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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

Ace of Pentacles

The Outcome

King of Swords


Hopes and Fears

The Hermit


External Forces

4 of Swords


The Querent

3 of Swords

The Recent Past

Ace of Cups

The Crossing Card

The Moon


The Significator

3 of Wands

The Future

2 of Cups


Foundation card


The Lovers

 

 

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

 

 

3 of Wands

A calm, stately personage, with his back turned, looking from a cliff's edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground, and he leans slightly on one of them.

Reversed Meaning:

The end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment.

 

 

 

 

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

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Ace of Pentacles

A hand reaching out from a cloud holds up a pentacle.

Reversed Meaning:

The negative side of wealth, malicious intelligence; also great riches, prosperity, comfortable material conditions, but this is to your disadvantage when the card appears reversed.

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Lovers

An angel unifies two lovers which are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Upright Meaning:

A choice, decision, attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome, happiness, fulfilment, romance, variety, pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.

 

Ace of Cups

Atop the waters are water-lilies; the hand reaches out from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides.

Upright Meaning:

House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof.

 

 

 

 

The Future depicts that which lies ahead.

 

2 of Cups

A youth and maiden are pledging the love of one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card.

Reversed Meaning:

Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and – as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination – that desire by which Nature is sanctified.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

4 of Swords

The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb.

Upright Meaning:

Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Hermit

An old man with a walking stick holds up a lantern to enlighten his path.

Upright Meaning:

Prudence, circumspection, insight, self-awareness, retreat, solitude, detachment, isolation, peace, withdrawal.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.