The Celtic Cross Spread — Part II: Reading the Cross

Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc

By Sarah Taylor

Following on from the first part of this short series on the Celtic Cross tarot reading — where I gave an overview of the Celtic Cross and the card positions — this week, I put theory into practice using cards drawn from the Rider-Waite Smith tarot deck.

This is a ‘sample reading’, but you might find that it is not as arbitrary as you might expect. The nature of tarot is that it rarely, if ever, takes holidays. However, I invite you to take a step back and see this particular reading from a technical, as well as an intuitive or personal, perspective. It is only when we understand the rules of a reading that we can work with them to access a flow that sits in parallel with it. Both rules and flow then inform our experience of the cards and the mirror they are holding up for us.

Here are the first six cards of the Celtic Cross reading and how I might choose to interpret them. The second part of the reading will follow in a few weeks.

Initial Overview

The first thing I do is to look at the cards as a group — in terms of suit, number, arcana, colour, the detail in the images and how they interact to form strings of narrative. What I see here are several different things that I don’t necessarily try to fit together immediately.

First, the dominant suit is Wands: there are three of these, followed by two Swords, and one Pentacle. There are no Cups. The greatest things at play here are creative energy — libido in a psychoanalytical sense — and intellect/thoughts. There is a sense of working with the physical world (the Two of Pentacles) but this is secondary to me — which doesn’t mean that it is any less important or can be pushed to one side.

Second, there are no major arcana cards in this cross. This means we are dealing with the ‘lived aspect’ of life — how it plays out practically. Again, this is no less important; it is just a different experience. This is how we move through our day, how we interact with others, how we are in and of ourselves — how all of this manifests.

Third, I notice that all of the Wands cards are odd numbers. Charles, one of our regular commenters, once observed that odd numbers are to do with internal processes rather than interactions with others. So that is something to note. It is also borne out by the fact that there is a single figure in each of the cards, without exception. That is striking to me, and speaks volumes about this being a personal experience.

Fourth, the colours: there is a ‘v’ of blue created by the Two of Pentacles, the Seven of Wands, the King of Swords, and the Nine of Wands. In each of these, the background is composed of blue sky. Having seen this as visually discrete, I then look at the other two cards to pick up any counterpoint to these. They feel more yellow in tone — especially the Three of Wands, which is when I notice something else.

Fifth, the imagery: the first thing I saw was the visual exchange between the Three of Wands and the Four of Swords. It is as if the three wands in the first card have become more concrete in the second, taking the shape, as they do, of three swords that are suspended above the figure — himself suspended in a state of withdrawal from the world. Couple this with the King of Sword’s own sword, which points upwards towards the other two cards, and there is something going on there — some form of communication between the cards on the vertical axis. For now, I just notice rather than interpret.

Now that I have an overview — a gathering of first impressions — I start to explore the cards in terms of their corresponding positions and meaning, from position 1 through to position 6. (Note: I sometimes break with chronological order when it comes to the two pairs of cards, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. A reading might call for me to do cards 5 and 6 first, and then to go to cards 3 and 4. I will rarely, if ever, split an individual pair, simply because they are paired for a reason.)

1. The Current Situation — Four of Swords

“This is what is going on right here, right now.”

The Four of Swords is about going within — and not so much because it’s ‘good to do this’ or it’s a ‘nice-to-have opportunity’ but because it is necessary. I see the figure in the card as a soldier, associated as he is with the suit of Swords, and given that he is lying down with what seems to be his sword lying beneath him. They are almost set in stone, and yet they are bathed in yellow. There is life — the yellow light of a hidden sun illuminates them both — but for now they are inanimate. To all intents and purposes, they are dead to the world. All the swords are separated from human hands, and the three that are suspended above the figure seem to keep him, in turn, in a state of suspended animation. He is in a church. Above him, a figure in the stained glass kneels at the feet of a benefactor — just as the figure opens himself to the benefaction of something greater than he is.

Therefore, the current situation is one of a going within to find source. It usually follows some event that is challenging, or at the very least active. This is a time of rest, with the implication that there will be consequences if it isn’t taken.

2. Influencing Factor — Seven of Wands

“Imagine the second card being coated in either oil, or sand. It can run smoothly over card 1, or it can cause some friction. It explains flow.”

Well. Here, in the Seven of Wands, is the ‘fight’ that brings the hero to his current position of rest. In the context of the above quote, the quality of this relationship feels like oil rather than sand, even if the two cards are not necessarily ‘positive’. There is a sense of ease about how one flows into the other.

Given the idea of what it means to have a single figure in each of the cards — and given previous interpretations of the Seven of Wands — this feels like a conflict experienced internally about something coming up from beneath, from the unconscious. This then requires a period of contemplation and consolidation if there is to be an integration of both conscious and unconscious. This is not achieved ‘out in the world’ — although complete withdrawal from the world is often impossible. However, it is achieved by simply doing nothing. The hero gives himself over to a higher power so that it might work through him. From animation to suspension. The contrast between the two cards is marked.

3. Higher Power – Three of Wands

“We can define ‘Higher Power’ in many ways, but I choose to see it as a part of the client that a) has a view of what is going on that is both wider and deeper than the client’s conscious view, b) connects the client to the collective. This, to me, is intuition.”

So the card that represents the Higher Power sits, fittingly, above the rest of the cards — a physical position implying an ability to offer a broader perspective. What I also notice for the first time is another layer to the yellowness of the card. It is a source of light — and it is even, at this moment, working through the figure as it flows down into the Four of Swords beneath. This reinforces the idea of the figure in the Four communing with source.

The Three of Wands is about setting one’s ships sail after as much preparation as we are able to do. It is about releasing something, knowing the risks, but with the readiness to take the risk because that is what we have been working towards. Perhaps, from this, we can deduce that the time out that is indicated for our protagonist is time out from control of the outside world. So while, from the hero’s perspective, there is simply the strong calling to lay down his sword and rest, from the perspective of his connection to something wiser, the rest is the time where something is set sail and released, with the knowledge that the groundwork is done. The Seven of Wands is his battle; the Three of Wands is what happens when he then hands things over to a higher power. He does not captain his ship at this moment: someone — something — else does. His task is to wait: the Wands hence become the Swords holding him in place. He can fight the circumstances, but, when it comes down to it, his position — separate from his ships, from the world — means he cannot take the wheel. Which can come as a relief.

4. That which is coming up from within — King of Swords

“[S]omething … is emerging into consciousness. It will probably have a sense of newness about it — something the client is perhaps trying on for size.”

What I haven’t noticed up until now is that the sword held by the King seems to correspond to the sword lying underneath our resting protagonist. So my first interpretation of this is that there is some kind of handing over taking place — or, rather, a succession. Is it that the King in the protagonist’s consciousness is in the process of being birthed? I mentioned that this can be a fragile moment for a querent — the manifestation of the fourth card — and birth is nothing if not a vulnerable time. The reading seems to acknowledge this by indicating rest — much like a specialist might prescribe bed rest to an expectant mother, who might not necessarily feel like she needs it, but which is crucial for a safe delivery.

The King is the pinnacle of the human expression of the Swords suit. For a more in-depth exploration of the King, you can refer to this article here on the Kings in tarot. For the purposes of this article, the salient point is that there is a bringing through of the qualities of this card, which is an evolution of the Four of Swords if we work with the cards chronologically. It also feels like an evolution from the conflict of the Seven of Wands: in both cards, the figures hold their weapons at an angle; in the King, the angle feels like one of ease rather than battle — moreover, there is no opponent. He embodies the sum total of the Swords with acceptance of what they are, and who he is — one and the same.

Remember: this might not be apparent to a client in a reading, and I repeat my admonition to tread lightly when you come to this card. No butterfly benefits from breaking out of its chrysalis too early. Say what you feel you need to say, and then stop. Less is more.

5. The Near Past — Two of Pentacles

“This is a key event in the near past (usually days, weeks or a couple of months rather than several months or years) that has been one of the triggering factors in what is going on in the present. Card 2 — Influencing Factor — comes into being alongside this event, possibly sparked by it. I look for a direct correlation between cards 1, 2 and 5.”

We now come to the beginning of a timeline of events that forms the foundation for the Celtic Cross reading. Card 5, as I quote above, is a trigger point for the current situation. In this case, we have the Two of Pentacles: a delicate dance of balance between the non-physical, eternal plane and the physical, limited plane which we seem to inhabit more obviously. There is, perhaps, some quest for balance — whether conscious or unconscious — that underlies the querent’s going within (the Four of Swords). I also notice that there are ships in the Two of Pentacles and the Three of Wands — and that, too, perhaps indicates another progression, as if there are more balls being juggled, more to set free, with a concomitant sense of increased surrender and risk.

In a reading, what would strike me is that it’s no wonder the querent is currently experiencing an indication to take time out: there is a delicate, but powerful, sense of assimilation and the ‘allowing’ that enables that to take place. There has been a period of active working with things in the Two of Pentacles, and the propensity is there to continue to be active by riding the current of the Seven of Wands. Instead, though, there is now the suggestion that that is no longer needed. Which takes me back to my comment about card 2 (Seven of Wands) acting either like oil or sand against card 1 (Four of Swords). Seen in this light, there is actually the potential for more friction than ease — a drive to continue to “take arms against a sea of troubles” to quote Shakespeare.

What becomes clear at this juncture is that a reading of this complexity is a constant process of adjustment and refinement — which is why any proclamations we as readers make at the beginning of a reading either need to be qualified with the statement that they are exploratory and open to adjustment, or we keep them to ourselves. Not because the cards themselves change, but because we are often imperfect interpreters until we are able to experience the harmony of the cards’ collective notes.

6. The Near Future — Nine of Wands

“Card 6 is what all the previous cards lead towards, and it tends to happen in the same time frame in the future as card 5 happened in the past.”

Given that the horizontal axis is chronological, as a reader I am immediately interested in the correlation between the Nine of Wands, sitting as it does in the position of the Near Future, and the Seven of Wands as the factor that leads us towards it. Another progression, and visually striking as such, given that we are faced with two figures in a process of first explicit, and then implicit or potential, conflict. Cards 2, 5 and 6 have blue backgrounds; card 1 is grey: action, action, rest, action. How does the ‘time out’ feel of the Four of Swords work with the other three cards on the axis? It might be that an answer to this isn’t required — simply the awareness of the question.

“[C]ards 1, 2 and 5 make up the flow towards the near future; cards 3 and 4 are the oars, so to speak — the tools that the client has at their disposal to help them move with it, or to navigate a different course (and these remain available to a client in a powerful sense long into the future because they are two integrating parts of who this client is).”

The apparent ability to know the future as a tarot reader can be seductive — and I write “apparent ability” deliberately. What I tend to do is not to work with specifics (“This is going to happen to you,” “This person is going to do x, y, or z to you.”). What I try and do is to assist a client to identify the appearance of card 6 when it happens. In other words, to meet it with as much consciousness as possible, trusting that they will be better equipped than anyone to deal with it. This is where cards 3 and 4 — especially 3 — come into their own as tools of navigation (even if, in this case, one of the tools is about handing over captaincy to something else).

Therefore, I might point out that the conflict of the Seven might appear, but in a different form; that perhaps the period of contemplation of the Four equips them with the tools to embrace the Nine when it appears; that there is an indication of surrender in both cards 1 and 3 which might be useful to keep in mind; that there seems to be a choice that the figure in the Nine of Wands is facing — namely, to view the Wands either as something that needs to be fought, or to place their Wand in the empty space behind them and see what happens. One suggestion will tend to feel more magnetic. I can’t tell you, at this point, what you do with that feeling of attraction to a particular option. Only that, if you are connected to your intuition in a way that feels authentic and meaningful, you can follow that and see where it takes you as a reader.

Other questions that we might ask the querent directly in the context of card 6 are: What has changed? What are their feelings about it? Does it feel desirable to them, or undesirable? Again, awareness is key, and little else. Who knows what is good for us and what isn’t? This particular reading is about letting go — it might be an idea to bear this in mind if there is a sense of forced striving towards a judgement about the 6th card.

Also, a note about timing with card 6: If you can identify the particular event described in card 5, Near Past, then you will have a rough idea as to when card 6 will come into play. In which case, if all a client can take from a reading is to hold awareness (and that, sometimes, is the most effective thing of all), then the ensuing event might come into their awareness relatively rapidly. More grist for the mill.

But this is only half of the reading. There are still at least four cards left (I write “at least” because I often pull additional cards as qualifiers), which form the ‘staff’ of the Celtic Cross. It is when we put together cross and staff that we have a palette that holds the spectrum of possibilities that the Celtic Cross reading offers us.