LeighannShayden Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 I am still rather new, have been practicing for about 4 months now. I have a question about the Celtic Cross Spread. I see so many different iterations for the 3 through 6 positions. Is there a particular right way to lay these cards? Or is it more of what feels right for the reader? Thank you!
gregory Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 (edited) The important thing is to stick with whichever way YOU decide to lay them. The iffy bits come when someone comments on your reading and sees the card you called "the short term outlook" as "what the sitter is working towards" or as "Higher power". I just googled for a few different versions and was horrified! I'm not surprised you are confused - this kind of thing is why I don't use it. I have to say, too, that although it shows up mercilessly in LWBs as The Way To Go, I really don't think it's a great spread for someone starting out. It's the aspects you choose for each position that matter. If one "version" works for you - just make sure not to change designations half way through - or accept commentary from someone else who says that the card you see as outcome is actually hopes and fears or something. The way you laid out the cards defines each position and they can't sort of switch out later because someone else says THEY use card 5 as xyz, when you laid it out as abc ! Edited August 10, 2019 by gregory
Barleywine Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 (edited) Gregory is absolutely right. Settle on how you like to do it and stick with that until you decide to tweak it. I never liked Waite's original version, so I opted for Eden Gray's, which creates more of a sequential "wheel" than a "cross" out of cards Three through Six. As a timeline it reminds me of the daily motion of the Sun in the northern hemisphere; the bottom card is "midnight," the left one "dawn," the top one "noon" and the right one "sunset" or "end of the day," which covers all of the developmental aspects nicely. I changed it around a bit since I started using it in 1972 but stayed with Gray's basic architecture. If you want a decent modern take on it, look at Tarot Beyond the Basics by Anthony Louis; he seems to have his head on straight. I should add that when I comment on someone else's reading, I can only process it in my own way or it won't make sense to me. But I make it clear what I'm doing and why. Edited August 10, 2019 by Barleywine
Raggydoll Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 You might enjoy this tutorial that goes really in depth with the Celtic cross: https://www.thetarotlady.com/breaking-celtic-cross/ I have seen it being used in our mentoring program and I believe it turned out to be a great resource!
gregory Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 Ah yes - Theresa Reed - I like her stuff. I like Barbara Moore more - but that's all in books !
LeighannShayden Posted August 10, 2019 Author Posted August 10, 2019 Thank you all so much for the guidance. I really appreciate it! 😊 Is there a spread that you recommend instead of the Celtic Cross?
gregory Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 I tend to make them up as I need them. I love single card readings; I also like three card spreads - tailored to the question past > present > future yes if > no if > maybe if how it is > if you do > if you don't how it is > how you'd like it to be > how to get there HUNDREDS of possibilities. I once did a 42 card reading but I wouldn't recommend it
LeighannShayden Posted August 10, 2019 Author Posted August 10, 2019 Oh wow! Lol. I think my head would spin with that many cards! K, I'll stick with the simpler spreads, I've have been feeling really comfortable with those.
Raggydoll Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 8 minutes ago, LeighannShayden said: Oh wow! Lol. I think my head would spin with that many cards! K, I'll stick with the simpler spreads, I've have been feeling really comfortable with those. 😁 I’ll sometimes use up to 18-20 cards but only in my more free-form intuitive readings (where I read the cards in rows as a chain of events or like a spirit message). If I use specific positions then I try to stay under 12 cards - preferably even less than that. I design most of my spreads to fit the question or the topic. Like @gregory said, three card spreads are excellent, and there really are no limits to how you can tweak and adapt them. If you want a practical example then take a look at my spread collection from the ‘30 days of working with the moon’ project. I designed over 30 three card spreads for various themes and they can be used as standalone spreads (even by those that have no particular interest in working with the moon 😉). (Scroll down to see them listed. They are all laid out in a row: 1 2 3 )
LeighannShayden Posted August 10, 2019 Author Posted August 10, 2019 Oh, I really like your Moon spreads!! I never knew there was a correlation with actions/tasks at hand and phases of the moon! Thank you for sharing that. So, before my cards and books arrived, I had been watching some videos on readings, and I really liked when the readings went in a timeline. I've been feeling like I get much more accurate interpretation with doing like you said and using free form, but I wondered if maybe I should at least learn/practice formal spreads. I feel better with the 3 cards and timelines. 😁
Barleywine Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 (edited) I make up my own spreads most of the time, but not normally on-the-fly. I decide what I want to know (topical slant), how much I want to know about it (number of cards) and how I want the results delivered (positional sequence). Then I design the spread and give it a quirky name (not necessarily in that order). I think I'm approaching 150 of them now but I haven't been keeping track. When I run out of inspiration for my blog articles, I create a new spread and post it. They generally run from five cards to around ten;; the largest tarot spread I've created was 25 cards, but I've also done a few 36-card alternatives to the Lenormand Grand Tableau. Edited August 10, 2019 by Barleywine
gregory Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, LeighannShayden said: Oh wow! Lol. I think my head would spin with that many cards! K, I'll stick with the simpler spreads, I've have been feeling really comfortable with those. It was a bit of a joke, for world tarot day, which is also world towel day (Hitchhiker's Guide) - where the meaning of life is 42. Many of us agreed to do it; I was almost the only one who did it PROPERLY ! I shall NEVER do it again. Probably ! Good grief it's still up there: it was from a truly TERRIBLE deck. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/power-animal/ https://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=118693 Enjoy. Edited August 10, 2019 by gregory
Barleywine Posted August 10, 2019 Posted August 10, 2019 1 hour ago, gregory said: how it is > how you'd like it to be > how to get there I once did a 42 card reading but I wouldn't recommend it I think I would add "how you know you got there" to this one. I bet Douglas Adams would agree.
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