Friday, October 28, 2011

Vendredi: Divinatory Spread

The so called Celtic Cross is one of the most recognizable divinatory spreads in the Tarot pantheon.  It has been discussed in hundreds of books and all over the Internet to a point where it is almost exclusively thought of as a “Tarot spread”.  All that said, the Celtic Cross is a wonderful spread for cartomancy with any type of cards.

Using the above chart (from Tarot Meaning Info), let us go through the meanings of each card’s position:

Number 1 “This Covers”: this presents the general atmosphere that surrounds the question asked and the influences at work around it.

Number 2 “This Crosses”: this shows what the opposing forces may be for good or ill.  (Just as an aside, in Tarot this card is always read right side up and never reversed.)

Number 3 “This is Beneath”: here is the basis of the querent’s question or the matter at hand; something that has already become part of the person’s experience.

Number 4 “This is Behind”: this gives an idea of the influence that is just passing away.

Number 5 “This Crowns”: represents something that may happen in the future.

Number 6 “This is Ahead”: presents things that will come to pass in the near future; more often than not these are mundane as opposed to profound e.g. a meeting, an offer, a purchase, etc.

Number 7 “What the Querent Feels”: these feelings are most often the negative or hesitant emotions the querent has about their question.

Number 8 “Family Opinion”: represents the querent’s environment and the opinions and influences of their family and friends about the matter at hand.

Number 9 “Hopes”: the querent’s positive feelings about their question; their hopes and ideals.

Number 10 “Final Outcome”: this card, when combined with all the others, should answer the question.

Note that, if the question is not sufficiently addressed in the last card you are well within your parameters to draw another card for further clarification.  Vendredi heureux ~

2 comments:

Timmy! said...

Very cool, Pauline...

Pauline said...

It looks pretty complicated but once you get the positional meanings down it is one of the easiest spreads aside from a one or three card layout.