Double Celtic Cross

I have used this spread on numerous occasions and have found it extremely accurate, I got it from The Complete Idiots Guide to Tarot & Fortune Telling.
You lay out the cards in the normal way for a celtic cross, but then you add another card next to each position for example;

1/20 The Querent what surrounds him/her
2/19 Favorable or unfavorable conditions
3/18 Foundation of the matter
4/17 Conditions passing away
5/16 Might materialize
6/15 What will occur
7/14 Negative feelings/fears
8/13 Others and the question,how they feel about it
9/12 What you have to go through
10/11 Final outcome

This spread is good for two fold questions such as, to use the example from the book; When will my new job occur and where?
The Major arcana don't give physical directions but the minor can-
Wands-South
Cups-West
Swords-North
Pentacles-East

You can change these directions to suit your hemesphire, I live in the southern but still use the above version with excellent results. Cards 6 & 10 give the sense of timing and possible direction, so if card 6 and it's cover card 15 are 6 pentacles/Ace Wands and 10 & 11 are The Hierophant/Knight Pentacles the original place of this persons work was east (as the first card drawn was the 8 Pentacles in the example in the book with Judgement) Scince Pentacles = East and Wands= South 2 Pentacles and 1 Wand = South, southeast is where her new job will occur.

Now for the timing;
Cups=Days, Wands=Weeks, Pentacles=Months, Swords= Undetermined-it's up to you because your working it out in your mind.

Ace- through to 10, 1-10 days, weeks or months depending on card of course.
Page- 11 days, weeks or months
Knight- 12 days,weeks or months
Queen & King- unknown time it's up to you!
So using the above example 18 months, (the 6 Pentacles & Knight Pentacles) and 1 week (Ace Wands) she should get her job within that time frame!

I hope you all enjoy this new take on the celtic cross!

TB this sounds fab, and I'm printing it off as we speak.

It occurred to me, how about using 2 decks? Or would that complicate matters? You could end up with the exact same card in one position which wouldn't give you any further insight, or would it just strengthen the message? I'm not too hot on spread invention, but I just wondered what you thought.

Thanks again,

Sue

Oh i use this spread all the time! Its almost addicting! Ive used it on a lot of readings in the exchange and people say im pretty on target, so its a must have for the general spread category.

psychic sue said:

TB this sounds fab, and I'm printing it off as we speak.

It occurred to me, how about using 2 decks? Or would that complicate matters? You could end up with the exact same card in one position which wouldn't give you any further insight, or would it just strengthen the message? I'm not too hot on spread invention, but I just wondered what you thought.

Thanks again,

Sue

Click to expand...

I never thought of doing that! The only drawback as you said would be drawing the same exact card in one position, so it wouldn't give you that further insight but then you could always draw a clarification card then couldn't you? Or just take it as strengthening the message what ever takes your fancy, thats what I love about Tarot nothing is written in concrete!

This is one of my favorite spreads as it takes a very basic yet informative spread and adds even more information.

I'd like to add my own methods on analyzing this spread and it's especially good if you journal about your spreads. I find that once the cards are spread out, I look at the position sets and see if they match up elementally. From this, one can derive the power of the card combinations.

For instance:
-Two earth cards are going to be an extremely strong influence, so much so that it's going to take a lot of time and energy to influence a situation.
-A fire and an air card are going to be a strong and friendly force with a dynamic or yang action, perhaps indicating where and how action should be performed. Balance and integration are necessary for a good outcome.
-An earth and a water card are also strong and friendly, but will react with a receptive/passive or yin action, which may indicate where more thought, meditation or information is needed. Balance and integration are necessary for a good outcome.
-A water and a fire card will produce a very bitter and opposing force, a "Maginot line" if you will. Sure, there might be some progress or movement from both sides, but no one side will win it in the end while the other stands.
-A fire and earth card are somewhat friendly yet neutral force. At best they're homeostatic. At worst, they don't get along might clash.

I used the book "21 ways to read a tarot card" to help explain the elemental dignity-pairing which occurs from this double celtic cross.



The way I deal the cards for a double celtic is forwards then backwards, so that the 10th card is immediately paired with the 11th card, and the 1st card is paired with the 20th card. Anyone else do it this way? On a funny side-note, I think it's interesting that if dealt in forwards-backwards fashion, each card pair's number designation will equal 21 (10+11, 7+14, 5+16, etc.).