Transcription
Good evening. Tonight, we will be discussing the 10-card Celtic cross spread. There are actually two Celtic cross spreads that I use. One is a 10-card and one is an 11-card. Tonight, we will discuss the 10-card. In the next video, I will discuss the 11-card spread. The 11-card is what I use every Friday during my weekly readings, but tonight, let's discuss the 10-card Celtic cross spread.
The 10-card Celtic cross spread is probably the most common of the tarot spreads. It is more common than the 11-card, than the 11-card spread. It uses 10 cards: five laid out in a cross pattern and four placed vertically beside that cross. I'll show you that in a moment. Most tarot readers are familiar with this spread. Each of the 10 positions of the Celtic cross spread have traditional names that help to understand what each position means. In addition, each placement relates to a particular area of life and also has an influence on the entire reading. The positions and their meanings are as so.
Let me show you the first position here. This is the significant term. This card reflects the situation that you find yourself in at the present moment. So, this is right now, okay? In the 10-card spread, that card represents the situation as it is now.
The second card is the crossing card. It's laid like so. It crosses the first card. This position reflects what is causing conflict and obstruction in the immediate present. It is the card which crosses you, but this doesn't necessarily mean it is a negative card. It just is. It just exists. All right? So, this card represents the situation as it is right now, and this card represents the bump in the road, so to speak.
The third card is the crowning card. All right, that goes up there. The third card describes the atmosphere and situation that hangs over the immediate present. It is a reflection of what is on the surface and immediately apparent in your life. So, this is affecting everything right now.
The fourth card goes here. This is the base of the matter. All right, what is underneath everything? This card describes what is really behind the situation in question. It represents that which is often hidden, even from you. It is often a surprise, for this card reflects the very root of the psyche, that part which is not normally accessible to the conscious mind. Sometimes this card will reflect subconscious motivations, and often it will contradict the rest of the spread because we don't always know what's going on. All right, we don't always know what's the core of the matter, what is beneath the surface, so to speak.
Now, the fifth card. It can either go here or here, depending on your preference. I tend to place it here because the fifth card is past influences. Some people prefer to put their past card here and their future card over there. It's entirely up to you, as long as you remain consistent. So, the fifth card is past influences. This position reflects the part of the situation that is now passing out of your life. It was once important, but has since lost its potency. It is something that you must let go, for the future cannot fully develop without releasing, without releasing your past. So, this card is something that is passing out of importance, something you have to just let go. It's not important anymore. It's not affecting the current situation except as far as we allow it to. So, this is a card of letting go.
The sixth card goes here. This is future influences. This card describes the situation that is about to manifest in your life. This is coming at you whether you want it to or not. It's not a long-term card, but rather describes the immediate future, and it's unavoidable. This one is going to happen, okay? It's too late to stop it. A lot of future cards you can avoid if you need to, but this card, this one's coming to get you. All right.
The seventh card goes here. This is the present situation. This position is an extension of the first card, right? So, this card flushes out that one. It describes the state of affairs in which you will soon find yourself. It usually refers to a set of attitudes or inequalities, and often represents those things that need to be developed. So, this card is quite important. You need to pay attention to this one because this is what's going on right now and in the very immediate future.
The eighth card goes right above that one. So, the eighth card is the opinions of others. Now, the opinions of others do matter. This card describes the way others close to the situation, usually your friends or family, view the current state of affairs. This card can help predict what the likely response of those people might be to this particular situation. It can also reveal the kind of face you have been projecting regarding the matter, and that perhaps this might be changeable. So, this isn't set in stone. This is how others see you, how what others think. You can change that by changing your actions. So, if you don't like this, I actually think that's a pretty good card for that position, but if you don't, this is changeable.
The ninth card goes right above the eighth, just like that. This card is your hopes and fears. The ninth card of this particular spread reflects your hopes and fears. These can both be expressed by one card, as all cards in the tarot have a double face. So, this card represents what you're hoping for, but also what you're scared of. A lot of times, the two are one and the same. Think about it in your real life. Every day, there's often things that you want to happen, but you're actually kind of scared if they do happen. So, you know, that's kind of life, and this is just kind of a revealing card for most of us.
The 10th card is also the final card that represents the final outcome. Nothing is absolutely final, let's make that very clear, but this card describes how the situation may resolve itself. So, how all of these cards might end up, okay? That's not a bad one. Remember that the tarot generally applies to a period of about six months, ish, roundabout. In a regular reading, sort of reading like this, you would be looking at six months unless you specifically asked for a different time frame. So, it may not reflect a final resolution. This might be, this is where you'll be in six months, and then six months from now, you could, for example, take this card and start the reading all over again, using that particular card and saying, "Okay, now what?" But that card is the final outcome, but like a lot of things in the tarot, it's not necessarily final.
The 10-card Celtic cross spread is widely used and regarded as highly useful. Most readers use this spread at least once in a while. It can apply to many complex situations and offers a total of 10 different positions, so 10 cards to interpret. These allow you to gain a fairly comprehensive view of the situation without using so many cards that you get overwhelmed. So, this is a fairly useful spread, and the 11-card spread as well. I prefer the 11, but you can use the 10-card spread if you like, as long as you're consistent in your layout and in your interpretation of the cards. The exact spread you use is really up to you.
So, that is it for tonight. We will come back tomorrow and discuss the 11-card spread, the 11-card Celtic cross spread that you see in my weekly readings. But this spread is actually more common, so I thought I would cover it first. But come back tomorrow for the 11-card Celtic cross spread. Blessed be.