Using the Celtic Cross Spread to Explore a Past Event

We mostly use tarot to find out about the future, or explore a current event in our lives or that of our clients. Tarot is also an excellent tool for exploring past events too. All we need do is tweak the positions of our favourite tarot spread and we have our very own questionnaire built to explore the past! I’m going to use the Celtic Cross Tarot Spread in this post as it lends itself well to customisation. (See my free tutorial on the Celtic Cross for a deeper understanding of its use.)

Defining a Past Event

Perhaps our first thoughts are about a recent break-up of a relationship, the loss of a job, an argument with a friend – all these are excellent candidates for retrospective tarot reading. We can explore our own actions and gain clarity on events we never fully understood, why we acted a certain way, why we said those awful things, why we acted in a way we didn’t really mean to. There are lots of answers to be found in the past and a good tarot spread can help us go over these events with a fine tooth comb, and often with less pain attached. It’s in the past, the wounds are healed and we can look at things we just couldn’t do before.

But I think we can get a little more creative than that – I think we can go way back and find out about our ancestry, our forefathers, those that came before us who we know very little about.

Turning Back the Clock

In the late 1700’s, my great, great, great, great grandfather, Captain Joseph Hynson, was a double agent in the American War of Independence. He was an American working under Benjamin Franklin, acting as courier with his ears to the ground in Paris. He also went on to become employed by the British. Entrusted with 8 months’ worth of despatches, Joseph managed to hand them over to his British paymasters and replaced the despatches with blank paper destined for Congress. The heist wasn’t discovered for months. A lot is known of that event, he is mentioned in many historical books and in university literature. You can even Google him to find out more.

What we don’t really know much about is the man himself. I’ve used tarot before to find out about him, what he was like as a spy, as a husband and father and what his journeys were like/ I’ve never taken a single event in his life and explored that – so let’s do it! Let’s explore why my great, great, great, great grandfather, Captain Joseph Hynson, decided to become a spy, his motives, rewards and what happened to him in the aftermath.

This is where the Celtic Cross Spread comes in. And you! Together we can explore this period of his life so you can see how easily you can use the tarot to explore your family history too.

Modifying the Spread Positions

I’ve kept to the original Celtic Cross Spread that is published in the Pictorial Key to the Tarot. You may use different position names than the ones I’ve used here – all are okay. The original positions are less important than the new ones we’ll be bringing in. Think of the original tarot spread positions as guides.

Where it was appropriate to change the positions to reflect the past, I have. Some of the staff positions of the Celtic Cross are already appropriate and so I haven’t changed them at all. If you use different position names than Arthur Waite, check to see if they’re still appropriate for your retrospective tarot reading. You can modify the Celtic Cross Spread more specifically if you want to. I have tried to keep these changes to be a little more generic so that I may use it again in my genealogical explorations – makes me sound like Indiana Jones .

A word about the Significator

We often think of using a court card as the significator to represent the person involved. Arthur Waite is clear in the Pictorial Key to the Tarot that we can also use a card to ‘represent the matter’. If we allow the tarot to designate the ‘signifcator of the matter’ (by drawing a card and not choosing one purposely) we’re gaining a card with extra information that we might not have known about before. It may show you what motivated your ancestor, or what the driving force behind the event was, if it was not of their instigation.

This position also has the potential to clash with other positions in the spread. All of these positions will show nuances between each other and will be related to each other more uniquely than by using the Celtic Cross Spread to determine future events. (See Part Two of my free Celtic Cross Tutorial for a deeper exploration of the spread positions and their meanings.)

1. What covers him – What was their major influence?
2. What crosses him – obstacles they faced
3. What is beneath him – what was the reason behind their action? What were they looking for? What did they really want?
4. What is behind him – what event(s) prior to the event lead them to it, to decide upon their course of action?
5. What crowns him – what was their aim? What were they hoping to achieve?
6. What is before him – What was their reward or future motivating force to continue? What was immediately before them after their event?
7. Himself – How were they feeling? What was their mind-set?
8. His house – What were their environmental influences?
9. Hopes and fears – What were they hoping to achieve by this action? Were they trying to avert a danger?
10. What will come – what was the outcome? Or the single biggest change in their lives because of this event? What did they gain or lose?

Retrospective Tarot Reading of Captain Joseph Hynson & Why He Became A Spy

I used the Thoth deck to find out about the Joseph’s decision to enter the historical world of James Bond and so will be keeping to the subtlety of the different definitions of that deck for this reading.

The Significator – 4 of Cups – Luxury. Was he seduced by the thought of a fabulous lifestyle? He lived in Paris at the time of the theft, all rather high-rolling. Was there also a sense of being locked into this and not having a way out?

1. What was his major influence? – Queen of Cups. A woman, the pursuit of romance, or a romantic notion of life? Was he a dreamer?
2. Obstacles he faced – Queen of Swords. Another woman? Or perhaps a harsh environment where his intellect, logic and authenticity was challenged?
3. what was the reason behind his action? – 9 of Cups – Satiety. Enter the dreamer, was his long range desires of love, money & happiness really behind him becoming a spy? So far the opening Cups cards are very telling.
4. What event(s) prior to this event lead him to do it? – Hermit. Introspection doesn’t seem to fit. With espionage all around, did he carry out other spying duties that showed his ability to Franklin and others? Was he already on a secret mission that only Franklin knew about?
5. What was his aim? – Moon. My initial thoughts are this is about an initiation. His brother James was a Philadelphia Freemason, as was Franklin. Does Joseph hope to be included in the Brotherhood? Or was he a Loyalist double agent all along and his main aim was to deceive those who thought he was loyal to the Colonists?
6. What was his reward or future motivating force to continue? – 3 of Wands – Virtue. To perhaps repay an untold debt of honour? Or perhaps to continue his espionage activities and seek a career with larger responsibilities? He certainly had ambitions for himself.
7. How was he feeling? – Ace of Wands. He must have felt such power, I can’t help but feel his feeling of invincibility. At the very least, he’s putting his name in the history books loud and clear and I think he knew it.
8. What were his environmental influences? – Tower. And who could expect anything less in this double dealing world he was living and operating in. It was all about to go belly up, his world turned upside down never to be the same again. In Paris, after the eventual theft of the despatches, his American friends and associates would have nothing to do with him. He moved to England.
9. What was he hoping to achieve by this action? – Prince of Disks. He hoped to be a man of the world, and be seen as a Man of Consequence – those were his own words, I saw them in his own hand writing in letters held at the British Library this year.
10. What was the outcome? – Prince of Swords. The life of a double agent must carry many faces and facades. The web of lies must have been large and complex. He was no doubt fighting for his survival and cover every single day and this became his reality for the period ahead.

Going Beyond…

I have written about Joseph on my blog before, where I use free association as a technique to help connect with him and his life. This technique is also really helpful in many other ways, defining your own tarot card meanings for one. It comes into its own here though, where you can connect with your ancestor in a non-forced and completely open way.

Reading tarot retrospectively has given me some extra clarity on a specific time and decision of my great, great, great, great grandfather. There were a lot of confirmations in there for me as I have been researching his life and know a good timeline of events. Reading tarot this way can help us understand past events in a way that we would struggle to do otherwise. It sheds light on events that we have no other way of finding out about and so is a useful way to approach the explorations of our own lives and actions so we can learn from our mistakes and make better decisions for our future.

Catherine

If you have a specific tarot spread that you use for retrospective tarot readings, please share it here along with your experiences using the Celtic Cross Spread to explore the past. If you have any further insights about what Joseph experienced within these cards, please join in and share your thoughts. See you in the comments!

We looked at the Celtic Cross Spread in detail in the previous post How To Read The Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Looking Deeper. In this last lesson, Part Four of the Tarot Elements Tutorial Series, I’m going to show you some other systems and techniques that will enrich your reading style; which in turn will give your client’s more information and make you look and feel like a Celtic Cross Spread Pro. In fact, applying the following techniques to any of your favourite Tarot card readings will enrich them, empower your client and increase your confidence as a Tarot reader.

Indicators of Success

So what else can we do for our client? Is there any more information to be gleaned from these ten Tarot cards? You bet! I’m going to introduce to you now two extra ways of finding out more information from these same ten cards. The first is called the Card Ratio, and the second is Elemental Influences, and we will see how, through the Card Ratio and the use of the Elements, we can dig deeper into the Celtic Cross Spread and put the finishing touches to your readings.

The Card Ratio

The Card Ratio simply looks at how many of each type of card is present: how many Major Arcana, how many Minors, Court Cards, Aces, reversals and the Numerology of the cards; even the ratio of Elements will paint a clearer picture for us.

• A majority of Major Arcana cards indicates that the client has little influence over the matter at hand. Some would call this fate, while that’s debatable, experience has shown that there will be little the client can do to remedy the situation so easily.
• A majority of Minor Arcana cards indicates that the client is pretty much in control of the situation; or has more options available to them than they originally thought or realised.
• A lot of Court Cards suggest that many people will have a hand in current events, for good or bad. This can simply mean that there is a lot of support available, or too many cooks spoiling the broth.
• Two or more Aces indicate that great potential exists for the client to move things forward, and should be taken as a good sign for future improvements.
• A lot of reversed cards could indicate blockages or obstacles in the way, preventing your client from successfully moving forward. It’s a worthwhile exercise to note the amount of reversals, as a high number of them could indicate the problem being more difficult than the client anticipated – the Tarot using the reversals to emphasize this.
• Two or more of a specific number, or indeed obvious number patterns can provide further information; a significant amount of higher numbered cards for example, can show that events in the client’s life are coming to a close

Elemental Influences

A majority of any one of the Elements indicates the following:

• Fire – Wands – A lot of energy, action or passion. Negatively, this can be seen as rash or impetuous behaviour.
• Water – Cups – Show a very emotional situation, can be love and protection, but negatively can also show how decisions or ideas can be clouded.
• Air – Swords – Communication, quarrels, decisions and decisiveness; too many Swords and things can be very unsettled.
• Earth – Disks – Show a stable, grounded situation, one that is settled; alternatively, too many can show stagnation and inaction.

One often overlooked aspect of Elemental Influences is the missing Element. Simply put, this means that whatever Element is missing or is in a low ratio to the others, shows what attribute is missing from the client’s situation.

For example, if there were little or no Swords (Air), we would say that very little thought has gone into the decision making process; or that the client, or someone around them is acting irrationally or illogically, communication would also be a problem area.

Conversely, a lack of Cups (Water) and we can be looking at a cold situation, one devoid of emotion; one where logic perhaps has won the day.

A lack of Wands (Fire) can show lethargy and inaction; or a lack of energy required to see the client through. Certainly a lack of will or apathy will be strongly suggested.

And finally, a lack of Pentacles (Earth) can show an unstable situation, one that is ‘pie in the sky’ or perhaps is showing something that is still being worked out and hasn’t actually taken form yet.

Timing in the Cards

In terms of timing and the outcome cards, for a loose indicator of time, use the attributes of the elements as opposed to the more detailed and time specific astrological decanates system. You only need to remember the following:

• Wands and Swords (Fire and Air) are active and so indicate that things will move quickly.
• Cups and Pentacles (Water and Earth) are passive and so indicate very little movement or slow action.

For those of you interested in learning more about the astrological decanates and other detailed methods of timing, I recommend you check out Timing Events in Tarot Readings over at Supertarot.

Applying the Card Ratio

The Card Ratio for this reading is as follows:

• Major Arcana – 2
• Minor Arcana – 7
• Court Cards – 0
• Aces – 1
• Reversals – 1
• Numerology – three 7′s

• Fire – 2
• Water – 3
• Air – 2
• Earth – 3

A quick scan of the information above tells us that the client has a lot of influence on the outcome, their decisions have directly contributed to their present situation; and while ordinarily, the situation will remain under their control, we cannot ignore that outcome card – Death. The new business project is likely to fail despite their best efforts.

We naturally have to ask how that can be when the Card Ratio has shown us that the client seems to be in the driving seat. Quite simply because of the decisions they made, cause and effect. We can actually name the Seven of Cups as the point where it went wrong; the client simply chose the wrong option out of all that were available. Of course coupled with the spanner in the works, the Seven of Disks, and our client seems to be fighting a losing battle.

No-one else was involved in their decision making process (no Court Cards) and there was little outside influence (only 2 Major Arcana). Elementally the cards are balanced and so despite a sterling effort and commitment from our client, it just wasn’t the right call; and is one that they can do very little about, if anything. Interestingly, two of the three outcome cards are Earth (the negative outcome cards too), indicating non-action, or very little movement, further confirming the likelihood of failure for this particular endeavour. The ratio of the Elements in terms of their attributes – active vs. passive is 4-6 respectively; further confirming that the business isn’t likely to go anywhere long term. Indeed, will it even get off the ground? Realism indeed.

Numerology

There is one further thing to examine in this summary, and that is the Numerology. Earlier we noted that there are three 7′s in this spread; and following the Card Ratio, we know they have significance. I don’t buy into the Golden Dawn’s advisory of multiple numbers signifying exact events; in this case, the three 7′s treaties and contracts (which actually could be taken as a good or bad omen for our client, this being a reading based on business).

I do accept Numerology though and without a Tarot spin being placed on the number 7, universally it’s seen as very spiritual. So how do we translate that for our client when we have three of them in this spread? My own interpretation would be to advise the querent that the timing would be wrong for a business venture; that on a personal level, there is a transformation ahead (Death) which will guide them to a more spiritual path (the three 7′s); and while this reading promises no guarantee of a career or business ahead in that direction; for purely personal and spiritual reasons alone, it’s a direction that the Tarot is strongly indicating they pursue.

Final Notes

There are times when the client pushes for more, and so it’s not unusual to draw some extra cards for further insight into the client’s future or situation; and I suggest if you are going to do this, then use the three cards that naturally come out next, maintaining the sequence. The best way to read these three cards is with Elemental Dignities. For those of you unfamiliar with this system, please refer to my Elemental Dignities tutorials where you can learn about how to apply them to your own readings. Though not essential to this Tutorial Series on the Celtic Cross Spread, they enrich any reading and are well worth the short time and effort it takes to begin to understand them, their uses and benefits.

So, in answer to critics of the Celtic Cross Spread, I believe its merits have been shown here. While it does have some limitations, it’s still an excellent tarot spread for answering specific questions, especially when you bring in other systems and methods of reading and analysing the cards. A great level of understanding can be achieved examining the client’s life, or query in this way. I think that has been shown despite the fact that we didn’t explore the meanings of the cards so much. As I said in the second post, Positions and Their Meanings, examining these cards in great depth wasn’t the purpose of this Tutorial Series; they were given as a means to highlight where and how to gain extra information during a Tarot reading.

It would be an excellent exercise for you to use the same cards as practice, so you can build on what I have begun here; or indeed, to read them completely fresh and then compare our differences. Either way it provides a great opportunity for you to practice these techniques in this spread, not forgetting that they are fully transferable to other types of spreads as the techniques stay with you, not the spread.

As a side note, you can apply the Card Ratio at the beginning or end of the reading. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way. Checking at the beginning can help you quickly assess the situation; but if you’re one to hit the ground running, you may leave your assessment until the end to confirm your interpretation, or enrich it.

Catherine

The Quest Tarot (Book & Card Pack)
is used with the kind permission of its creator Joseph Ernest Martin.

Lessons In This Tutorial Series…

1. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro
2. How To Read The Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Positions and Their Meanings
3. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Looking Deeper
4. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Indicators of Success

Welcome to Part Three, the penultimate post in this Tarot Elements Tutorial Series, How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Looking Deeper.

Having established the Celtic Cross Spread positions and explored their meanings in the previous post How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Positions and Their Meanings, we’re now going to take a closer look at some of those positions to see how we can further assist our client during their Tarot reading, including exploring cause and effect, intention and the Law of Attraction.

Looking Deeper Into the Celtic Cross Spread

Quickly glancing over the Tarot cards present in any Celtic Cross Spread will give you an indication and quick summary of events around the client. For the purposes of this illustration, I’m going to highlight the four cards which I immediately look to: cards 5, 6, 9 and 10; the Possible Outcome, the Immediate Future, Hopes and Fears and the Outcome. All four are outcome cards of sorts; all speak of the future and likely events. If we have a good collection of cards here, then all is well for your client. Conversely, if they’re negative cards you will be either confirming their situation, their dread, or predicting it. A mix of cards though suggests you need to dig a little further into the reading to find out how the situation will play out, and what, if anything, your client can do to achieve success.

Most often we’re simply looking at a case of cause and effect. I touched on this briefly earlier on, but now it’s time to look a little further into this concept within a Tarot reading.

Cause and Effect

We’re all on certain paths in life, whether they’re the ones we really want to be on is irrelevant at this point. The fact remains that we’re where we are because of the choices we made in the past. Those choices could have been responses to something affecting us outside of our normal control, but nonetheless, we still had to make a decision and a choice. In simple terms, the result of that choice is where you are today as shown within your Tarot reading.

If we look back to positions 5 and 6, the Possible Outcome and the Immediate Future, you can see in the explanations I give for them; that they contain the results of cause and effect – the past and present, and an indicator of things to come – the future. They are also visually directional and if we look at them now within this concept, you will be able to see cause and effect at work more clearly:

The vertical part of the cross gives us our first indication of cause and effect with the Heart of the Matter showing the present situation; the Root Cause showing us the past and the Possible Outcome showing exactly that – a possible outcome, based solely on the client following the current path. In other words, the likely outcome if they were to do nothing.

The benefits of looking at the vertical part of the cross in this way allows you to point out to the client that they can make new decisions to change the likely outcome. This essentially is changing direction for the future. The effect may not happen soon enough to see an immediate change, the horizontal cross will show us what’s in store there; but your client still has the power to make those changes, potentially for a better future. It’s still cause and effect, only by having a Tarot reading; they are now able to see what choices they have and what decisions they can make to improve the future, if indeed they need to.

As I pointed out earlier in the positional meanings, the Immediate Future (card number 6) is the result of the Recent Past and the Crossing card. The events in the recent past are more akin to the Heart of the Matter as they are closer in terms of time, but we’re still looking at cause and effect, only now the effect is showing in the Recent Past. It could also be the Crossing card, but as our example shows, the Crossing card can also be the spanner in the works, so to speak; the unexpected event that we must respond to, make a decision or a choice about. What is important to remember is that the Crossing Card is still in the Present.

Either way, we still have directional movement, only this time horizontally. Coming from the Recent Past, we encounter the Crossing Card and so the outcome is set in the Immediate Future. I’m a pretty optimistic person, and rightly or wrongly, I like to believe I can work against the odds; but it’s important to remember with this trio of cards, that time is of the essence and time is the only thing at this point that will allow for any change as the Immediate Future is pretty much now – the only possible help here is exactly how much time is available? One possible answer is discussed in the last post.

The Power of Intention

For now we will concentrate on the two final positions I opened this post with – Hopes and Fears, and the Outcome. Looking first at the Outcome card, it is pretty self explanatory. This card is the accumulation of all the other cards in the reading, and with all things considered, this is the outcome for the querent if they were to continue on the current path. Of course we have looked at how we could change direction earlier in this post by examining the vertical part of the Large Cross, but some would say it’s not the only way we can affect the outcome, or indeed effect a change ourselves.

Position 9 – Hopes and Fears – has a large part to play in how the querent has a hand in the outcome via their hopes and fears for the outcome. We touched on this when we examined this position in the previous post; but it’s time to look a little deeper at the concept of intention and the Law of Attraction.

“Concentrated attention is the collection of units of power on a chosen point of intention.”

This quote by James Arthur Ray sums up intention very well. When we really put our minds to doing something, we are giving it our full concentrated attention. Like Ray says, it’s a collection of units of power – our energy. This is what fuels the mental process to achieve. The very thing we want to do has become possible in our minds and we are now giving our energy to making it happen regardless of whether we really have any control over this process or not.

Law of Attraction

There are some that would say this is where the Law of Attraction comes into play. All that concentrated attention we’re putting out will actually attract to us the very thing we desire, for good or for bad; remember this position is about our hopes and our fears. It is said the Law of Attraction does not discriminate: what you focus your intention on, consciously or unconsciously, is the very thing the Universe will bring to you.

Now, while I don’t want this to become a debate about the legitimacy of those claims, or even the reality of these ideas; it’s worth noting that even at a lower level, expectation will play a part in how your client sees their chances. As a Tarot reader, I believe it’s part of your job to at least be aware of this so you can see the bigger picture. Your client’s reaction to the card that falls into the Hopes and Fears position will assist you in determining whether or not this card will have an impact on the outcome; or in fact, as I have seen before, the card that falls here becomes the outcome.

While this process seems to be very involved, it doesn’t actually take much time to assess the cards I have highlighted in this post and use them as further means of assisting your client, which is what this is all about. Through practice, you will be able to glean a lot of information for your client in no time at all. This process will become a quick scan of these cards, and become second nature to you as a reader.

So, in the next and final post, I will go one stage further and introduce some other systems that will be of assistance to you as a Tarot reader when we look at How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Indicators of Success.

Catherine

The The Quest Tarot (Book & Card Pack)
is used with the kind permission of its creator Joseph Earnest Martin.

Lessons In This Tutorial Series…

1. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro
2. How To Read The Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Positions and Their Meanings
3. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Looking Deeper
4. How to Read the Celtic Cross Spread Like A Pro – Indicators of Success