logo Horoscopes Tarot Playing Cards Lenormand Runes I Ching Mah-Jong Dominoes Smileys 8-Ball Natal Reports Numerology Biorhythms Insights

 

 

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

3 of Pentacles

The Outcome

Knight of Pentacles


Hopes and Fears

8 of Pentacles


External Forces

6 of Cups


The Querent

3 of Swords

The Recent Past

6 of Pentacles

The Crossing Card

King of Swords


The Significator

2 of Swords

The Future

King of Wands


Foundation card


Justice

 

 

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

 

 

2 of Swords

A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.

Reversed Meaning:

Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty, treason, back-stabbing.

 

 

 

 

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

 

King of Swords

He sits in judgement, holding the unsheathed sword. He recalls the conventional symbol of justice in the Major Arcana, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death.

Upright Meaning:

Power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, defensiveness, security, high office, duty, public service.

 

 

 

 

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

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Justice

A female judge holds the sword of Justice in her right hand and the scales of Justice in her left. This is symbolic of fairness and the knowledge of the law, as well as the power to execute judgement.

Upright Meaning:

Equity, rightness, probity, fair, honest, reasonable, uprightness, nonpartisan, balance, justness, integrity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.

 

6 of Pentacles

A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as to his goodness of heart.

Reversed Meaning:

Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion, resentment, rivalry, grudge.

 

 

 

 

The Future depicts that which lies ahead.

 

King of Wands

The nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He bears the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.

Upright Meaning:

Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long.

 

 

 

 

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

 

3 of Swords

Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.

Reversed Meaning:

Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion, a storm brewing.

 

 

 

 

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

 

6 of Cups

Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers.

Upright Meaning:

Remembrances, looking back, as on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

8 of Pentacles

An artist in stone at his work, which he exhibits in the form of trophies.

Upright Meaning:

Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business, preparedness, readiness.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Knight of Pentacles

He rides a slow but steady horse, which is just like him. He holds the pentacle, but does not look therein.

Upright Meaning:

Utility, service, interest, responsibility, rectitude, authority, obligation, accountability, work, trust.