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Celtic Cross: the 10-card spread

The Celtic Cross sheds light on an underlying situation: the present, its supports, obstacles, and openings, read in several passes.

Your celtic cross

Shuffle, then choose 10 cards from the 78, face down.

Settings Rider-Waite · 78 cards · reversals not readChange
The deck
The images
Reversals

Not a prediction: cards drawn at random, read according to tradition, to reflect on, not to follow blindly.

Tarot de Marseille: Nicolas Conver, dated 1760, restored by the Tarot World Project, CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Rider-Waite: drawings by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Images resized and compressed by Versana; Marseille Minor Arcana diagrams and card back drawn by Versana.

By Thomas Guilhot · updated

The positions

What each position says

A cross at the center for the situation and what crosses it, then a column for the context and its possible developments, read as a map for reflection.

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  1. What covers the situation

    What is in the foreground.

  2. What crosses it

    What holds back or complicates.

  3. What crowns it

    What you are reaching toward.

  4. What is beneath

    What the situation rests on.

  5. What is behind

    What led you here.

  6. What is ahead

    What can open up, to be read as a possibility.

  7. Yourself

    Your way of being in the situation.

  8. Your surroundings

    The environment and the eyes around you.

  9. Your hopes and fears

    What you hope for and what you fear.

  10. Where it can lead

    Where this may lead, as a possibility.

Reading the spread

How to read it

  1. Look first

    Start with the central cross alone: the situation and what crosses it. Set the column aside, then come back to it. Reading in two stages keeps you from being overwhelmed by all the images at once.

  2. Connect the positions

    Then connect the cross and the column: does what surrounds the situation shed light on what crosses it? Look for repetitions of colors, figures, or numbers, which often bring out the thread of the spread.

  3. Keep one question

    Keep a question broad enough, such as “what can I understand about this period?” A rich cross serves a narrow question poorly; it shines when you are trying to take your bearings, not to get a precise answer.

Reversed cards How to draw the cards

Shuffled in your browser, without bias; nothing is sent or kept without your click. How the draw works

Other spreads

Another spread

Share the tool: the link leads to the page, without anything you entered.

For two: Tarot card combinations

Frequently asked questions: celtic cross

How does the celtic cross work?

You shuffle, then the cards are laid out following the Celtic Cross pattern: a central cross, then a column beside it. Each position is named on screen. Take your time: this spread calls for a reading in several passes.

Do I need to ask a question?

A question is strongly recommended, since this rich spread can scatter your attention without a guiding thread. Choose it broad and aimed at your understanding, rather than about a specific event whose outcome you would like to know.

What should I do with a reversed card?

Reversed cards are first spotted there as nuances: a position where the image seems restrained or inward. Note them, but do not treat them as warnings. A calm reading starts with the whole, then returns to the details.

Is the reading reliable?

The Celtic Cross is a very complete support for reflection, not a predictive method. Its richness comes from the variety of angles it opens, and its value from the attention you give each position. Tomorrow is beyond its reach.