The Celtic Cross Tarot Spread

The Celtic Cross is a ten-card tarot spread for looking closely at a situation. It brings together the present issue, its background, your approach, outside influences and the direction events are taking. It suits a question with several connected parts, especially when a three-card reading leaves you wanting more detail.

Ten positions can feel like a lot at first. Reading them in small groups makes the spread easier to follow. The two central cards describe the immediate situation; the surrounding cross provides context; the four-card column considers your place in it and the likely outcome.

Choose a question and a layout convention

Write your question before shuffling. “What is developing in my career, and how can I work with it?” gives the cards a clear subject while leaving room for information you have not anticipated.

A. E. Waite described this spread in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. His version uses an additional, deliberately chosen significator beneath the first card. Many modern readers use only the ten drawn cards. The layout below uses ten cards, with the aim above, the foundation below, the past on the left and the near future on the right. Its position meanings follow Waite’s arrangement, with plainer labels. Waite placed the past and future according to the direction the significator faced; this version keeps them on the left and right for consistency.

Other books number the surrounding cross differently. A layout with the past at position three uses another numbering convention. Use the numbering and meanings from the same guide throughout a reading.

Decide whether to read reversals and which way the cards will face before drawing.

The ten-card layout

Place cards one to six around the central cross. Then place seven to ten in a column on the right, starting at the bottom. Card two lies sideways across card one.

1. 1Present
2. 2Crossing
3. 3Aim
4. 4Base
5. 5Past
6. 6Near future
7. 7Your approach
8. 8Around you
9. 9Hopes and fears
10. 10Outcome

Position	What the card describes
1. Present	The main issue and the influence shaping the situation now.
2. Crossing	A difficulty, competing influence or condition you must work with.
3. Aim	What you want to achieve, or the best possibility you can currently see.
4. Foundation	The established circumstances or underlying cause of the issue.
5. Past	An influence that is passing, or a recent event still affecting the present.
6. Near future	What is approaching as the present circumstances develop.
7. Your approach	Your attitude, behaviour or position within the situation.
8. Environment	Other people, external conditions and influences around you.
9. Hopes and fears	What you long for or dread, including expectations affecting the reading.
10. Outcome	The likely culmination of the influences shown across the spread.

The near-future card and the outcome card serve different purposes. Six describes the next development; ten considers where the whole pattern leads. This spread does not assign a fixed number of days or months to either position. If your question needs a time frame, name it before drawing.

Read the crossing card carefully

An encouraging card can still describe a challenge. The Sun crossing a work situation might show the pressure of being visible or the demands that accompany success. Its position gives the card a particular role.

The crossing card’s sideways placement does not make it reversed. If you use reversals, note its orientation as you draw it, then turn it sideways for the layout. Keep that original orientation in your notes.

Waite also allowed a favourable crossing card to lessen the severity of an obstacle. Choose the meaning that fits the central card, the question and the rest of the spread.

Connect the positions before drawing a conclusion

Begin with one and two. What is happening, and what complicates it? Compare the aim at three with the foundation at four: does your desired result have support, or are you overlooking something established?

Then follow the movement from five through one to six. Look at seven alongside eight to distinguish what you bring to the situation from what comes from other people. Read ten after you have considered these relationships.

Repeated suits or several Major Arcana cards can help you recognise the overall theme. Our guide to card combinations explains how to connect those patterns with the individual meanings.

Worked example: a career change

Suppose someone asks, “What is developing in my career over the next three months?” The following is an imagined reading, with all ten cards upright.

Position	Card	Interpretation in this position
Present	Eight of Pentacles	You are developing a skill through steady work.
Crossing	Two of Pentacles	Several responsibilities compete for your time.
Aim	The Star	You want renewed hope and a direction you can believe in.
Foundation	Four of Pentacles	Protecting financial security has shaped your choices.
Past	Five of Wands	Competition or disagreement has unsettled the working environment.
Near future	Three of Pentacles	A collaborative project or useful professional exchange is approaching.
Your approach	Queen of Wands	You are ready to make your abilities visible and take initiative.
Environment	Six of Pentacles	Support, resources or a fair exchange may come from others.
Hopes and fears	The Fool	A fresh start attracts you, while its uncertainty makes you hesitate.
Outcome	Six of Wands	The pattern favours recognition for your contribution.

The Pentacles make practical work and resources the main concern. The Eight and Three connect individual skill with collaboration; the Six of Pentacles adds outside support. The Two of Pentacles shows the immediate difficulty: you need enough time to make use of the opening.

Read as a forecast, this spread suggests that cooperation will bring your work to wider attention during the period asked about. It does not specify a particular job title, salary or employer. The useful advice is to make room for collaboration and show what you can do, while managing the commitments that could prevent you from participating.

Keep a record of the whole spread

Write the question, time frame, position meanings and card orientations in your tarot journal. Finish with a short account of the reading’s main message, including the predicted development and any advice.

When you return to it, compare what happened with both six and ten. This helps you distinguish the next event from the longer development and see which connections you read clearly.

Further reading

A. E. Waite’s Celtic method of divination gives the original position descriptions and explains the significator used in his version. Its language and some of its conventions differ from modern practice.