Celtic Cross: A Macrocosmic Approach

Being perhaps the most popular Tarot spread of this century, I thought I would write a piece about it!

The Celtic Cross' mass popularity comes from Arthur Edward Waite's popularity (1857-1942), which began to blossom when he published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in collaboration with the artistic talents of Pamela Coleman Smith, their resulting deck of course being perhaps the

most influential deck of our time (look at any American tarot deck, and there is a 97% chance it is based on Waite and Smith's designs). The spread was originally developed by the Golden Dawn, which Waite was a member of, and was seen as a kind of abridged version of some of their other techniques (namely the lengthy Opening of the Key spread). This being said, the spread is notably concise, easy to dissect, and useful for just about any kind of question; this clearly accounts for its popularity.

The spread is incredibly malleable, and each position can be custom-fitted to any reader's preferences. The same principle applies to the order in which the cards are placed. Keep this in mind as you work with this spread: it truly is whatever you make it to be. (Honestly, this applies to any spread. It's best not to be dogmatic with spreads.) My only personal complaint with the spread is that it is a positional spread, meaning that the meaning given to each card is affected by the card's position in the spread. This is great for beginning readers, but my

personal belief is that this does not adequately reflect how the universe tends to function; any system is far too complex to partition into isolated boxes, the universe is certainly no exception. Therefore, this post is meant to give you some general tips on how to read Celtic Cross in a more holistic way that treats the cards as intertwined as opposed to isolated countries. After all, as the "venerable" Aleister Crowley writes in The Book of Thoth, "Each card is, in a sense, a living being; and its relations with its neighbours are what one might call diplomatic." (47-48)

To demonstrate each technique, I'm going to use an example reading for an imaginary querent. (This is a good technique for general practice. When reading for yourself no longer becomes helpful or even entertaining, you can always "program" the reading to be for someone who doesn't even exist!) I'll give you a brief

description of my positions (which are pretty traditional) as well as the order in which I place them.

1.) The overall situation.

2.) Primary obstacles or second detail regarding the situation.

3.) Root of the problem. Source of conflict.

4.) Past. What is leaving the querent.

5.) Crown. What the querent is aware of on an intuitive level about the situation.

6.) Upcoming event. Immediate future.

7.) How the querent views themselves in the situation.

8.) Environmental factors. How others see the querent.

9.) Hopes and fears. What the querent expects the outcome to be.

10.) Overall conclusion. Final result that can be known at this point in time.

Ok, so here we go!

Elements: This is a big one for me. I LOVE looking at the relationships created elementally, and honestly, this is the main basis of how I read. Patterns are everything when it comes to reading intuitively, and elements are a simple way to begin noticing patterns. In this example, we can see that the spread is dominated by a strong axis of air cards in the middle as well as an axis of earth that opposes it on the right. This tells us that the air cards are all connected in some way (this can be very subtle sometimes, and may take some gentle prying into the psyche of the querent in order to bring this connection to light), and that this similarly applies to the earth cards. There is one lone water card in the past and one singular fire card showing how the querent feels about themselves. I tend to look at singular elements like these as little signals showing that these are important to the situation, as they represent contrast within the situation. They demonstrate the events that are not well integrated into the situation for the querent, and can show where there is difficulty. Knowing this helps later when you're pressed to give advice.

Here is some general information about elements:

Fire is generally about the querent's energy source. Where are they digging deep, so to speak? Where are they directing their passion? In what form does this manifest?

Water deals with the emotions and the subconscious, dreams and desires. How does the querent feel about a situation? Are they feeling anything at all, or are they too preoccupied? Is the querent being deluded by their emotions and desires?

Air is the element of division, as it involves the intellect and communication (human intellect of course is mainly about categorization of things into separate entities - "thereby commeth hurt"). Therefore, the element tends to have a nasty "problem child" kind of feel to it. It is the element of conflict, anxiety, and entrapment, but is also the element of victory, focus, and inspiration. Where is the querent focused or not? Where are they feeling psychologically burdened? How are they partitioning their reality?

And lastly, earth is the element of stability (but remember that change is stability), material things, and works. It is solid, heavy, dense, and lacks all the abstraction found in the swords suit. Practical sometimes to a fault, earth can be stubborn and dull, but also highly motivated, reliable, and supporting. Does the situation leave the querent feeling grounded? How is the situation affecting them economically? Are they thinking too plainly or too practically, or do they need more simplicity and pragmatism in their situation?

With this in mind, we can see that the querent of our example reading is primarily highly focused on something, and is perhaps under a lot of pressure (large quantity of air). This is most likely connected to their financial situation, as we see an almost equal preponderance of

earth cards. There is some kind of opportunity for a relationship with someone in the recent past for the querent (Ace of Cups), but we can see that it does not develop as there are no other water cards present. The fire card in position 7 is honestly synonymous with the rest of the air cards (in fact, the 8 of Wands is Mercury ruling Sagittarius, Mercury being an airy planet), but we can see that it may be a source of conflict for the querent, being the only fire card in the spread. Note that the two "lone" cards, the Ace of Cups and the 8 of Wands, oppose each other elementally. Clearly these are two situations relatively exterior to the querent's line of thinking that oppose each other and thus bear little fruit when in conflict.

Pictorial Relationships: This can be divided into two categories: symbolic pictorial connections, and literal pattern connections. The latter is a very interesting one for Celtic Cross, but every now and then, you see it come into play. You just have to know how to look. In our example, it's quite obviously present in the form of the two elemental axes. We see that the poor Ace of Cups really has no chance, as it is literally standing up to a wall of air cards. I found it interesting that this meaning was even echoed in the 6th position in the form

of the 2 of Swords: impasse. The androgynous-looking woman has her back turned to the ocean and the moon, symbols of the emotions, and instead fully ignores them, even going to the extent of blindfolding herself. The querent is clearly not going to open themselves up to this new relationship opportunity, and is going to focus on something completely different, mainly their economic aspirations, represented by the pillar of pentacles on the right that seem to be reaching up/aspiring to a conclusion. I worry though that they will be lying to themselves in position 6 about how they feel. I think it's fairly obvious that the querent needs to pay more attention to their heart, since that may be part of what's causing the stress indicated by the number of air cards present. This message can be seen in the Star, which represents the overall situation. The querent is faced with opportunities that they do not usually have, and rather than being thankful, the querent seems to be squandering them!

Notice how the Star is holding two "cups" of sorts, similar to the Ace of Cups. Therefore, we can say that the querent is again choosing to focus on the pool of their thoughts and is perhaps foolishly dumping out the relationship opportunity onto the earth behind him. He sees the relationship as something exterior to where he needs to focus, and therefore wants no part of it. However, the 3 of Swords in position two tells us that there is in fact some emotional baggage affecting his decision-making. One gets the sense that he doesn't believe this relationship to have any hope (another meaning connected to the star) because his previous relationships have left him alone and damaged. This then begs the question, however: is he throwing himself into his work so vehemently (Knight of Swords) because he's trying to distract himself from this baggage? (Remember that the 3 of Swords is connected to the Knight elementally) Or do his relationships not work because he's a workaholic? This is something to discuss with the querent.

One more observation: there is a horizontal line of cards that all have bodies of water on them. In the Ace of Cups, we have a lake it seems; in The Star, we have a pool (the end of which we can't see, probably reflecting the meaning of this card as infinite possibility); and in the 2 of Swords, we have the sea, or rather maybe an inlet, as there is land in the background not too far away; in the 2 of Pentacles we see an open sea in a state of agitation. We can therefore see that chronologically speaking, the querent's emotional life will remain hemmed-in, ultimately by their economic aspirations (distant land in the 2 of Swords being related to earth). The 2 of Pentacles being in position 8, we can thus conclude that others see the querent as having once been overwhelmed by their emotional life (again, we see this in the past, as his

back is once again to the water). It seems that perhaps once they allowed themselves more freedom with their heart, and perhaps this caused distressing turbulence for them that they are now still juggling - hence the stance of the man and his pentacles. Knowing this, we can finally say something about the Ace of Swords in position 3, and simultaneously answer our above question for the querent: the querent sees his newfound focus on his aspirations as a kind of recovery process - a victory over his troubled past (even echoed in the Ace of Swords' imagery: a hand emerging from dark clouds over a barren terrain). Thus, our concern is more with the extent to which the querent turns to his work as a coping mechanism. He can't go through the rest of his life blindfolded to his emotions!

Gender/Age: This is another way of seeing relationships between the many people represented in the various cards of the Tarot. As much as I dislike social constructs of the gender "binary," it is a useful way to categorize allegorically. Kabbalistically or allegorically, masculine cards tend to represent active forces (striving, energizing, originating), whereas feminine cards can represent passive forces (receiving, nurturing, waiting). In this spread, all the cards can be seen as masculine, as the 2 of Swords frankly looks ambiguous to me. The androgynous nature of the 2 echoes its divinatory meaning, as the querent will be unable to commit fully to his feminine emotional side, even though it will still factor into his thinking. In other words, we see that he will turn his back to his usually receptive emotions and will instead devote himself to the action and focus on work represented by the Knight of Swords.

The King of Pentacles is another obviously masculine card, and being in position number 9, we can see that the querent hopes to become more masterful in his craft, whatever that may be. Right now, he is more connected to the Knight of Swords, but he believes that if he continues to devote the amount of energy he is to his career (8 of wands), he will become more mature and able-bodied in his field. (We get this from the fact that the King is "older" than the Knight, and is related to skill in business).

Number: The numbers of the cards themselves create subtle relationships in the same way that Kabbalistic numerology, Gematria, highlights underlying currents of connectivity between words. In our example, notice how the highest ranking minor card is the 8 of Wands. Everything else is quite low, aces or twos and one three, representing beginnings of things, or, in this case, the querent's immobility. We have the Ace of Cups in the past showing freshness in the querent's emotional life, the Ace of Swords and the Star representing new clarity in the querent's goals and ambitions dominating the present, and only the 2 of Swords in the immediate future. Thus, the querent is not going to let this situation take off in the least. He will perhaps ruminate over it for awhile, but nothing more. On the other hand, the earth cards show more progress. The 2 of Pentacles progresses to the King of Pentacles, and culminates in The World. We are then able to reaffirm the querent's greater interest in work and economics, and can begin to pinpoint The World as having to do with this aspect of the querent's life.

Court Card Relationships: Besides the above-mentioned relationship between the Knight of Swords and the King of Pentacles, there are no other court card relationships in this spread. What I mean by this is a familial affinity. For instance, The Queen of Cups in a reading alongside the Page of Cups can perhaps be seen as nurturing the latter (this of course depends on context). Either way, one can either see them as connected by being aspects of the same person, or by being related through affiliation. Usually their age and gender will help determine this. (Remember that Kabbalistically, the Pages are meant to be female.)

Types: In general, it is wise to look at a spread from its different types of cards. Court cards should represent people in one way or another; minors should represent small microcosmic life events within the control of the querent; and majors should be seen as overarching problems or events that are either too large for the querent to manipulate alone, or which represent the main themes of the reading. Therefore, we can see that The Star is a life lesson the querent needs to address right now. Where are they headed? Where are their hopes? How are they limiting their viewpoint?

The final card, The World, seems to be very positive, however. The labor done by the querent will blossom and will culminate, bringing him some kind of advancement. Perhaps a promotion? A new confidence? However, it also strikes me that the woman dancing in The World is in a posture adverse to the one represented by the 2 of Swords. In this case, I would say that this is a very positive development, that hopefully points to the querent being able to liberate themselves from their self-restricting demons. They probably will miss entirely the opportunity presented by the Ace of Cups, but this does not mean they will close themselves off entirely from their social life. Perhaps the success their material efforts will garner them will also reinvigorate their confidence in their ability, and they will be able to reincorporate more strongly the archetype of The Star as an icon of hope and optimism.

I know that this was long, but I hope these techniques and examples have been helpful for you. There are so many other ways of noticing patterns between cards - these are only my personal methods. By all means, invent your own! Experience is the greatest teacher when it comes to the Tarot, and I encourage you to investigate your personal methods of seeing the cards as well. Doing so will truly liberate your reading style, and will free your obligation to LWB's (little white books) and your dependence upon others' interpretations. Good luck, and enjoy yourselves!