Revisiting the French Cross

I’ve never hidden my admiration for Marcel Picard. His first book “le Langage Secret du Tarot” started my love affair with the Tarot de Marseille. And even if later my style evolved with other influences, and starting to have my own view on the cards and their symbolism, I must admit that his influence lasted over the years.

He only explains 2 spreads in this first book, his version of the french cross and a 7 cards spread.

Thinking more about it, we certainly don’t need much more to be happy. Most readers want to try too many spreads, depending on this or that kind of question. It was always my opinion that knowing less, and knowing it well, will give better practical results. If I add a simple and efficient 3 card reading, I certainly would have enough to reply to any question.

The french cross is typically used in France and by the french speaking population, I’ve never seen it really explained in a book in english. A very versatile spread, when looking for advice on a situation. The version I use evolved over the years.

The typical french cross is made of 5 cards, that’s the basis I’m using for my version.

Position 1 represents the querent facing the question, the positive aspects of the situation.

Position 2 represents what works against you, the negative aspects of the situation.

Position 3 is the advice, how to deal with and judge the positive and negative aspects of the question, represented respectively by positions (1) and (2), and how to resolve them. It could be considered as what is happening now, as a consequence of positions 1 and 2. 

Position 4 is the outcome, what happens when following the advice of card (3). This is the final result, the conclusion of the reading.

Position 5 is the synthesis, which links everything together.

Marcel Picard added a 6th position. We can call it the long term consequences, the effects of the outcome on the querent at longer term. I find it very useful, as a satisfying outcome might reveal itself as disastrous over time, or vice versa. This position adds a lot of clarity on giving guidance to the querent. 

And then a while back I read another interesting book, written by one of Marcel Picard admirers, Gilbert Vallant, “Le Tarot – Images Vivantes”. A very interesting book, full of practical examples on using the french cross and the 7 card spread. 

In it, the author added 2 more cards to the spread, which I found very useful.

The 7th card sheds some light on position (2), it explains why the card representing what works against the question is a problem.

The 8th adds a second card to better define the long term consequences. It has the same influence on card (6) as the 7th card on position (2).

This is how I use the french cross these days, using 8 cards.

Let’s give a practical example. Nancy, a woman in her 30’s, just met someone. She is asking how the relationship is going to evolve. She’s worried because they both have a job taking a lot of their resources. This seems a perfect question for this spread.

Overall, a spread that shows interesting developments.

First observation, the last card of the Major Arcana is in position one, and the first card is in position two. The world, of course, shows the importance of this relationship for the consultant. Indeed, the world can represent a maximum fulfillment. For a matter of relationship, we can see in this card an extremely promising beginning.

This is obviously to be contrasted with the magician. This card represents a possible potential for the relationship, but being in a position against it, that potential doesn’t seem to be present just yet, for one reason or another.

There is therefore a contrast between a possible realization and a potential which is not present. Contrast that seems difficult to resolve. If we look a little further, the  magician can certainly represent work. Very important area for the two protagonists, according to the information I had received from the consultant. So we see a first problem that can result from a lack of time for the relationship to bloom.

If we look at what gives some light to explain the magician in this position, we see with the fool that there could also be another possibility. This card shows a tendency to escape, or more exactly a lack of responsibility on the part of Nancy’s companion who would tend not to always follow his commitments. Seeing this makes us realize that this additional card can bring more precision on the situation.

Another element that seems important in this spread is the synthesis. We find the emperor there. The card speaks to us of structure, so we can take it as good news, since this is the energy around the spread and it gives some kind of structure to the current situation. From this perspective, we can consider that the companion’s tendency to shirk his responsibilities can be solved.

This emperor also brings to mind the fact that the consultant should hold on and have a slightly firmer attitude towards her companion. If we compare the pros and cons, then we see a rather favorable trend in the current situation. If this tendency to avoid responsibilities can be solved, they are in great shape.

If we look at position three, we find the chariot. A card that seems to follow logically from the fact that the relationship could possibly advance favorably. Indeed, the energy of the chariot shows a possibility of moving forward, a possibility of taking this relationship further.

This is to be taken into consideration with justice in conclusion. So we see, provided they manage to stabilize the current situation and resolve the problem of lack of partner involvement, that there is therefore a possibility of moving this relationship forward, and finding a balance. Justice might even speak at some point about formalizing the relationship. I do not mean by that to get married, but certainly to make it official in the eyes of others. We therefore see a favorable climate for this relationship to evolve.

If we look at the longer term, we get the pope, with temperance to give further insight. It is interesting to see that following justice, we have again a card that could speak of formalization. Indeed, we can see the pope giving his blessing. If we add temperance, we can see that the energies between the two people are well connected. It’s kind of like the current is flowing between the two, so we see a long term conclusion that can only be most favorable for the couple.

Deck: Jean Noblet, restored by Jean-Claude Flornoy.