Understanding the Celtic Cross Spread

[CallieMyst]

i'm not sure if i am posting in the correct section, so please forgive me if this should be elsewhere. I didn't think the spreads section was correct because that is for sharing original spread creations.

My query is based on reading and interpreting from the traditional Celtic Cross spread. I seem to be having a fair bit of trouble knowing how to take the meaning of the cards in position 7 & 8, depending upon the question.

I know when doing a reading about myself i take card position 7 as how i see things/how i feel i appear within the situation, and card position 8 is how others see me or the situation.

However when doing a reading about someone else's feelings for example how do you change those positions around. Does position 7 become about how that person you are asking about sees things, and position 8 becomes how i view it, or does it still remain the same?

That is just one example, i have done many different readings in the last few months on several different topics and have been confused at times as to how to interpret those two positions.
Another example i can think of is doing a relationship reading about another couple not involving myself as the reader. Does position 7 become about one member of that relationship and position 8 become about the other relationship member, or does 7 become about the couple and position 8 become about how others outside the relationship view it?

There are just so many ways it could be taken and sometimes i can interpret the cards for either dynamic so i am very unsure as to which way would be correct.

Do you decide in your mind before asking the question which person those positions will depict beforehand??

I've gone and got myself so very confused about it all, lol!

[214red]

i personally dont like the CC, i also think its confusing for relationship spreads as it can lean towards one person more then the other, and its not always about the relaitonship as a whole.

also there are variations on the CC, racheal pollack has a good explaination in her 78 degrees of wisdom. some see the 7 as internal forces, and then 8 as external forces, this works more for a relationship CC then some of the other variations i have seen,including the one you listed

[tigerlily]

I'd say position 7 is always about the subject of the reading - if you're doing a reading for yourself, it's describing you (your view of the situation, your attitude, your view of yourself in this situation, your actions, your inner strengths or weaknesses... everything about you that influences the situation); if you read for someone else, it is about them; if you read for a couple, it is about the couple as a whole - if you read for only one of them, it is only about this person, not both.

Position 8 is about the environment, and that doesn't always have to be other persons; it can also describe the general mood/atmosphere surrounding the situation, outer constraints/conditions (for example, if you're looking for a job, it could describe the market - are there jobs available in your area, or has the crisis hit there rather hard?), but of course it can describe other people's attitude, actions or view of the situation.

Unless a court card appears that you can identify as a certain person, I'd say it depends heavily on context; you can interpolate with the other cards (and go with your intuition!) or there may be clues in the question: if the problem is that mom doesn't approve of the querent's boyfriend, you can bet she'll make her view known in position 8. If OTOH the question is the age-old "how does HE feel about me?", the position 8 will probably not be about mom's take on the situation.

[Bitter Almond]

I've always read the Celtic Cross this way: seven is what the querent fears. Eight is what their family and close friends think of the situation. Nine is what the querent hopes might come of it. Ten is what will probably come to pass.

[CallieMyst]

Originally Posted by 214red

i personally dont like the CC, i also think its confusing for relationship spreads as it can lean towards one person more then the other, and its not always about the relaitonship as a whole.

also there are variations on the CC, racheal pollack has a good explaination in her 78 degrees of wisdom. some see the 7 as internal forces, and then 8 as external forces, this works more for a relationship CC then some of the other variations i have seen,including the one you listed

i agree that the CC isnt good for relationship readings as a whole, but i like them for getting an idea of one persons perspective in the situation, especially for seeing how events led them to the present time.
it is too confusing to get both peoples thoughts of the situation from this type of reading, and i think that in itself should answer my own question for me there.

[CallieMyst]

tigerlily and bitter almond i think you both helped clarify that for me, 7 is definitely about the querant or the person in question, and 8 is more of an outside factor rather than it being a he sees/she sees kind of response.

It's funny how i can use this spread so many times and seem to have a clear understand of it and then suddenly get filled with doubt about my intuition in regards to it and everything goes out the window.
Even just from posting my initial question it became clearer in my head again.
I think the self-doubt just likes to creep up on me to keep me on my toes as im learning.

[tigerlily]

Originally Posted by CallieMyst

i agree that the CC isnt good for relationship readings as a whole, but i like them for getting an idea of one persons perspective in the situation, especially for seeing how events led them to the present time.
it is too confusing to get both peoples thoughts of the situation from this type of reading, and i think that in itself should answer my own question for me there.

There is the Amazingly Accurate Relationship Spread in the Tarot Spreads forum ...

[214red]

i do think that perhaps changing the spreads will help you stop doubting yourself, sometimes we learn that not every spread is good for every question. you might only need 3 not 10

[CallieMyst]

Originally Posted by 214red

i do think that perhaps changing the spreads will help you stop doubting yourself, sometimes we learn that not every spread is good for every question. you might only need 3 not 10

That is true, i have been using a lot of 3 card spreads lately so i don't overload on info that isn't required for the question at hand. Perhaps that is what made me doubt the CC spread when i turned back to it tonight.

I think my biggest concern with trying new spreads is that i don't feel the cards will understand what the positions are and i will get an inaccurate reading.
Again it's about my own self-doubt, really.

[214red]

yes i understand, but perhaps spend some time thinking up your own positions and then using the spread you create because its your meanings, or adapt one.


for relationship spreads i tend to pull ones for each person, then ones in the middle for how the mix together, visually it usually works