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Cross spread: tarot in 5 cards

The cross spread sheds light on a situation from several angles at once: each position brings a perspective, and their dialogue matters.

Your cross spread

Shuffle, then choose 5 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

One card at the center for the question itself, the others around it for its supports, resistances, and openings, read as points of insight and never as verdicts.

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  1. The situation

    What is in the foreground.

  2. What helps

    What you can rely on.

  3. What holds back

    What holds back or complicates.

  4. What is at stake

    What is at stake for you.

  5. A lead

    A path to explore.

Reading the spread

How to read it

  1. Look first

    First rest your eyes on the center card, then let your gaze travel around the others. Note what repeats: a color, a figure turned to one side, a motif. This first sweep comes before any specific meaning.

  2. Connect the positions

    Read the cards in pairs, face to face, like a dialogue. A card of momentum facing a card of caution tells of a tension to look at, not a blockage. The center card ties it all together.

  3. Keep one question

    Keep an open question, phrased with “how” or “why.” It holds the cross together and keeps you from looking for a single answer where the cards offer several avenues for reflection.

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: cross spread

How does the cross spread work?

You shuffle, then the cards are laid out in a cross, from the center toward the arms. Each position has its role, explained on the page, and each card links to its own page. Read the whole first, then position by position, without trying to resolve everything at once.

Do I need to ask a question?

A question helps, since the cross multiplies the angles and can scatter your attention if nothing gathers them. Phrase it openly, about a situation that occupies you, rather than about an outside event whose outcome you would like to know.

What should I do with a reversed card?

A reversed card adds a nuance: the image seems restrained, turned inward, or still on its way. In a cross, notice whether it sits in a position of support or resistance, because the same nuance does not say the same thing there.

Is the reading reliable?

The cross is a tool for reflection, not a means of control. More cards give more material, not more certainty. It helps you lay your situation out flat and decide for yourself what you take from it.