The Celtic Cross spread
Waite's ten-card cross for a definite question: the matter, its obstacle, its root, its past and near future, then you, your house, your hopes and the outcome.
The 10 places
1 What covers you
The general influence on the matter, the atmosphere the rest works in.
This covers him. This card gives the influence which is affecting the person or matter of inquiry generally, the atmosphere of it in which the other currents work.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
2 What crosses you
The obstacle. A good card here means the opposition is not serious.
This crosses him. It shews the nature of the obstacles in the matter.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
3 What crowns you
Your aim, or the best that can come of it, not yet made real.
This crowns him. It represents (a) the Querent's aim or ideal in the matter; (b) the best that can be achieved under the circumstances, but that which has not yet been made actual.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
4 What is beneath you
The foundation: what has already happened and is yours.
This is beneath him. It shews the foundation or basis of the matter, that which has already passed into actuality and which the Significator has made his own.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
5 What is behind you
The influence that is just passing.
This is behind him. It gives the influence that is just passed, or is now passing away.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
6 What is before you
The influence coming into action in the near future.
This is before him. It shews the influence that is coming into action and will operate in the near future.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
7 Yourself
Your own position and attitude in the matter.
The Seventh Card of the operation signifies himself — that is, the Significator — whether person or thing — and shews its position or attitude in the circumstances.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
8 Your house
Your surroundings: home, friends, the people around the matter.
The Eighth Card signifies his house, that is, his environment and the tendencies at work therein which have an effect on the matter.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
9 Hopes and fears
What you hope for, and what you fear, in this.
The Ninth Card gives his hopes or fears in the matter.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
10 The outcome
Where it all comes to, as the other cards have set it up.
The Tenth is what will come, the final result, the culmination which is brought about by the influences shewn by the other cards that have been turned up in the divination.A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
Where this layout comes from: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §7, 'An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination'
The spreads
- One card One card, one answer. The simplest reading there is.
- Past, present, future Three cards in a line: how it came, where it is, where it goes.
- Yes or no One card, read for its lean. The tradition gives no rule for this; ours is declared.