Celtic Cross Spread

Celtic Cross

 

 

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.

  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 card indicates the immediate future.
  7. This card represents the reader and their attitude towards cards #1 and #2.
  8. The external influences, the places and people which influence the topic.
  9. This tarot card suggests expectations; what is secretly hoped for or feared.
  10. The second future card reveals the long-term outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Celtic Cross Tarot Reading with the Book of Thoth

 

The Crown

Ace of Swords

  The Outcome

The Lovers


Hopes and Fears

Princess of Disks


External Forces

10 of Disks


The Querent

The Magus

The Recent Past

The Universe

This Crosses the Significator

The Star


The Significator

The Aeon

The Future

3 of Disks


The Foundation

The Devil

 

 

 

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

 

 

The Aeon

Fire

Be every Act an Act of Love and Worship. Be every Act the Fiat of a God. Be every Act a Source of radiant Glory.

Final decision in respect of the past, new current in respect of the future; always represents the taking of a definite step.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Star

Aquarius

Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn up thy thought as the Phoenix.

Hope, unexpected help, clearness of vision, realisation of possibilities, spiritual insight, with bad aspects, error of judgment, dreaminess, disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Ace of Swords

The Root of Air

The Ace of Swords is the primordial Energy of Air, the Essence of the Vau of Tetragrammaton, the integration of the Ruach. Air is the result of the conjunction of Fire and Water; thus, it lacks the purity of its superiors in the male hierarchy, Fire, Sol and the Phallus. But for this same reason it is the first card directly to be apprehended by the normal consciousness of Mankind.

In nature, the obvious symbol of Air is the Wind 'which bloweth whithersoever it listeth'. It lacks the concentrated Will of Fire to unite with Water: it has no corresponding passion for its Twin Element, Earth. There is indeed, a notable passivity in its nature; evidently, it has no self-generated impulse. But, set in motion by its Father and Mother, its power is manifestly terrific. It visibly attacks its objective, as they, being of subtler and more tenuous character, can never do. Its 'all-embracing, all-wandering, all-penetrating, all-consuming' qualities have been described by many admirable writers, and its analogies are for the most part patent to quite ordinary observers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Devil

Capricorn

With thy right Eye create all for thyself, and with the left accept all that be created otherwise.

Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous, ambition, temptation, obsession, secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.

 

 

 

 

 

The Recent Past represents past events and concerns.

 

The Universe

Earth

Treat time and all conditions of Event as Servants of thy Will, appointed to present the Universe to thee in the form of thy Plan. And: blessing and worship to the prophet of the lovely Star.

The matter of the question itself, synthesis, the end of the matter, may mean delay, opposition, obstinacy, inertia, patience, perseverance, persistent stubbornness in difficulty. The crystallisation of the whole matter involved.

 

 

 

 

 

The Future depicts that which lies ahead.

 

The Star

Aquarius

Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn up thy thought as the Phoenix.

Hope, unexpected help, clearness of vision, realisation of possibilities, spiritual insight, with bad aspects, error of judgment, dreaminess, disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Magus

Mercury

The True Self is the meaning of the True Will: know Thyself through Thy Way. Calculate well the Formula of Thy Way. Create freely; absorb joyously; divide intently; consolidate completely. Work thou, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omni present, in and for Eternity.

Skill, wisdom, adroitness, elasticity, craft, cunning, deceit, theft. Sometimes occult wisdom or power, sometimes a quick impulse, a brain-wave. It may imply messages, business transactions, the interference of learning or intelligence with the matter in hand.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

10 of Disks

Mercury in Virgo – Wealth

Mercury rules this card in Virgo; and this may imply that the acquired wealth, being inert, will be dissipated unless put to further use by devoting its power to objects other than mere accumulation. The disks, or (as they have now become) coins, are arranged on the Tree of Life, but the Tenth coin is much larger than the rest; the image indicates the futility of material gain.

These disks are inscribed with various symbols of mercurial character except that the coin in the place of Hod (Mercury) on the Tree is marked with the cipher of the Sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Princess of Disks

The Princess of Disks represents the earthy part of Earth. She is consequently on the brink of transfiguration. She is strong and beautiful, with an expression of intense brooding, as if about to become aware of secret wonder.

Her crest is the head of the ram, and her sceptre descends into the earth. There its head becomes a diamond, the precious stone of Kether, thus symbolising the birth of the highest and purest light in the deepest and darkest of the Elements. She stands within a grove of sacred trees before an altar suggesting a wheatsheaf, for she is a priestess of Demeter. She bears within her body the secret of the future. Her sublimity is further emphasised by the disk which she bears; for in the centre thereof is the Chinese ideogram denoting the twin spiral force of Creation in perfect equilibrium; from this is born the rose of Isis, the great fertile Mother.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

The Lovers

Gemini

The Oracle of the Gods is the Child- Voice of Love in Thine own Soul; hear thou it. Heed not the Siren-Voice of Sense, or the Phantom-Voice of Reason: rest in Simplicity, and listen to the Silence.

Openness to inspiration, intuition, intelligence, second sight, childishness, frivolity, thoughtfulness divorced from practical consideration, indecision, self-contradiction, union in a shallow degree with others, instability, contradiction, triviality, the 'high-brow'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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