View Full Version : Getting tired of the Celtic Cross
Kyrielle
19-08-2002, 09:53
The title of the thread says it all. I use the Celtic Cross a lot for insight into situations. I would really like some new spreads that are kind of along the lines of Celtic Cross -- that offer a comprehensive overview of the energies swirling around an issue and give advice on how to deal with them. I have a couple of spread books, but I'm still looking for more spreads that really click with me.
Wings of the Phoenix is a great spread of this type, too. That's what got me to start this thread -- the desire to see my cards laid out in a few more different ways, with a few more different meanings.
-- Kyrielle
lunalafey
19-08-2002, 13:16
I am not more not in a mood to do a cc than I am willing to use others. I use cc alot more than I'd rather because of the familiarity with it. But in 12 years of reading I only learned about 4 years ago. I have begun to use the Astrological/zodiac spread more in the last few weeks....
Sorceress_Jade
19-08-2002, 13:50
Well, as you say you have spread books I sincerely doubt I have anything you've not seen before but perhaps you may like to check out this spread
http://www.tarotspreads.com/ShowSpread.api?Spread=Amanda
And the sight that it is on.
Also my suggestion is to take the ideas that you want presented in the spread and position them yourself in a way that is meaningful to you.
This way you will have a spread with all of the positions that you require, and they well be laid out in a manner so that their relationship makes sense to you.
Personally I like the idea of Amanda's fan (above) but think the cards are laid out wrong.
Jenny-Li
20-08-2002, 16:06
I have seen LOADS of great spreads right here on the forum, so why don't you hit the Search-button and go hunting around AT - I'm sure you will come up with some goodies! Phonix's "Wings of the Phoenix"-spread is one that is really good, as is Jema's Love spread, just to mention two of them...
If that still doesn't work out for you - why don't you create your own? Figure out what you need to know to build an image of your situation, and play a bit with the positions until you find one that feels right!
Just don't forget to post it for the rest of us to learn... ;)
Good luck!
Jenny :)
the hermit
20-08-2002, 17:48
I've pretty much given up the CC too because I also see it as being excessively complicated for my needs.
The 2 spreads that I use most often now are a simple 3 card past, present, future that can be easily modified... such as for persons... you, he/she, you & he/she or for issues... problem, blockage, solution(s)
And adding the ability to draw additional cards as needed for clarification.
The other spread I use for directly exploring problems is listed in the following thread...
four sets of two (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6243)
and as Jenny-Li noted, there are tons of other spreads discussed here on the forum.
I also agree that few cards are often more useful than many cards.
Ravenswing
21-08-2002, 13:16
kyrielle--
this spread is given by Hajo Banzhaf in his book 'the tarot handbook' as "an alternative to the celtic cross":
4 3 5
6 1-2 7
9
8
***note: 3, 1-2, 9 and eight should form a straight line ***
interpretation:
1-2 the cross on her chest shows the topic in the form of two main impulses (this is it. this crosses it.)
3-4-5 the cards of the three moon phases of her crown show the powers influencing the topic:
3-- the full moon is present influence
4-- the waxing moon is gaining influence
5-- the waning moon is loosing influence
6-7 the two columns:
6-- what is in the dark
7-- what is in the light
8-- where the journey leads
turn over the 9th card. if it is one of the majors, the HP has revealed her secret. this card tell about deeper motivation,the why and what for. if it is a minor, conceal it again; the HP has kept her secret to herself and the ninth card has no bearing to the reading.
sounds like what you might be looking for.
raven
Ravenswing, I just wanted to say what a neat spread that is! Thanks for sharing it with us. I'll have to give it a try. Now I'm also really intrigued by the Banzhaf books.
:) Kes
I am not, and never have been a fan of the CC. I do not think it is a good begginer's spread due to the amount of cards (talk about challenging one's confidence from the get go!) ... anyway no need to get carried away with whay I do not like about the CC. I personally prefer the 3 card spreads, where as pointed out by the Hermit (I believe) you can get clarification.
For those who like but are having issues with the CC, I found the book Tarot for Yourself by Mary Greer to be most helpful in the learning of it. She has a section called "Permutations" which I found fascinating and it is where the CC finally made sense to me.
A book that has some neat spreads is Sandor Conraad's book ... Thirteen help me out here, what is the name of the book?
jewel, don't even remember me of the cc spread in the tarot for yourself book. i had huge problems doing it coz of my dislike of the cc spread, i ended up doing it for a friends mom with a deck of regular playing cards. turned out to be highly accurate 2 months later.
but, after that, i have not ever used this spread again and i dont intend to.........
kaz
Here is my favorite spread:
------1---2---3------
--4---------------8--
------5---6---7------
1 & 2-subject in the present
3- challenge/opportunity
4-passing influence
5- heart of the matter/main influence on subject
6- hidden/unrecognized
7- advice
8-outcome
I usually read 1, 2 & 5 together, then 4 to see what influenced the present situation
3, 6 & 7 usually go together, what is hidden, the challenge/opportunity and the advice about what to do about the other two.
Sometimes, 1, 5 & 6 go together and 2, 3 and 7 go together.
I find it a very dynamic spread where the cards can really relate to each other, especially if you have a deck that has people on all the cards. The way they look at or away from each other adds meaning.
numbrel
Hi numbrel, I really liked your spread. I tried it and it worked great!
-- Lee
Starfish
23-08-2002, 17:23
Numbrel -
Cool spread! I'm printing it off and plan on trying it this evening.
Thanks for sharing -
:TMOON Starfish
Lee & Starfish,
Thank you. I feel I should mention that I got this spread from someone else, but I did change the meaning of #2. I forget what it was originally.
I hope it works for you too, Starfish.
numbrel
Hi, all!
I've never been comfortable with the the CC. I just couldn't relate the cards to each other in meaningful ways. I tried moving the cards around, since I wanted more visual continuity between related cards as well, but I found I had to just start from scratch and design my own spread.
So here it is! I think I'll call it the Lion's Mane (just 'cause I'm partial to all things Leonine!) It can be a 4-card, 8-card, or a 12-card spread, depending on how much depth you want to go into. Here is the entire 12 card-spread:
11------------12
----7-------8----
------3---4------
------1---2------
----5-------6----
-9------------10
Yes, it is a lot of cards and it does take up a lot of room, but the whole reason for laying it out this way is so I can read them in pairs. I'll give their meanings in the pairs that I read together:
1 <-> 2 = Current Situation <-> Challenges you will face in this situation.
3 <-> 4 = Your Goals for this situation <-> Your Hopes/Fears in reaching these goals.
5 <-> 6 = Your Unconscious Motivation(s) <-> Your Conscious Inspiration(s).
7 <-> 8 = You... <-> Others involved...in this situation.
9 <-> 10 = Past Cause(s) of... <-> Future Effect(s) of...this situation.
11 <-> 12 = Your Inner Strength which will help you through... <-> Outcome of...this situation.
What I like about this spread is that you can read the cards in groups of 4 (1-4, 5-8, 9-12), in pairs as shown above, or as three card lines. Also, you can use just 1-4, or 1-8 if you don't want as many cards to read. Most of the time, I start out with the first 8 cards, read those, then add the last group of 4.
This is the way I do the 'three card lines' way of reading. I make it into a sentence so one card flows into the next. Using the 9-5-1 line, my sentence would be: (9) This Past Cause lead to (5) your Unconscious Motivation, which resulted in the (1) Current Situation.
I guess this spread should go with that thread that was going a while back about really BIG spreads using lots of cards! Hopefully someone finds it useful!
Peace,
Melvis
:TSTRE
By the way, I got the idea for the way this spread grows from a 4- to a 12-card spread from Dr. Ronald Bonewitz, the creator of the Wisdom of the Maya Oracle deck. In his accompanying book he describes a spread based on the four directions that can grow or contract depending on how much detail you want in the spread.
Credit where credit is due! ;)
Peace,
Melvis
:TSTRE
Starfish
25-08-2002, 23:23
Originally posted by numbrel
Lee & Starfish,
Thank you. I feel I should mention that I got this spread from someone else, but I did change the meaning of #2. I forget what it was originally.
I hope it works for you too, Starfish.
Numbrel -
Oh My Goodness! I just did the spread this evening and it was almost eerily accurate! I love this spread. I've added it to my spread journal and titled it "Numbrel's Spread" for lack of a better title.
Thank you so much for sharing it -
:TLOVE Starfish
Starfish
25-08-2002, 23:25
Originally posted by Melvis.
Hi, all!
I've never been comfortable with the the CC.
***
I guess this spread should go with that thread that was going a while back about really BIG spreads using lots of cards! Hopefully someone finds it useful!
This spread looks very cool! I plan on trying it tomorrow. Thanks for sharing it Melvis. I also never seem to get the Celtic Cross to click for me. I am CCC - Celtic Cross Challenged ;)
:TLOVE Starfish
Glad you liked it, Starfish! I'll be interested to see what someone else thinks of it. Let me know if you have suggestions for improvements!
Have fun!
Peace,
Melvis
:TSTRE
Starfish,
Glad you liked it.
numbrel
suedeheadsmiths
12-03-2007, 00:49
Thanks Numbrel, this is a cool spread. I was a little confused by my outcome, but I'm a newbie :) Thanks so much. I too get tired of the Keltic Cross.
Chris
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem, even though I use it often, I am always left with some sort of doubt and confusion. For instance, I did a reading on a co-worker who is having pretty heavy relationship problems. I chose the CC, and the first card down was the 3cups crossed by the queen of wands and the 4 of cups. I said is there some sort of party or celebration coming up, Yes it was the following evening, a St. Patricks day party. I said there will be a change of plans, she was amazed that it came out but didn't quite believe me, until 2 hours later she called me and told me that the party was cancelled at her friends house and she offered to move it to hers. So obviously she needed a heads up on this change of plans but, this threw off the whole reading, I am thinking that maybe I should have picked up and re laid the spread, because I felt like I lost my bearings. I have found this to happen all the time with this spread, but I keep using it for some reason. I also have to double the cards in this spread, I can't read it at all if I don't.
I came across a 9 card spread once which was 3 across, 3 down, and also to be read corner to corner, I can't remeber what book I found it in but it worked much better for me, does it ring a bell to anyone?
Imagemaker
12-03-2007, 10:17
I came across a 9 card spread once which was 3 across, 3 down, and also to be read corner to corner, I can't remeber what book I found it in but it worked much better for me, does it ring a bell to anyone?
This sounds like Chronata's spread. I can't find her post on it right now, but perhaps she'll pop up and clarify. As I recall, it's:
7 . . . 8 . . .9
1 . . .2 . . .3
4 . . 5 . . . .6
She pulls 7 8 9 from the bottom of the deck--for the past
1 2 3 for the present
4 5 6 for the future
Read the columns down for:
7 1 4 past;
8 2 5 present; and
9 3 6 for future also
It's fascinating how different layers of the time periods appear in the horizontal three and also the vertical three.
The reading often seems centered around the 2, which shows the core issue. I've forgotten how she uses the diagonals. Chronata, come tell us!
Sounds like it's close, and 2 definitly being the focal point of the reading, for some reason I thought it was in the sacred circle book, but it isn't...now I'm on a mission!