The Celtic Cross is the best-known ten-card tarot spread. It was popularised by Arthur Edward Waite in 1910, in the guidebook to the Rider–Waite deck, and has been printed in countless books since. This guide explains each of the ten positions, how to read the spread as a whole, and what the numbers say about reversed and Major Arcana cards in a ten-card draw.
The layout
The spread has two parts. On the left is the cross: a central card, a second card laid across it, and four cards around them — above, below, to the left and to the right. On the right is the staff: four cards in a column, read from the bottom up. On Fate Hall the ten cards are dealt in position order, from one to ten, each labelled with its position, so they stay readable on a phone screen; if you use a physical deck, lay them out in the shape described here.
| Position | Traditional place | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Current situation | Centre: the heart of the matter | What is really going on right now? |
| 2. Obstacle | Laid across card 1 | What is crossing or complicating it? |
| 3. Conscious mind (goal) | Above the centre | What are you aiming for, or aware of? |
| 4. Unconscious (root) | Below the centre | What lies underneath: the root or the unspoken motive? |
| 5. Recent past | Left of the centre | What is passing out of the picture? |
| 6. Near future | Right of the centre | What is coming next, in the weeks ahead? |
| 7. Yourself | Bottom of the staff (the column on the right) | How are you approaching the situation? |
| 8. Surroundings | Second in the staff | How do other people and circumstances bear on it? |
| 9. Hopes and fears | Third in the staff | What do you hope for, and fear, about it? |
| 10. Final outcome | Top of the staff | Where things are heading if nothing changes. |
Different books place cards three to six slightly differently. Waite himself described card three as "crowning" the querent and card four as the foundation beneath; others swap the past and future sides. What matters is to decide on one layout before you shuffle and keep to it, which Fate Hall does for you.
Reading the cross
The cross describes the situation itself. Start with cards one and two together: the first card is the heart of the matter and the second shows what crosses it — an obstacle, but sometimes a helpful influence that simply complicates things. Then read the vertical line, from the root below (card four) through the centre to what you are consciously aiming for above (card three). If those two disagree, the gap between what you want and what drives you is often the real subject of the reading. Finally the horizontal line moves through time, from what is passing (card five) to what is coming soon (card six).
Reading the staff
The staff describes you in the situation. Card seven is your own attitude, card eight the people and circumstances around you, card nine your hopes and fears — often the same thing seen from two sides — and card ten the likely outcome if things continue as they are. Many readers check the outcome against card one: is it a natural development of the present, or a sharp change? A good habit is to read card ten last and in the light of everything before it, rather than jumping to it first.
Patterns across the ten cards
With ten cards on the table, patterns become as important as single meanings. Look for:
- Suits. Several Wands point to energy and work, Cups to feelings and relationships, Swords to thought and conflict, Pentacles to money and the body.
- Numbers. Several aces suggest new beginnings; several tens, endings and completion.
- Court cards. These often stand for people involved in the question.
- Major Arcana. The more there are, the more the situation is about a larger turning point — see the Fool's journey.
- Reversed cards. Many reversals can suggest blocked or inward-turned energy.
Because these patterns depend on chance, it helps to know what is ordinary. Fate Hall shuffles the full deck with your browser's secure random generator, deals without repeats, and turns each card reversed independently. The table shows how often each count turns up:
| How many | Reversed cards | Major Arcana cards |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.3% | 2.8% |
| 1 | 7.2% | 13.2% |
| 2 | 17.6% | 26.1% |
| 3 | 25.2% | 28.4% |
| 4 | 23.8% | 18.9% |
| 5 | 15.4% | 8.0% |
| 6 | 6.9% | 2.2% |
| 7 or more | 2.6% | 0.4% |
So three or four reversed cards is the norm, and two or three Major Arcana cards are what you should expect. Five or more Major Arcana in a Celtic Cross happens in about one spread in ten, which is when readers start to talk about a significant moment.
Asking a good question
The Celtic Cross works best with an open question about a situation — "What do I need to understand about my work situation?" — rather than a yes-or-no question or a question about someone else's private thoughts. Write the question down before you draw; Fate Hall has a box for it, and the cards are much easier to interpret when you can see exactly what you asked.
Common questions
Is the Celtic Cross too complicated for beginners? It is a lot to take in, but you can read it in parts: the cross first, then the staff. If it feels like too much, the three-card spread on Fate Hall covers past, present and future in a simpler way.
Is it really Celtic? Despite the name, there is no evidence the spread comes from Celtic tradition. The name refers to the shape, which recalls a Celtic cross. It first appears in print in Waite's book.
Can I draw again if I do not like the answer? Many readers advise against it, since a second draw for the same question tends to confuse rather than clarify. If a reading is unclear, try a single card asking what you most need to understand about the first spread.
Related guides
- Tarot Card MeaningsUpright and reversed meanings for all 78 tarot cards — the 22 Major Arcana and the four suits of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles — and the spreads you can draw on Fate Hall.
- The Fool’s JourneyThe Major Arcana read as one story: the Fool's journey in three rows of seven, a lesson for each card, and the astrological signs and planets linked to the cards.