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 King of Cups		The Outcome 5 of Swords Hopes and Fears The Chariot External Forces 4 of Swords The Querent 10 of Wands
The Recent Past 8 of Wands	The Crossing Card Strength The Significator 9 of Swords	The Future 7 of Cups
	Foundation card 3 of Wands

The swords look like teeth, which at any moment could bite. The hands are held up for protection. The eye wants to open, but its vision is obstructed.

The waning moon emphasises the existing fear. The sunrise is at hand. Roses promise development, joy of life and the coming forth of emotions in the near future.

A sceptre and a sword seem to be fighting. Water and fire, portrayed in striking red, stand for subconscious strength. They are kept under control by the symbols of earth and air, the conscious elements, portrayed by the sword (clarity), the house (stability) and the wall (limits, firmness). The violet colour of the wall also shows a penetration of the colours red and blue.

The trees also contain this mixture of the elements, but they are growing cautiously as well as the clouds, water, which so to speak, becomes air (gaseous). They also stand for integration, which on the one hand makes us more flexible but on the other hand obscures things. The lemniscates, which can be seen clearly in magic, can be found in the two trees in the top left corner. It illustrates swinging into the next bend.

The king's figure and features show a certain easy-going nature and goodness. The throne's decoration underlines the qualities of love and joy which are engraved on him.

He is holding a gift in his right hand. He is very much aware that presents play an important role in friendships. The table in the background, prepared for festivities, encourages a social gathering.

In front of the rising sun the first posts are being erected for the building of a new house. The hand has taken a firm hold of the wand; part of the wall has already been erected.

The wall symbolises the appearance of our conceptions. The mountains in the background show the definite ideas and conceptions that will materialise in the future.

The sketch quotes the picture from the Raider-Waite deck. Eight wands are flying through the air.

A sceptre and a sword seem to be fighting. Water and fire, portrayed in striking red, stand for subconscious strength. They are kept under control by the symbols of earth and air, the conscious elements, portrayed by the sword (clarity), the house (stability) and the wall (limits, firmness). The violet colour of the wall also shows a penetration of the colours red and blue.

The trees also contain this mixture of the elements, but they are growing cautiously as well as the clouds, water, which so to speak, becomes air (gaseous). They also stand for integration, which on the one hand makes us more flexible but on the other hand obscures things. The lemniscates, which can be seen clearly in magic, can be found in the two trees in the top left corner. It illustrates swinging into the next bend.

The intensity of the Nine of Wands diminishes in the Ten of Wands. The colours are paler; it seems more difficult to hold the wands together; at the same time the small flames are burning both hands, the leaves are beginning to wither.

Three swords are holding a violet cauldron, under which a fire is burning. Something is being "extracted". The violet colour indicates a spiritual process. The sun is setting; nothing more will happen today. To sleep on it will help.

Tomorrow it might be possible to grasp the fourth sword and to take the right path in further conflicts. The path past the white flag is also possible.

The chariot itself is portrayed by the wheel. It has eight spokes, a symbol for the process of development. The shaft symbolises the centre and also the number nine, which completes the cycle. Hub and shaft are on fire and stand for sexual energy. Origin, the wheel's background, and destination, the celestial body's background, are the same colour, violet, which stands for the spiritual.

The dominating yellow in the picture depicts joy of living. The water at the bottom indicates frankness or naivety, but also emotions to be conquered, such as caution or fear. Black and white reins, held in the right and left hand, show different directions and ambivalences, which have to be brought into harmony to make the journey possible. The next part of the journey, which lies ahead of the coach driver, the material world, represented by green, square fields, opens up within all this.

Libra's symbol (justice) shows that one has to reckon with consequences for any mistakes. The section at the top leads into the night. The coach driver does not encounter the sun, as to be expected, but instead the moon and stars. He will meet intuition and the unconscious.

The middle sword divides the scene. It symbolises disconnection in itself and is the only one that has remained whole.

The 'winner's' sword, decorated with a laurel wreath, seems to be less bent than that of the 'loser', but it is also unusable. The pierced heart shows the 'loser's' certainty of having injured his enemy in the worst possible way.

The dark colours in the picture show that it is a matter of something unpleasant. The energetic connection, portrayed by the waves at the top and bottom, has been cut off.