

 

6 of Swords

A ferryman delivering passengers to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, as the workload is not beyond his ability.

Reversed Meaning:

Declaration, confession, publicity; possibly a proposal of love.

 

 

 

 

Foundation card reveals unconscious driving forces that the querent may not be aware of.

 

10 of Wands

A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.

Upright Meaning:

Fortune, gain, success, false-seeming, disguise, perfidy. The rods that he carries may be bad news to the place he brings them. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.

 

4 of Wands

From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house.

Upright Meaning:

Country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest – home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.

 

 

 

 

The Future depicts that which lies ahead.

 

7 of Pentacles

A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there.

Reversed Meaning:

Somebody trying to borrow money and the anxiety that this spawns; altercation, quarrels, haggle, bad deal, rip-off, pestering, entice, con, beguile, coax, bait and switch.

 

 

 

 

The Querent represents the asker and their attitude towards the subject of the reading.

 

8 of Wands

The card represents motion through the immovable – a flight of wands through an open country; but they draw to the term of their course. That which they signify is at hand; it may be even on the threshold.

Upright Meaning:

Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, a messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; generally, that which is on the move; the arrows of love.

 

 

 

 

External Forces represents the influence of others in your life as well as trends in your relationships with others.

 

The Chariot

A stately figure drives a chariot pulled by a black and a white Sphinx. The canopy of his chariot is the night sky, emblazoned with stars.

Reversed Meaning:

Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat, presumption, vengeance, trouble, a bad trip, problems multiplied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopes and Fears shows the expectations you have concerning the outcome of your question.

 

3 of Pentacles

A sculptor at his work in a monastery. Compare the design which illustrates the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice or amateur therein has received his reward and is now at work in earnest.

Reversed Meaning:

Mediocrity, puerility, pettiness, weakness, pathetic-ness, lameness, a quack.

 

 

 

 

The Outcome of your question. Interpret this card in the context of the entire reading and as an indicator of the path you are currently on, but not necessarily bound to.

 

The Moon

A dog and a wolf join in howling at a brilliant full moon situated between two towers. A lobster emerges from the lake, ready to embark on the journey of evolution.

Upright Meaning:

Hidden enemies, lurkers, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, occult forces, error, the unknown, thief in the night, denigration, slander.