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.

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 Reading

	The Crown 9 of Disks – Gain		The Outcome The Hierophant Hopes and Fears Princess of Wands External Forces Knight of Wands The Querent 8 of Disks – Prudence
The Recent Past 2 of Swords – Peace	The Crossing Card Ace of Wands The Significator The Chariot	The Future 6 of Disks – Success
	Foundation card Knight of Disks

Cancer

Your soul is like the driver and your body is the vehicle for your personal exploration of the universe.

Meaning:
The charioteer is a link in a chain of command. Exploration of the universe, obedience, hope, triumph.
When ill-dignified: status-quo maintenance muscle.

The Root of Fire

This is the initial spark without which there is no fire. It represents the spiritual aspect of energy and vitality at its initial manifestation.

Meaning:
Energy, natural force, strength, creation, invention, pioneer spirit, enterprise, source, beginning, birth.

Venus in Virgo

Six of the nine disks have now turned to coins, representing material gain. The three spiritual disks converge in the centre, forming a colour wheel and a rainbow. There are two triangles formed by the coins, one male and one female. A card of material gain.

Meaning:
Inheritance, increase in wealth, material fortune, accomplishment.
When ill-dignified: envy, theft.

Virgo

The Knight of Disks rides the pale horse. His horse is in fact a unicorn, a symbol of Virgo. Bearing the sickle, he has come to reap the harvest. The shield radiates waves of energy that symbolise his connection with the sphere of earth. He is concerned primarily with material values.

Meaning:
Agricultural proficiency, skills regarding material concerns, perhaps preoccupied with material concerns and therefore dull.
When ill-dignified: a petty, jealous, small-minded man.

Moon in Libra

Two swords stuck in a mound form the shape of a V, the symbolic gesture of peace like the hippies were so fond of. The owners have thrown their arms down in the spirit of harmony.

Meaning:
Contradictory characteristics of the same nature coming together. Pleasure after pain. Quarrel resolved.

The Root of Fire

This is the initial spark without which there is no fire. It represents the spiritual aspect of energy and vitality at its initial manifestation.

Meaning:
Energy, natural force, strength, creation, invention, pioneer spirit, enterprise, source, beginning, birth.

Sun in Virgo

This card is about the virtue of patience, or taking things in their proper times. Eight clocks are hung from Jacob's Ladder. With effort dreams will be attainable. Remember: one step at a time.

Meaning:
Industriousness, agriculture, building, construction, intelligence in material affairs.
When ill-dignified: too much care spent on details at the expense of the big picture.

Sagittarius

The Knight of Wands rides a white horse charging forward. The white horse symbolises the conscious side of awareness. It also symbolises the purity of fire, the vital energy and passion that boldly drives the organism. The Knight has his torch in his right hand and arrows on his back; bow and arrow being the weapon of Sagittarius.

Meaning:
A man of action, generosity, pride, and impetuousness.
When ill-dignified: A cruel, bigoted man without mercy.

A robust young woman stands on the mountain firing arrows. Her arrows represent the other Wands courts, Sagittarius, Aries, and Leo. She is a passionate, brilliant, and independent young woman. The tiger is a symbol of the lower animal nature that grounds her.

Meaning:
An individualistic energetic glowing young woman, impulsive in matters of love.
When ill-dignified: superficial, shallow, gossiping, unreliable, cruel, domineering.

Taurus

The Hierophant holds the keys to the otherworld. He is the embodiment of spiritual authority and wisdom, the knower of the spiritual universe. The swastika inside the star of David represents spiritual understanding of various perspectives being used to unlock the seven seals.

Meaning:
Divine wisdom, inspiration, organisation, teaching, gaining knowledge from superiors, tradition, patience. Sometimes occult force voluntarily invoked. Respected elder, mercy, alliance, marriage.