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.
The Crown |
The Outcome  10 of Wands
External Forces  The Magician
|
||
The Recent Past  Page of Pentacles |
The Crossing Card
|
The Future  Ace of Cups |
|
|
|||
The Emperor
The Emperor sits on his throne holding his sceptre. He represents a male figure of power and authority.
Upright Meaning:
Authority, stability, power, protection, benevolence, realisation a greatness, aid, reason, conviction, willpower.
Page of Swords
A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of power walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.
Reversed Meaning:
Unforeseen difficulties, unprepared state, surprises, sickness.
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.
Upright 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 which Nature is sanctified.
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.
Reversed Meaning:
Instability, inconstancy, deception, gossip, spite, malice, depreciation, discouragement.
Page of Pentacles
A youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over his raised hands. He moves slowly, unaware of his surroundings.
Reversed Meaning:
Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, squandering luxury, bad news, misspending, waste, throw away, deplete, flush down the toilet.
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.
Reversed Meaning:
House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.
3 of Swords
Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.
Upright Meaning:
Removal, absence, sorrow, emotional pain, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, dissolution, a mental breakdown.
The Magician
A robed figure performs the act of ceremonial magic in order to direct his will to perform his desires.
Upright Meaning:
Skill, subtlety, clandestine, self-confidence, willpower, determination, action, initiative, talent, ability.
5 of Pentacles
Two injured people in a snow storm pass a well-lit church.
Reversed Meaning:
Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy, injury, hurt, harm, jealousy, vagrancy, underdevelopment.
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.
