Why hate on the celtic cross?

I have looked around this forum, and the rest of the internet for quiet the while now, and everywhere I go, there are people talking about the Celtic Cross spread.
Like so many of my fellow tarot readers, the Celtic Cross was the first spread I learned, in the book that came with my first Tarot deck.
I instantly found it very practical as a "Focused" spread, or whatever you want to call it, where you read a specific matter, such as love life or career, as opposed to a "General" spread, that takes up these matters in one or more cards in each spread.
As I used this spread a couple of times on friends, and new people I've met by telling them I do tarot spreads, I've found good use of it, because it works very well to help me understand the "Subject" (Can't call them Clients, since I'm not charging them anything), and from there, read what the cards that tell of predictions may mean.

But everywhere I go, everyone hates on this spread. They say it's Confusing, they say it's annoying, the say it doesn't work, I've even heard people say that it's "Childish", whatever that's supposed to mean.
Can anyone give me a clear explanation for why the Celtic Cross spread isn't a good spread?

i don't hate the CC spread...think people don't have the patience needed for it...
i think others are put off cuz it's so in depth and takes awhile to interpret...

I think, in a way, you've already answered your own question. People dislike/avoid the CC for the precise reason that -- for the longest time -- it was treated as if it were the ONLY spread out there. Every deck, every book had a description of the Celtic Cross in it. And they weren't always the same description either!

The way I see it is this, you (Hypothetical "you" not personal you) are an absolute beginner in Tarot, this is the first time you've picked up a deck of cards. And you're already being told that you MUST learn this complicated arrangement of ten cards. Why? Why not start off with something simple, like a three card spread. There's hundreds of three-carders out there. Past/Present/Future is the simplest. I've been reading for years, and I hardly ever put down more than 6 cards in a reading. Usually I average 3 or 4.

Plus, the Celtic Cross is tangled up in the Significator issue. Most people don't use a significator anymore, because you are deliberately taking out a card that might otherwise appear in the reading. But nine times out of ten, the instructions for a CC tell you that you MUST choose a significator.

I don't like the CC because there are spreads that are more effective for me. Plus I like making up my own spreads. But my all-purpose substitute for the CC is the Tetraktys spread, which I really love, if someone wants a big spread.

I personally prefer the Cross to many of the other options.
I think of it as being time-tested: after so many decades in use it has really proven its worth. If it were not so broadly useful, the CC would have disappeared long ago.

(I think there has been a rush of attempts among tarot users over the last 10 years or so to create new spreads. Most of those new spreads I think of as unnecessary, or else as specifically personal. Perhaps we want to explore, perhaps we want to innovate, perhaps we're just easily bored...? I don't know. It could just be my own 'Taurus rising', but I usually give up on newer spreads after trying them out several times. I think the older ways work just fine.)

I also think of it as providing a long-lens view of an issue, or as providing insights on the issue from many angles. The CC provides endless intrigue from just a single question.

I also like it because, to me as a reader, it seems to speak in complete sentences. Single-card or three-card readings, by contrast, seem to provide only sound-bites.

i find it unwieldy and unneccesarily long for many questions.
also i find it just too long to use regularly...i frequently don't have that much time/attention.
also to me, it's kinda boring. i prefer to experiment, make up a spread on the spot, whatever 'feels right' or seems interesting.
also, i have lingering negative feelings towards this spread because when i was less experienced...at first when i was just starting out i too thought this was 'the' spread to use but because it was so long and complex and doens't work well with my brain it really put me off from reading very often and thus gaining experience. it wasn't till i finally decided 'screw the CC, i'm doing my own spreads' that i really started to make progress and read more regularly/connect with tarot in a more meaningful way so...yeah.

I found it confusing and not that helpful for a long time until I dedicated some time and invested some thought into it. I started with sorting through the various layouts and ended with figuring out all the different wordings. In the end I found one version that I really clicked with, and surprisingly it was A.E.Waite's version of it. It's practical and down to earth, no fussy wordings, no obscure meanings I don't get.

I think the reason why so many people disagree with the CC is that there are so many different versions of it out there. People trying to make it more accessible, more modern, more 21st-century and what not. And all the while making the CC more confusing and misleading.

True, I had to think about Waite's instructions in depth but once I 'got' them it all became clear. People often want an easy fix these days but the CC requires some thought - before laying out the cards and afterwards.

Astraea Aurora said:

I found it confusing and not that helpful for a long time until I dedicated some time and invested some thought into it. I started with sorting through the various layouts and ended with figuring out all the different wordings. In the end I found one version that I really clicked with, and surprisingly it was A.E.Waite's version of it. It's practical and down to earth, no fussy wordings, no obscure meanings I don't get.

I think the reason why so many people disagree with the CC is that there are so many different versions of it out there. People trying to make it more accessible, more modern, more 21st-century and what not. And all the while making the CC more confusing and misleading.

True, I had to think about Waite's instructions in depth but once I 'got' them it all became clear. People often want an easy fix these days but the CC requires some thought - before laying out the cards and afterwards.

Click to expand...

Could you link to AE Waite's version? Maybe I've never seen that one...

I can't say I hate it, just don't love it. Also this is the spread or some version of it where people ask the cards the question 'how does he see me physically' and then write on the forum asking how to interpret the devil or 6 of swords and that just drives me nuts.
I don't even go to that part of the forum anymore lol.


ps: Of course people can ask the cards what they want but it gets tedious

After seeing so many other spreads, the Celtic Cross began to appear much too staid. Other spreads have this fun way of having a clue as to the significance of the card's position, in the shape of the spread. Even if you have a good memory and don't need that clue, I think that makes a spread more comfortable and intuitive.

The CC is just "the cross is the feminine, the staff is the masculine" but I feel like the positions in the spread are disconnected from the shape, and isolate each card. It's just like: (position, card meaning). X,Y. It doesn't feel like a spread to me, it feels more like 10 or 11 single-card draws.

I prefer spreads where you can zoom out and see how the cards call back to one another, which is just more difficult with the CC. Some of my all-time favorite spreads, to contrast:

Infinity: Life Lessons spread
I like how "what will hinder you" and "strengths" are directly opposite one another. This flows very well, I think it can be easily adapted to focus on smaller things. To keep it a general karmic reading, is quite powerful even for only 7 cards.

The Romani Star
A friend of mine who also reads tarot, has a monstrously huge spread exactly like this, but he calls it the Irish cross. Instead of reading it in pairs, he sees a wheel of the four elements. His version made it much easier for me to learn such a huge spread, because I already knew the elemental correspondents. (top: earth, left: water, right: air, bottom: fire)

Umbrae's relationship spread
This one, I lay it out each column from bottom to top, because the emotional baggage, the past, and foundations to me are associated with lower positions. Intellectualized emotion and expectations, I associate with positions higher up the spread. I lay the cards close as puzzle pieces, in a 3 x 3 grid, with one card offset as the final result.

Paradoxx's dream spread
I swap the position of cards 6 and 7 so that the left side will pertain to the intuitive dream world while the right side (I'm right-handed) pertains to the waking world.