Celtic Cross Spread
Difficulty: Average
This is probably the most well-known tarot spread. A good, basic spread for beginners to practise with, the Celtic Cross is useful for questions of all types. In this spread, it can be helpful to notice the relationships between the pairings of cards #5 & #9, #1 & #2, #3 & #4, and #6 & #10.
- The significator epitomizes what the reading deals with, the initial situation.
- An added impulse that compounds the significator, which may be either complimentary or contradictory.
- This is what is consciously known (thoughts).
- Unconscious driving forces that may not be known fully (emotions).
- The immediate past regarding the current situation.
- The first future card indicates the immediate future.
- This card represents the reader and their attitude towards cards #1 and #2.
- The external influences, the places and people which influence the topic.
- This tarot card suggests expectations; what is secretly hoped for or feared.
- The second future card reveals the long-term outcome.
Your Celtic Cross Reading
The Crown |
The Outcome 10 of Pentacles
External Forces  Ace of Pentacles
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The Recent Past 8 of Wands |
This Crosses the Significator
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The Future King of Pentacles |
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The Significator represents what the main theme of the reading deals with, the initial situation.
7 of Cups
'It's hard to fill a cup that's already full'. –James Cameron, Avatar. What fills your cup? If you like what's there don't let the nightmares in. But if you want to learn more, you have to spill your past preconceptions.
This Crosses the Significator denotes an added impulse that compounds the initial card, whether complimentary or contradictory.
2 of Cups
And two for my homies. Never forget past orthodoxies, past people or past events. Those who don't know their history aren't doomed to repeat it, they're doomed to fail history class and look like idiots. One feels no shame in repeating something they never saw in the first place, but stupidity is the greatest sin.
The Crown stands for what the asker is aware of consciously.
4 of Pentacles
It doesn't always come out the way you wanted. That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy it.
The Foundation reveals unconscious driving forces that the querent may not be aware of.
Queen of Wands
An homage to H.R. Giger's Alien Hieroglyphs and an insult to perspective. A wand that does nothing more than sap the life from you and squirt it down the drain.
The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.
8 of Wands
The means by which you arrive are not necessarily the means by which you'll stay.
The Future depicts that which lies ahead.
2 of Cups
And two for my homies. Never forget past orthodoxies, past people or past events. Those who don't know their history aren't doomed to repeat it, they're doomed to fail history class and look like idiots. One feels no shame in repeating something they never saw in the first place, but stupidity is the greatest sin.
The Querent represents the asker and their attitude towards the subject of the reading.
The Star
AKA The Star in traditional Tarot.
In this case it's Perseus slaying Medusa, a homage to Marqueste's sculpture.
Crowley explained every man and woman is a star. Astrologically, we all effect the fates with our rises and falls. We also congregate into bodies which are no mere illusion, but powerful forces in time. Other people have power over you, but you too have power over them.
External Forces represents the influence of others in your life as well as trends in your relationships with others.
Ace of Pentacles
A fencing mask on a skeleton with a cadeceus over a black sun before fire. Refer to the symbolic meaning of each to find the answers you seek.
Hopes and Fears shows the expectations you have concerning the outcome of your question.
Page of Wands
If you're going to use a pool stick, first be sure that you aren't one of the balls.
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.
10 of Pentacles
The tree of life doesn't play out flawlessly like it does in the diagrams. It's actually far more distorted than that. Don't mistake the map for the territory and follow books blindly.
