The Celtic Cross
A Masonic Interpretation
The Celtic Cross spread first came to wide attention when it was included in RW Arthur Edward Waite’s book, The Pictorial Key To The Tarot1. He described it as “An Ancient Celtic Method Of Divination.”
Taking him at his word, we can assume that Waite did not invent the spread, but it certainly seems that his use of the word ‘ancient’ was an exaggeration. Likely he learned it from someone else, but how old it truly was is surely debatable.
What is likely is that Waite learned it as a part of his studies in the Golden Dawn2, where it may well have been invented as a quicker, yet effective way of working with the cards.
Since that time, the Celtic Cross has largely become a ‘go to’ Tarot spread. Learned by most who work with Tarot, and included in a myriad of books, for over a century it has proven to be effective for a broad range of questions, from the most general to the most specific.
But…
Every Tarot reader has his or her own take on it. They might lay the cards out in a different order, they might give different meanings to different positions, the possibilities have resulted in a myriad of different methods of using the same spread. Early Golden Dawn documents even show the position of the cross half of the spread and the vertical half in positions opposite to what is almost always seen.
I offer the interpretation of the Celtic Cross illustrated above, and explained below, as a Masonic interpretation of this very popular and common spread. It utilizes the Masonic concepts of Light, of Traveling to the East in search of that Light, and the Temple laid out East to West as a representation of the universe. Indeed, in viewing the spread we can easily see that it is laid out exactly like a typical Masonic Temple in the United States.
I should begin by pointing out that I do not use a Significator. I find no benefit in doing so, and do not want to artificially limit the deck’s vocabulary by removing a card.
I should also point out that I do read reversals, but that reversals do not often come up in my spreads because I don’t intentionally reverse cards during the shuffle. When reversed cards do show up in my spreads, it is as a result of cards that ‘jumped’ during handling or shuffling. As I tend to be quite unskilled at shuffling the cards with grace, I do not believe that the deck’s vocabulary is in any way limited by my not intentionally shuffling reversals into it.
With those two points out of the way, using the photograph above:
Card 1 (The Magician)3 symbolizes the present issue or the querent at the present moment.
Card 2 (The High Priestess) symbolizes something important impacting the present issue or the querent at the present time. I don’t necessarily see it as ‘crossing the path’ rather as something having an important impact, positive or negative.
Taken together cards 1 and 2 are the ‘heart of the matter.’
Card 3 (The Empress) symbolizes the querent’s thoughts about the issue at hand, at the present time. It is the card crowning the querent or the issue.
Card 4 (The Emperor) symbolizes the querent’s unrecognized, unconscious thoughts about the issue at hand, at the present time. It is the card beneath the querent or the issue.
All of the above cards taken together represent thought. Card 3 represents conscious thought (or light), card 4 the unconscious (or darkness), and these two parts of the querent, together create the situation symbolized by cards 1 and 2. A blending of light and dark as symbolized in our Lodge rooms by the Mosaic Pavement.
Card 5 (The Hierophant) symbolizes what has just passed away, or is passing away at this time. It is what is behind the ‘heart of the matter’ illustrated by cards 1 and 2.
Card 6 (The Lovers) symbolizes the near term. What is before the ‘heart of the matter’ illustrated by cards 1 and 2. It is what will come very soon, perhaps in days or a week or two.
Taken together, these cards represent Past, Present, Future. Card 5 the past, cards 1 and 2 the present, card 6 the future.
This completes the ‘cross’ half of our Celtic Cross, and it represents generative energies surrounding the querent or the issue. Passive energies that will bloom and bring forth growth when and if mixed with active energies.
This half of the spread also illustrates the four cardinal directions. Card 6 is the east, the place of the morning sun, card 5 is the west, the place of the evening sun, card 3 is the south, the place of the midday sun, and card 4 is the north, the place of darkness. Thus we travel, west to east, by way of our conscious will in the south.
Card 7 (The Chariot) symbolizes our querent. How he or she sees themself, or the issue at hand.
Card 8 (Strength) symbolizes the people surrounding the querent. How they see him or her, or the issue at hand.
Taken together, cards 7 and 8 show if there is a large disconnect between how the querent sees themself, and how others do, or if there is harmony. Likewise for the issue at hand.
Card 9 (The Hermit) is a position that I read in one of two ways, depending on the context of the surrounding cards. I will either read it as the querent’s hopes and fears, or I will read it as advice to the querent.
Card 10 (Wheel Of Fortune) symbolizes what will come in the longer term. Out to six months.
Taken together, this second half of the spread, cards 7 through 10 represent active energies impacting the querent or the issue. Energies that will mix with and impact the generative energies contained within the cross section of the spread. The entire spread can thus be symbolized by the Lesser Lights of the Lodge, the vertical half representing the Sun, the cross half representing the Moon, and the querent or the issue representing the Master.
Information about the card images can be found here.
https://benebellwen.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/a-e-waite-pictorial-key-to-the-tarot-1911-source-credit-sacredtexts.pdf
https://www.tarotassociation.net/free/TarosophistSample.pdf
As mentioned in the photo’s caption, the pictured spread does not depict the cards in actual use. In actual use cards would be randomly drawn into each position within the spread. Using the names of the cards here, and setting them in numerical order, is simply an effort to make the text easier to understand.
I’ve seen the Celtic cross but I’ve never studied it or used it. Thank you for the introduction.
I had one hesitation though. It feels more natural to me that cards 5 and 6 would be flipped. My logic is putting the left in the past and the right in the future. I’d like to understand your perspective though.
I learned the Celtic Cross after I had been using Tarot for a few years. I found it interesting, but I guess the layout I learned first is still my go to layout. It’s a simpler layout and, for me, is more useful in answering a question. Maybe you’ll find it useful.
Here it is….
First, you select a question. Its best to write it down, so that you get a concrete question formulated, and then can go back to it to interpret the cards.
Second, select the significator. Most people select a significator by either choosing a court card that resembles the querent, or a quality of the querent, or the question. In any event you select the card you will use. In this method, you shuffle the deck and draw a card. If that card seems to serve well as a significator, then you are done shuffling. If not keep shuffling, and repeat until you get a suitable significator. This has the quality of forcing you to explore the question from unthought of points of view. It’s a ‘get your ego out of the way’ step.
Place the significator on the table.
Above the significator, starting in the left lay the cards out in 5 columns of three cards, in a fan shape. The first card you lay down in each column is the bottom of the column.
The left column is the distant past, the next is the recent past, the center is the present, the second from the right is the near future and the far-right column is the distant future. In each column, time moves from bottom to top. So, the lowest card in the left column is the origin of the ‘issue’ in the past. The last (top) card on the right column is the end of the “issue” in the future.
When reading the layout, you apply the question to the position of the card in time, to build a story. It important to remember that the ‘distant past’ is the time when the issue originated, and the distant future is where the issue will resolve, good or bad. That might be a span of one day, or 100 years, it depends on the question. The present column (center) is a little tricky, the middle card of that column is RIGHT NOW. The lowest in that column JUST PASSED, and the top card is IMMEDIATELY NEXT.
Now you compose the story, using the question and the significator, moving thru time to understand what brought the issue to hand and how you are currently interacting with it, and how you will resolve it.
I like this layout because as humans we tend to tell stories, and stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. I like it because it has a get the ego out of the way component, and it does not require memorizing the layout.