I always found the Celtic Cross spread difficult and confusing. Earlier today I read a really simple explantation of it from Stuart Kaplan, who is quite an expert in tarot. Then I saw this illustration on Pinterest, and I grabbed it to remind me that this once confusing spread is not really so difficult after all.
The one key thing missing from this illustration is that UNDERNEATH card 1 is the real first card, which is selected by the reader to represent the querent. The card is called the Significator. While it may be a trump card (major arcana), it is often one of the court cards (page, knight, queen, king). Card 1 is laid exactly on top of this Significator card.
The reader chooses the Significator and then asks the querent to shuffle and cut the deck three times.
This covers you: Your encompassing situation right now.
This crosses you: Obstacles.
This crowns you: The best or the ideal.
This is beneath you: What you have to work with. Your base.
This is behind you: If your life were a river, this is the part you’ve already traveled.
This is before you: The part of the river that’s coming up next.
Your attitude and your relation to the matter in question.
Your environment, your surroundings (now).
Your hopes and fears.
What will come. This card cannot be read in isolation but must be interpreted based on the entire spread.
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