Reading Near Future & Outcome Cards

exmuse

Hello everyone -

I'm trying to learn how to read the Near Future card with the Outcome together in a Celtic Spread. I understand it's often helpful to read cards in relation to each other, however, in a Celtic Cross reading, I'm not sure what's the best way to approach it.

How do you read the Near Future and Outcome cards together? How do you see their relationship? Are these two cards always necessarily linked in a Celtic Cross spread? Is there a method for interpreting the meaning of these cards in relation to one another?

Here's an example: In a reading, I got Eight of Swords for near future and Tower for Outcome. Does the meaning of the spread lie heavily on the relationship to the two cards or is their connection not necessarily relevant overall? As a general question, how do you know what cards to focus on when you're interpreting a Celtic Cross spread? I know everything can be relevant but if you're not the most experienced reader, how do you keep focused without losing the overall meaning when you are looking at a couple of the cards?

Back to my example, how would you interpret the Eight of Swords and Tower given their specific positions? Are there other specific cards I should examine in relation to theses two that's would help clarify their meaning?

I know I've asked a lot of questions, so I don't expect answers to everything. Any response would be appreciated.
 

JoyousGirl

I'd be inclined to look for all cards with similar meanings/feelings/images to find out what theme is being played out - what is it that is being reinforced in those positions?

I'm inclined to say the 5th card as "potential future" would be more related to the 10th card outcome - sort of like an either/or depending on actions and responses to things.

However the 6th card, near future is more related to a flow of events type thing - leading up to etc, an influence to consider that is both related to the 5th and 10th card.

The outcome is your final "definitive", dare I say, answer of what will happen.

I'd be inclined to say that (8 swords) there is some sort of mental conditioning/denial that is causing an issue from being dealt with properly or seen for what it is, but that ultimately with the Tower, that's going to be smashed to bits and there will be a severe snapping out of it through some external action. It's nice to think things are good, but not if they're not.