Getting loose with position meanings (Celtic cross/"how" questions).

[Catspur]

A lot of my journey in the last year or two with tarot has been getting more intuitive, being more flexible in reading the cards and positions, reading pairings even if a spread isn't specifically designed for them, etc. 

 

So yesterday did a reading for a friend who was just out of a difficult relationship, and the question was, "how can I let go of my emotional connections?" And I cast a celtic cross. 

 

We don't need to get into all the card meanings, but it felt very, very accurate and insightful, but there were two tricky cards. The outcome card (position 10, the top of the staff) and the possible future card (position five, the top of the cross - I lay the cards of the cross out counterclockwise starting from the bottom). 

Those two cards were the King of Pentacles rx (at position 5) and the king of Cups rx (at position 10). 

 

Now, I was struggling with these cards until I remember the specific question was, "how do I ..." and what felt right based on our conversation and how the flow was going was to read both of those cards as advice. Not even contrary to each other, but rather what it felt like was the cards telling her that she needed to "flip those cards right side up" - to cultivate her ability to control (rather than be controlled by) her emotions, and to cultivate her financial security, and those would be the paths to letting go of this hurtful relationship. 

 

Anyway, it felt very right and resonated with my client, so that was great. But it just got me thinking about how other experienced readers look for "advice" in the celtic cross, other ways readers use the outcome/possible outcome cards. (I mean, sometimes, it's clear - if it's "tell me about this new relationship," and you get the two of cups in position 10, well, great. But when somebody has a goal and they're trying to understand how to get there, the outcome cards feel like they mean something different). 

 

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear any experienced readers thoughts on how they handle this sort of question, and in a larger sense, where you find the active guidance in "how do I ..." questions in a celtic cross. 

[Barleywine]

Good question! I always treat the "near future" card as the first tentative step on a new path, with the outcome card as the destination and the intervening cards as milestones or way-stations along the road. In his book Tarot Beyond the Basics, Anthony Louis links the "crowning" card (which he calls "the Present" and so have I for many years) to the "near-future" card and considers them both as setting the stage for the final outcome. (I should mention that he seems to be using Eden Gray's model, which starts from the bottom of the cross and moves clockwise, as do I.)There is an old convention that considers the first six cards to be about the question itself, its origins and development over time, and the last four to be about the response of the querent to those developments (I sometimes think of Cards #7, #8 and #9 as reactionary in trying to come to grips with the way things are trending; they are about "positioning" yourself and whether to dig your heels in or just go with the flow.) The way I work, the cross is more about the "what" and "why" and the staff is about the "how."

 

If you have a chance, go to the auntietarot blog and look at the latest post from Tony Willis about reading the minor arcana. He's using the 5-card cross but the flow is reminiscent of the CC in many ways, and he style is very instructive.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Barleywine