A spread · 10 cards
Celtic Cross
Ten cards: the cross describes the situation and its timing, the staff on the right describes the querent, the surroundings and the outcome.
The positions
- Position 1
The present
The heart of the situation: what covers the querent.
What is happening?
- Position 2
The challenge
What crosses the present: the obstacle or the force to be integrated. It is laid across the first card.
What crosses your path?
- Position 3
Recent past
What is ending and receding, but still has an effect.
What is passing?
- Position 4
The foundation
What lies beneath: the unconscious root, the base on which everything rests.
What does the situation rest on?
- Position 5
The crown
What lies above: the conscious goal, the best that can be obtained.
What do you aspire to?
- Position 6
Near future
What is arriving in the coming weeks.
What is approaching?
- Position 7
Your attitude
How the querent stands in relation to the matter.
How do you stand toward it?
- Position 8
The surroundings
The people, the outside circumstances, the way others see the matter.
What comes from outside?
- Position 9
Hopes and fears
What is wished for and what is feared: often the same thing.
What do you hope for, what do you fear?
- Position 10
The outcome
The most probable tendency, a synthesis of all the forces in the field.
Where does all this lead?
How to read it
- The cross (1–6) describes the situation; the staff (7–10) describes the querent and the evolution.
- Card 2 is never read as reversed in the strict sense: laid across the first, it is by nature what opposes or adds to the present.
- Dignities are read along the lines: horizontal (3–1–6), vertical (5–1–4) and the staff (7–10).
- The outcome (10) should be read together with the crown (5) and the attitude (7) before concluding.
Positions to read together
- The present ↔ The challenge. Presente e sfida sono il nodo: la seconda carta dice cosa il presente deve integrare.
- The foundation ↔ The crown. Fondamento e corona: ciò che muove dal profondo e ciò che la coscienza desidera.
- Recent past ↔ Near future. Passato recente e futuro prossimo: la linea del tempo attraverso il presente.
- The crown ↔ The outcome. Se la corona e l'esito concordano, la meta cosciente è raggiungibile.
- Your attitude ↔ The outcome. L'atteggiamento di chi consulta pesa direttamente sull'esito.
Origin
Published by A. E. Waite in 1910 and become the most famous spread of the modern tarot.
More spreads of the same kind