Laying out a Celtic Cross spread ~ What's your style?

[romanticdreamz]

I haven't done a cross spread in a while but I used to place all the cards down first and then do the reading.

I quite like rituals and symbolism etc so I used to say some words with them as well, a little rhyme which allowed me to put the cards down in the same sequence every time as well. (I think I use to put top, bottom, left then right surrounding the centre card...)

 

[Eddie]

The relationship between the cards and the therefore the effect they have on each other is fundamental to any reading.

For this reason I always place all the cards facing up wards. I also split the usual position of hopes and fears. I place the fears in position 7 and hopes in 9. this way I get so much more information, especially regarding the querents attitude, and compare this with other combinations. This is also a good way of seeing whether the querents fears are justifiable and how they compare with their hopes and ultimately the outcome.
Eddie

 

[ScaryFairy]

I like to lay all the cards out face up straight away, so I can see the contrasts between the cards and how it looks. I've found that if I don't do that I end up looking at all the cards seperately and not getting the reading as a whole in my mind.

 

[dangerdork]

For this reason I always place all the cards facing up wards.

Hi Eddie: this made me curious, do you mean by this that you turn around all reversed cards? I usually do this too.

If you're sitting across the table from the querent, do you lay out the spread on the table oriented towards THEM or towards YOU?

 

[Morwenna]

I lay them all out at once, announcing them as I go; then analyze them one at a time, then in relation to each other. Talking it out in this way helps me see more connections, and explain it better to the querent. Note that I only use the CC for querents, not for myself; so I do use clarifiers if the situation seems to require it. Often the querent looks at me with bewilderment, until I put down a few clarifiers on the rockier or more confusing spots; then suddenly it makes sense. Sometimes the clarifier will be a complete one-card-each overlay of the entire spread: adjectives on top of the nouns, as it were. It depends.

 

[minrice]

I don't mean to be a hater but I totally hate the celtic cross. Too many cards, too vague positions, and it just doesn't resonate with me!

 

[HighPriestesss]

I don't mean to be a hater but I totally hate the celtic cross. Too many cards, too vague positions, and it just doesn't resonate with me!

To be honest, it doesn't resonate well for me either, but it's the spread I learned on and pretty much the only one I know (except for a 3-card).

What spread do you like to use most?

 

[Redstar]

I'm another one that will lay them all out first and then read them as they apply to each other.

 

[Eddie]

Hi Eddie: this made me curious, do you mean by this that you turn around all reversed cards? I usually do this too.

If you're sitting across the table from the querent, do you lay out the spread on the table oriented towards THEM or towards YOU?

I like to see all the cards and glance over them to get a feeling of the spread. I never read reversals. I feel there are 78 cards in the deck, more than enough to tell me what they need to say without complicating things by trying to read them reversed.
I lay them to wards me and get the querent to sit by my side, so we can look at the cards together.
The CC can really get to the nitty gritty. Well worth trying to master it and it certainly isn't vague. If you try and study the CC, you begin to see how some positions can relate to eachother and how they compare, for example, how the hopes can compare with the crowning position and whether there is a positive or a negative card in the fears position and how this compares with the potential outcome.
Eddie

 

[Theworld98]

I like to lay out the cards and look at the spread as a whole and sort of feel the energies of the cards and see if I receive any messages before proceeding to read the cards. Also I've noticed that my version seems to be very different from others.
In the Easy Tarot Handbook it tells you to lay down 3 cards face down to use as a significator whenever needed. Also, in the spread, the 3rd card is the recent past, 4th being the distant past, 5th the near future, and 6th being the far future (within 6 months) . I also read the cards in the cross formation from left to right for past, present, and future, then the bottom to top for how events are affecting the future. Does anyone else know any different variations of the spread?