Celtic Cross Layout

 

 

Difficulty: Average

This is probably the most well-known layout. A good, basic layout for beginners to practise with, the Celtic Cross is useful for questions of all types. In this layout, it can be helpful to notice the relationships between the pairings of oghams #5 & #9, #1 & #2, #3 & #4, and #6 & #10.

1. The significator epitomizes what the reading deals with, the initial situation.
2. An added impulse that compounds the significator, which may be either complimentary or contradictory.
3. This is what is consciously known (thoughts).
4. Unconscious driving forces that may not be known fully (emotions).
5. The immediate past regarding the current situation.
6. The first future ogham indicates the immediate future.
7. This ogham represents the reader and their attitude towards oghams #1 and #2.
8. The external influences, the places and people which influence the topic.
9. This ogham suggests expectations; what is secretly hoped for or feared.
10. The second future ogham reveals the long-term outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Celtic Cross Reading

	The Crown Quert Blocked		The Outcome Onn Blocked Hopes and Fears Eadha Blocked External Forces Iodhadh The Querent Luis
The Recent Past Ur	This Crosses the Significator Ruis The Significator Duir Blocked	The Future Ór
	The Foundation Straif

 

 

 

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

 

 

Duir Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Oak
• Kenning: ‘Door to Strength’

Blocked Oak crumbles into tyranny or weakness. You may either dominate when you should lead, or abdicate when you should stand firm. Know the difference between stubborn pride and rightful authority. Strength unused is strength lost. Step up—or step aside.

• Spiritual Lesson: Power without purpose is decay.
• Reflective Question: Where must I claim authority—or surrender pride?
• Affirmation: ‘I am the door that withstands all storms.’

 

 

 

 

 

This Crosses the Significator denotes an added impulse that compounds the initial card, whether complimentary or contradictory.

 

Ruis

• Tree/Plant: Elder
• Kenning: ‘Death’s Gateway’

Elder stands at the threshold of endings and beginnings. Ruis calls you to sacred surrender: mourn, release, and prepare to be reborn. Transformation is not gentle; it strips you down. Accept the death of what must fall away. Only then can the new roots find soil.

• Spiritual Lesson: True rebirth demands true mourning.
• Reflective Question: What am I still carrying that must be laid to rest?
• Affirmation: ‘I bless the ending and welcome the new.’

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Quert Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Apple
• Kenning: ‘Fruit of the Otherworld’

When Apple is blocked, pleasure becomes greed, or fear of pleasure stifles the spirit. You may refuse what life offers, believing yourself unworthy—or gorge yourself into spiritual sickness. Seek balance. The fruit of the Otherworld is sacred because it is shared, not hoarded.

• Spiritual Lesson: True abundance is joyful, generous, and reverent.
• Reflective Question: Where am I denying myself the blessings of life?
• Affirmation: ‘I taste joy without fear.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Straif

• Tree/Plant: Blackthorn
• Kenning: ‘Blade of Trials’

Blackthorn is the bitter gatekeeper of transformation. Its thorns are cruel, but its berries sweeten with frost. Straif heralds hardship—not as punishment, but as alchemy. Pain clarifies. Conflict strengthens. Choose to transform, not to collapse. The frostbitten fruit is the richest.

• Spiritual Lesson: Pain refines, not defines.
• Reflective Question: What suffering is trying to carve me into something better?
• Affirmation: ‘I transform pain into power.’

 

 

 

 

 

The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.

 

Ur

• Tree/Plant: Heather
• Kenning: ‘Flower of Dreams’

Heather carpets the wild hills, a dreamscape of resilience and mystery. Ur asks you to trust in subtle magic: quiet dreams, soft longings, secret hopes. Nourish them patiently. Some dreams need slow seasons to grow before they break into bloom.

• Spiritual Lesson: Dreams demand roots as much as wings.
• Reflective Question: What fragile dream do I need to protect and nourish?
• Affirmation: ‘I dream with rooted hope.’

 

 

 

 

 

The Future depicts that which lies ahead.

 

Ruis

• Tree/Plant: Elder
• Kenning: ‘Death’s Gateway’

Elder stands at the threshold of endings and beginnings. Ruis calls you to sacred surrender: mourn, release, and prepare to be reborn. Transformation is not gentle; it strips you down. Accept the death of what must fall away. Only then can the new roots find soil.

• Spiritual Lesson: True rebirth demands true mourning.
• Reflective Question: What am I still carrying that must be laid to rest?
• Affirmation: ‘I bless the ending and welcome the new.’

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Luis

• Tree/Plant: Rowan
• Kenning: ‘Delight of the Eye’

The Rowan stands at the crossroads, its scarlet berries a shield against dark enchantments. Luis grants the seer’s sight—flashes of truth glimmer through the fog. Dreams grow sharper; omens clearer. Not all that you see will be comfortable, but all will be true. Trust the tugs at your spine, the sudden chill when someone speaks untruth. Your soul is attuned to warnings others miss. Listen, and you will pass safely.

• Spiritual Lesson: True insight demands patience, not desperation.
• Reflective Question: Where am I mistaking wishful thinking for true intuition?
• Affirmation: ‘My spirit sharpens to the truth.’

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Iodhadh

• Tree/Plant: Yew
• Kenning: ‘Tree of Death and Continuity’

Iodhadh, the ancient Yew, stands at the boundary of death and eternal return. Its poisonous berries and immortal trunk whisper the riddle of endings that never end. You are not merely ending—you are cycling into something older, deeper. This is not a death; it is a deepening. Honour the transformation that does not ask for permission.

• Spiritual Lesson: Death is not the end—it is the sacred beginning beneath all beginnings.
• Reflective Question: What am I clinging to that refuses to die cleanly?
• Affirmation: ‘I descend to rise.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Eadha Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Aspen
• Kenning: ‘Shield of Courage’

Blocked Aspen freezes in terror or arrogance. Do you hide from necessary risks? Or charge recklessly to drown out your fears? True courage honours fear without surrendering to it. Feel it. Face it. Then walk through it.

• Spiritual Lesson: Courage is trembling action.
• Reflective Question: What fear am I called to face and outgrow?
• Affirmation: ‘I tremble, but I move.’

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Onn Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Gorse
• Kenning: ‘Flame of Fertility’

Blocked Gorse burns out of control or gutters to ash. Lust without love, ambition without honour—these are false flames. Don't waste your fire chasing mirages. Let your passions be sacred, not consuming.

• Spiritual Lesson: Sacred fire creates; false fire consumes.
• Reflective Question: Where does my fire want to bloom?
• Affirmation: ‘I blaze the barren into bloom.’