A Celtic Cross

Internet can be a wonderful tool when doing some research. I never liked the celtic cross in the past, I always found the spread very static and I did not like much the positions used; “what covers you”, “what is before you”, etc… do not make much sense to me.

Fast forward to a few months ago, I stumbled on Vincent Pitisci on YouTube. He usually reads with a Marseille deck, which is of course a big plus in my eyes. And he redefined some positions of the celtic cross.

Bingo! I went from completely uninterested by this spread, to a version that I started to appreciate a lot. A very useful spread that I use with a complete deck.

I am not going to describe the whole spread in detail in this article. If you want a complete explanation, please buy one of his books, it is better explained than here in a few words. And an example should suffice to get a basic understanding on how to use the spread. I’m not going either to explain how I use the pips, I already did several times in the past.

Jane is asking about a relationship. She met a man a while ago, he was traveling, he lives abroad, and he promised to come back for her.

Right away, without even beginning the interpretation, we get a majority (4 cards out of 10) from the suit of cups, which can represent emotions, feelings, friendship, love. This is already a good sign for developments to come in the relationship.

Let’s start with the 6 cards on the left, the cross. 

The two cards in the middle, the 4 de batons and the 5 de coupes describe in a little more detail what factors need to be known about the question. These 2 cards are talking about stability, joyous times you had, a stable and dependable situation that made things enjoyable. The 5 of cups reinforce the same idea, adding a notion of pleasure, showing an emotional gain that you got from the encounters you had with that person.

Altogether, we see a very pleasant situation, one where you felt emotionally satisfied. 

The top card, the 9 of cups, represents what you can do right now, and the bottom card, the roy de coupe, what you can obtain in the short term.

In traditional cartomancy, the 9 of cups is a very special card, it’s the one typically saying your wish was granted. So, there is a good opportunity here to get your wish and work on his feelings at the same time. If you communicate with him, the king could represent him, it shows that he is ready to listen to your wishes. It’s like that king is bringing an additional cup,  he’s bringing some feelings too, there is a connection. At least, he’s ready to listen and respond to your own feelings, he is well aware of how emotions run high in between you. 

The 6 d’épées shows an asset you can use. It tells you to think deeply about the choices and the direction you want that relation to take, being careful not to take the wrong decision. You have kind of the upper hand here. As we’ve already seen with the king, he’s ready to listen. So, it’s up to you to try to propose choices about your relation, which direction you want the relationship to go. He’s ready to listen.

All this should create an opportunity, represented by le Mat. Something unexpected could happen. We could see with the Fool one of you, probably him, taking a leap of faith and coming to visit you. 

Usually in this kind of reading, the opportunity takes a few months to develop, and here it would make sense as there is a virus slowing down travels, … but that’s why it’s important to express your feelings as I wrote before, there few months would help him to start plan in his head what you want with him and help him decide to move and visit you.

I could not say, of course, at this point if he is the love of your life, but at least, we can see everything moving in the right direction. He seems attentive to what you want and ready to move along and for the next step.

Let’s move to the column on the right.

We start with l’Impératrice at the bottom, it represents you facing the question. We can see with the empress that this man allowed you to feel like a real happy woman, someone in control and worth much more than a simple adventure. A woman in control, who knows what she wants.

That’s an asset you can use considering all that was already discussed in this reading. The way you are empowered, could be used to show him how he made you feel, how this 9 of cups could be used to make him listen and acknowledge you. After all, he is the king of cups we saw previously, you can help him to take the right choices.

Le soleil is about timing.  It shows a card with 2 people feeling good together and as we’ve seen he empowers you, l’Impératrice. This shows that this is the right time to act, to talk about getting together again as soon as the situation allows. We’re back again to that king of cups at the bottom, who is ready to listen. Talking about all this and him listening is what is going to create that opportunity with the fool and getting things moving for you two to meet again. 

With XIII, it seems that you can get the transformation in this relationship that you wish. It’s like preparing the ground work to make things moving forward.

We finish with the 8 de coupes (8 of cups), the position speaks about what you can expect. I really like the 8 of cups here, it represents thoughts about love, a festive atmosphere. The right time to make plans about how both of you can develop your feelings for each other.

I must say this is a beautiful reading, it really seems, according to these cards, that it is worth pursuing something with that person.