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Daily Tarot, day 9, a Celtic Cross
Aug. 3rd, 2014 11:52 amNow that I’ve completed a week of mostly doing daily readings, I decided to start this week with a proper Celtic Cross. I’m again using my vampire deck. I promise I’ll do a reading with the Lord of the Rings deck soon.
As you can see, a Celtic Cross consists of ten cards, so I’ll try to be brief. (Ha.) My question, such as there was one, was about the work and living situations and my material life structure in general. Surprisingly, we turned up no pentacles! This spread seems to have turned up some cups and some swords and a whole lotta Major Arcana, suggesting that most of the work and adjustments I have to do are going to be in my head—mental and emotional—and possibly the Majors suggest some fairly drastic changes? Let’s take a look at the individual cards.
If you don’t know how to follow a Celtic Cross spread, it consists of a cross and a pillar. The first card is in the center of the cross; the second card is on top of that, then the third card is below those, cards four, five, and six are read clockwise around the center cards, and then cards seven through then are in the pillar on the right-hand side, and are read bottom to top.
The first card, the cover card, is here Major Arcana I, The Magician, in his upright position representing “Mastery of special knowledge. Focused energy.” The cover card shows “the substance of the question” or the general situation at hand, so I suppose the matter under discussion in this spread is going to be how successfully I apply the things I have learned lately and whether or not I can keep my energy focused sufficiently. The Magician symbolizes things like “ability to achieve your goal” and “Self-determination” and “Creative visualization.” As a situation card, it indicates a situation where “You are about to take advantage of the expertise you have gleaned from a period of disciplined training” and that “The time is right to initiate projects” and several other things that suggest that this is a good time to apply some knowledge and get some goals achieved.
The second card, the crossing card, represents obstacles or opportunities relating to the matter revealed in the cover card. In this reading, the crossing card is the Six of Cups, The Good Old Days, which in its upright position represents “Nostalgia.” My first thought upon seeing this card was that maybe the skills and specialized knowledge I need to draw upon to do all my goal-accomplishing would be things I’d learned a while ago and hadn’t been making much use of. My little book seems to indicate that it’s more likely to refer to networking of some sort—“You may have the opportunity to renew an old acquaintance” and “Someone from the past may reenter your life,” although it does also mention more generally that “Some matter with roots in the past comes to fruition.” I guess it may be time to reach out to some people I haven’t seen or talked to in a while. The advice here is that I “will need to review some aspect of your past life,” so there’s that.
These two cards together create a “micro-cross” that represents sort of a miniature portrayal of the essence of the spread, which here seems to be saying that I need to draw on what I’ve learned and move forward, but to do that I may have to reach back into my past a bit and sort some things out.
The third card, the beneath card, shows “past influences affecting the matter,” and is here the Five of Cups, “Loss and Disappointment,” which in its upright aspect symbolizes “Mourning.” “Mourning” seems a bit strong but there have certainly been some losses and disappointments associated with my career path, especially lately. Key words include “Regret. Self-blame. Sadness. Brooding. An unhappy ending,” all of which are true, and as a situation it indicates suffering a loss or disappointment (YES). The card suggests that I may feel “abandoned or betrayed” but that “something remains to be salvaged” and that I should revise my emotional priorities. All of which is stuff that I have indeed been trying to do some thinking about lately.
The fourth card, the behind card, is also a past card, but it indicates either a more recent past or, more specifically, a situation that is just passing out of influence, where the beneath card is more of a straight up “backstory of the question” card. My recent past influences appear to be Major Arcana 0, The Fool, in his upright aspect representing “The beginning of a journey. A leap into the unknown.” This card represents fresh starts, innocence, spontaneity, starting an adventure, naivete, and all the things you’d probably expect to be associated with the very first card in a set. This card suggests that “you are about to embark on a new phase in your life” and that “the people you meet now may be participants in a new cycle of personal or professional growth.” Would that be people I’ve met recently, then? What I think might be more relevant here is that the Fool can also signify “a period marked by nervous energy, lack of clarity, and uncertain conditions,” which sounds very much like where I’ve been recently, so I do hope that that’s now passing out of influence!
The fifth card, the crown card, is a card of potentiality, and can represent goals, options, possible developments, and insight into how to resolve the situation or where the question might lead. The crown card today is Major Arcana XII, The Hanged Man, representing “Suspension. A new perspective.” It suggests that this is a time to “pause and suspend activity” and to “reevaluate your attitudes, goals, and priorities while remaining true to your spiritual values.” While the pausing aspect seems to contradict the appearance of the Magician earlier, in its particular position as the Crown card, it might just be underscoring the need for careful thought and evaluating what I’ve learned. The Hanged Man does indicate that one may be “in the midst of a major transition.” It brings up the possibility of needing to let go of or sacrifice something in order to move forward. I’ll definitely have to think about that.
The sixth card, the before card, is the immediate future card, revealing “forthcoming circumstances.” Today it is Major Arcana XI, Justice, representing “Being judged. A fair outcome.” This could be either good or scary, depending on what it is I deserve, I suppose. The card warns me to “deliberate carefully” and apparently tends to show up when a “reasoned and thoughtful decision” must be made. With luck, this will mean multiple job offers and I’ll have to think carefully about which one to pick!
Moving onto the pillar, the seventh card, the Self card, represents, more or less, where the querent is at at the time of the reading. In this case, my “self” is currently Major Arcana IV, The Emperor, symbolizing “The father. Order. Control. Power.” Obviously I am not a father, but the key words for this card representing “the world of grown-ups,” “status,” and “the drive for achievement, success, respect, and stability” seem to indicate that I am currently being driven by a desire for worldly success and “the ability to use rational thought and direct action” to achieve it. I think this meshes fairly well with the question at hand being about achieving goals and controlling one’s own destiny. The Emperor apparently “shows you becoming your own person as you establish yourself in the world,” which is certainly what I’d like to be doing, advises me to “act responsibly and organize a structured, stable environment.” I’m definitely going to have to do some charge-taking in order to do that, which brings me to:
The eighth card, the house card, represents one’s environment and the opinions and influences of the people in your life. Today’s house card is the Four of Cups, Discontent, representing “In a shell. Dissatisfied.” In its most literal meaning, this probably refers to the fact that my current living situation makes me steam-coming-out-of-my-ears angry and so far I have elected to taciturnly count down the days until people move out instead of tackling the problem head-on. More generally, the idea that “everything seems stale and unsatisfying” and “The novelty has worn off” is certainly true of how I’m feeling about generally being a broke young unstable freelancer in Boston. I have half a mind to sell everything I own and move to Harrisburg, but the Four of Cups is advising me “not to rush but rather to take time to meditate and contemplate before proceeding,” making it at least the fourth card in this spread with advice that is a variation on “think very, very carefully.”
The ninth card is “hopes, fears, and expectations,” and in this case is the Two of Swords, Stalemate, representing “A tense situation. An impasse,” which I suppose would fall squarely into “fears.” The card discusses feeling indecisive, feeling “a need to keep a tight rein on your emotions,” and being passive. It advises me to “confront issues directly.”
The tenth card, the final outcome card, which has given me the Ace of Swords, The Power of Intellect. This has shown up as the final outcome in a few readings I’ve done for other people too, so pretty soon we may be able to create a whole army of people who have been made strong through adversity. This card is the root card for air, the intellect and logic suit, and the swords suit is fairly representative of conflict, so the card in its upright position means “A sense of power. Strength in adversity.” It can be most easily conceptualized as your mind being heated and beaten into a strong, sharp, powerful sword, because symbolism is like that. As a situation card, it indicates that something positive will emerge out of the conflict and difficulties of life, and that the querent has “great strength and force at your disposal.” As a final outcome card, it’s fairly positive, as it indicates that you will “level up,” basically.
So, that's a Celtic Cross, you can probably see why I only want to do them once a week.
As you can see, a Celtic Cross consists of ten cards, so I’ll try to be brief. (Ha.) My question, such as there was one, was about the work and living situations and my material life structure in general. Surprisingly, we turned up no pentacles! This spread seems to have turned up some cups and some swords and a whole lotta Major Arcana, suggesting that most of the work and adjustments I have to do are going to be in my head—mental and emotional—and possibly the Majors suggest some fairly drastic changes? Let’s take a look at the individual cards.
If you don’t know how to follow a Celtic Cross spread, it consists of a cross and a pillar. The first card is in the center of the cross; the second card is on top of that, then the third card is below those, cards four, five, and six are read clockwise around the center cards, and then cards seven through then are in the pillar on the right-hand side, and are read bottom to top.
The first card, the cover card, is here Major Arcana I, The Magician, in his upright position representing “Mastery of special knowledge. Focused energy.” The cover card shows “the substance of the question” or the general situation at hand, so I suppose the matter under discussion in this spread is going to be how successfully I apply the things I have learned lately and whether or not I can keep my energy focused sufficiently. The Magician symbolizes things like “ability to achieve your goal” and “Self-determination” and “Creative visualization.” As a situation card, it indicates a situation where “You are about to take advantage of the expertise you have gleaned from a period of disciplined training” and that “The time is right to initiate projects” and several other things that suggest that this is a good time to apply some knowledge and get some goals achieved.
The second card, the crossing card, represents obstacles or opportunities relating to the matter revealed in the cover card. In this reading, the crossing card is the Six of Cups, The Good Old Days, which in its upright position represents “Nostalgia.” My first thought upon seeing this card was that maybe the skills and specialized knowledge I need to draw upon to do all my goal-accomplishing would be things I’d learned a while ago and hadn’t been making much use of. My little book seems to indicate that it’s more likely to refer to networking of some sort—“You may have the opportunity to renew an old acquaintance” and “Someone from the past may reenter your life,” although it does also mention more generally that “Some matter with roots in the past comes to fruition.” I guess it may be time to reach out to some people I haven’t seen or talked to in a while. The advice here is that I “will need to review some aspect of your past life,” so there’s that.
These two cards together create a “micro-cross” that represents sort of a miniature portrayal of the essence of the spread, which here seems to be saying that I need to draw on what I’ve learned and move forward, but to do that I may have to reach back into my past a bit and sort some things out.
The third card, the beneath card, shows “past influences affecting the matter,” and is here the Five of Cups, “Loss and Disappointment,” which in its upright aspect symbolizes “Mourning.” “Mourning” seems a bit strong but there have certainly been some losses and disappointments associated with my career path, especially lately. Key words include “Regret. Self-blame. Sadness. Brooding. An unhappy ending,” all of which are true, and as a situation it indicates suffering a loss or disappointment (YES). The card suggests that I may feel “abandoned or betrayed” but that “something remains to be salvaged” and that I should revise my emotional priorities. All of which is stuff that I have indeed been trying to do some thinking about lately.
The fourth card, the behind card, is also a past card, but it indicates either a more recent past or, more specifically, a situation that is just passing out of influence, where the beneath card is more of a straight up “backstory of the question” card. My recent past influences appear to be Major Arcana 0, The Fool, in his upright aspect representing “The beginning of a journey. A leap into the unknown.” This card represents fresh starts, innocence, spontaneity, starting an adventure, naivete, and all the things you’d probably expect to be associated with the very first card in a set. This card suggests that “you are about to embark on a new phase in your life” and that “the people you meet now may be participants in a new cycle of personal or professional growth.” Would that be people I’ve met recently, then? What I think might be more relevant here is that the Fool can also signify “a period marked by nervous energy, lack of clarity, and uncertain conditions,” which sounds very much like where I’ve been recently, so I do hope that that’s now passing out of influence!
The fifth card, the crown card, is a card of potentiality, and can represent goals, options, possible developments, and insight into how to resolve the situation or where the question might lead. The crown card today is Major Arcana XII, The Hanged Man, representing “Suspension. A new perspective.” It suggests that this is a time to “pause and suspend activity” and to “reevaluate your attitudes, goals, and priorities while remaining true to your spiritual values.” While the pausing aspect seems to contradict the appearance of the Magician earlier, in its particular position as the Crown card, it might just be underscoring the need for careful thought and evaluating what I’ve learned. The Hanged Man does indicate that one may be “in the midst of a major transition.” It brings up the possibility of needing to let go of or sacrifice something in order to move forward. I’ll definitely have to think about that.
The sixth card, the before card, is the immediate future card, revealing “forthcoming circumstances.” Today it is Major Arcana XI, Justice, representing “Being judged. A fair outcome.” This could be either good or scary, depending on what it is I deserve, I suppose. The card warns me to “deliberate carefully” and apparently tends to show up when a “reasoned and thoughtful decision” must be made. With luck, this will mean multiple job offers and I’ll have to think carefully about which one to pick!
Moving onto the pillar, the seventh card, the Self card, represents, more or less, where the querent is at at the time of the reading. In this case, my “self” is currently Major Arcana IV, The Emperor, symbolizing “The father. Order. Control. Power.” Obviously I am not a father, but the key words for this card representing “the world of grown-ups,” “status,” and “the drive for achievement, success, respect, and stability” seem to indicate that I am currently being driven by a desire for worldly success and “the ability to use rational thought and direct action” to achieve it. I think this meshes fairly well with the question at hand being about achieving goals and controlling one’s own destiny. The Emperor apparently “shows you becoming your own person as you establish yourself in the world,” which is certainly what I’d like to be doing, advises me to “act responsibly and organize a structured, stable environment.” I’m definitely going to have to do some charge-taking in order to do that, which brings me to:
The eighth card, the house card, represents one’s environment and the opinions and influences of the people in your life. Today’s house card is the Four of Cups, Discontent, representing “In a shell. Dissatisfied.” In its most literal meaning, this probably refers to the fact that my current living situation makes me steam-coming-out-of-my-ears angry and so far I have elected to taciturnly count down the days until people move out instead of tackling the problem head-on. More generally, the idea that “everything seems stale and unsatisfying” and “The novelty has worn off” is certainly true of how I’m feeling about generally being a broke young unstable freelancer in Boston. I have half a mind to sell everything I own and move to Harrisburg, but the Four of Cups is advising me “not to rush but rather to take time to meditate and contemplate before proceeding,” making it at least the fourth card in this spread with advice that is a variation on “think very, very carefully.”
The ninth card is “hopes, fears, and expectations,” and in this case is the Two of Swords, Stalemate, representing “A tense situation. An impasse,” which I suppose would fall squarely into “fears.” The card discusses feeling indecisive, feeling “a need to keep a tight rein on your emotions,” and being passive. It advises me to “confront issues directly.”
The tenth card, the final outcome card, which has given me the Ace of Swords, The Power of Intellect. This has shown up as the final outcome in a few readings I’ve done for other people too, so pretty soon we may be able to create a whole army of people who have been made strong through adversity. This card is the root card for air, the intellect and logic suit, and the swords suit is fairly representative of conflict, so the card in its upright position means “A sense of power. Strength in adversity.” It can be most easily conceptualized as your mind being heated and beaten into a strong, sharp, powerful sword, because symbolism is like that. As a situation card, it indicates that something positive will emerge out of the conflict and difficulties of life, and that the querent has “great strength and force at your disposal.” As a final outcome card, it’s fairly positive, as it indicates that you will “level up,” basically.
So, that's a Celtic Cross, you can probably see why I only want to do them once a week.
