The Celtic Cross is a tarot spread with ten reading positions. Six form a cross around a central pair; four form a column, often called the staff, beside it. Each position asks you to consider a different part of one situation, from its foundations to your hopes and a possible direction.
This guide follows the position labels used in InnerSigns: Situation, Challenge, Foundation, Past, Possibility, Near future, Self, Environment, Hopes & fears, and Direction. You will learn where to place the cards, what each role asks and how to connect them through a complete hypothetical example.
Set up this version of the Celtic Cross
Choose one question with several aspects you want to explore, such as “How could I approach finishing this project?” Write down a few relevant facts before drawing. Those facts remain your reference when you interpret the cards.
If you are still deciding whether ten positions suit your question, the guide to choosing tarot spreads can help.
Position numbering varies between teachers. For example, Brigit Esselmont’s Celtic Cross assigns Past to position 3, while Theresa Reed’s layout puts Foundation there. Keep the diagram and explanations from your chosen version together.
For this exercise, use upright meanings throughout. Shuffle your physical deck, then deal ten cards in numbered order:
[5] [10]
[9]
+---+
[4] | 1 | [6]
[===2===]
+---+ [8]
[3] [7]Physical-deck layout using the same position labels as the InnerSigns Celtic Cross tool. Card 2 lies sideways across the vertical card 1.
Place 1 Situation in the centre and 2 Challenge horizontally across it. Put 3 Foundation below the pair, 4 Past to its left, 5 Possibility above it and 6 Near future to its right. Make a separate column on the right: 7 Self at the bottom, then 8 Environment, 9 Hopes & fears and 10 Direction at the top.
Card 2’s sideways placement does not change our choice to use its upright meaning. Other methods handle orientation differently; decide your approach before drawing.
You do not need an extra card for this version. Some methods use a significator: a card selected to represent the person or subject. Waite’s instructions use one separately from the ten dealt cards. InnerSigns uses ten cards without that additional selection.
The online tool displays its cards in a grid that adapts to your screen, rather than the physical cross shown above. Follow the position labels in either format.
The ten Celtic Cross positions
The explanations below offer a reflective way to use InnerSigns’ labels. A position gives the card a role in your question; it does not establish facts about your situation.
1. Situation
This is the centre of the reading: the aspect of your question you are considering now. Relate the card to what you can already describe about the situation.
Ask: “What part of this needs my attention?” Keep the answer focused. You do not need to make the first card explain your whole life.
2. Challenge
The crossing card invites you to examine a complication: a tension, obstacle or resource that needs careful handling. A generally encouraging card can still raise a difficult question here. Collaboration, for example, may require agreeing on responsibilities.
Ask: “What makes this harder, or needs a different approach?” Read the card in relation to Situation, rather than automatically turning its meaning negative.
3. Foundation
Consider an underlying condition, established pattern or assumption supporting the situation. This is a place to examine what the question rests on.
Ask: “What arrangement or belief am I building on?” Check your answer against your circumstances. The card does not uncover a hidden cause simply because it sits below the centre.
4. Past
Look at a relevant earlier influence: a choice, experience or change that helped bring you here. Foundation concerns the basis of the situation; Past concerns something that preceded it. They may overlap, but you can keep those questions distinct.
Ask: “What earlier experience is still influencing my approach?” If no connection fits, leave it open instead of inventing a memory.
5. Possibility
Explore an aspiration or option you can consciously consider. What would you like to work towards, and what would that mean in practical terms?
Ask: “What possibility deserves a closer look?” This position names something to explore. It does not confirm that the option is available or that you will achieve it.
6. Near future
Use this position to consider what to watch for or prepare for next. This guide takes a reflective approach to the future-facing label: a card can prompt a preparation question without predicting the next event.
Ask: “What could I prepare for as this develops?” Check actual dates and deadlines elsewhere. The position does not supply a reliable timetable.
7. Self
Turn towards your stance: the approach, strengths or habits you bring to the question. Unlike Situation, which frames the concern, Self asks how you are meeting it.
Ask: “How am I approaching this, and what could I adjust?” Treat the card as a perspective to try, rather than a permanent description of your personality.
8. Environment
Consider external conditions: practical limits, available resources, other people’s stated commitments or information you still need.
Ask: “What outside conditions should I check or account for?” A card cannot verify another person’s intentions. An offer of help is useful evidence; a card associated with generosity is a reason to consider support, not proof that someone will provide it.
9. Hopes & fears
Explore what you want or worry about in this situation. You may recognise a hope, a fear, both or neither. There is no need to manufacture an opposite feeling to complete the position.
Ask: “What am I hoping for or concerned about?” Possibility names an option or aspiration; this position explores your response to it. A troubling card here does not make the feared event more likely.
10. Direction
Read the final card alongside the others as a possible broader direction to consider. Many versions call this position Outcome; InnerSigns calls it Direction.
Ask: “What direction does this interpretation invite me to examine?” Near future concerns the next development to consider; Direction brings the wider reading together. Neither establishes what will happen, and the final card does not cancel the other nine.
Read the positions together
Start by giving each card one tentative interpretation that answers its position’s question. Then make a few connections. Joan Bunning’s Celtic Cross guide also teaches comparisons between positions; the groupings below are one way to organise your practice:
- 1 + 2: What is the central concern, and what complicates it?
- 3 + 4 + 5: How do the underlying conditions and earlier influences relate to the possibility you are considering?
- 7 + 8: How does your approach fit the conditions around you?
- 6 + 9 + 10: How might your hopes or concerns affect the way you prepare and consider a broader direction?
Explain each connection through the roles and known circumstances. Matching suits or contrasting images can start a thought, but they do not make that thought a fact. The guide to interpreting tarot cards in context develops this skill further.
Finish with three short notes: a possible pattern, something still to check and one action you can take. Keep any connection you cannot explain marked as uncertain.
Hypothetical worked example: finishing a family photo album
This example uses invented circumstances and ten deliberately selected upright cards. It is a study exercise, not a real draw or prediction.
Someone wants to finish a family photo album for a birthday six weeks away. They have selected 80 photos for 20 pages but abandoned two elaborate layout attempts. A sibling has offered to check captions, although they have not agreed on a time. Printing lead time is still unknown.
Their question is: “How could I approach finishing the album before the birthday?”
The brief card themes below draw on Labyrinthos’ card reference. The connections to the album are created for this example; they are not additional traditional meanings.
| Position and selected card | Reference theme | Possible application |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Situation — Two of Wands | Planning | Consider the scope and sequence of the work. |
| 2 Challenge — Ten of Wands | Burden | Examine whether the elaborate design adds too much work. |
| 3 Foundation — The Emperor | Structure | Review the existing 20-page plan and the rules the maker has set for it. |
| 4 Past — Four of Cups | Disengagement | Reflect on the two abandoned attempts and what made them difficult to continue. |
| 5 Possibility — Three of Cups | Community | Explore making the album a shared celebration. |
| 6 Near future — Page of Pentacles | Diligence | Prepare a small practical trial: one sample page. |
| 7 Self — Queen of Swords | Clear thinking | Decide which design requirements actually matter. |
| 8 Environment — Three of Pentacles | Collaboration | Check when the sibling could help with captions. |
| 9 Hopes & fears — Nine of Wands | Perseverance | Explore wanting to keep going and concern about another stalled attempt. |
| 10 Direction — The World | Completion | Define a workable version of “finished.” |
Connect the plan, workload and foundation
Positions 1, 2 and 3 connect planning, burden and structure. The maker could use that combination to review how much work their design requires. The Ten of Wands provides a burden theme; the two abandoned layouts supply the actual reason to examine the workload.
One possibility is to keep the 20-page structure while simplifying the page design. Another is to reduce the number of photos. The reading does not choose between them; a sample page can help the maker judge the work involved.
Separate the aspiration from the concern
Three of Cups in Possibility invites the maker to consider the album as a shared celebration. Nine of Wands in Hopes & fears offers a prompt about persistence. They might recognise a wish to finish and a concern about losing momentum again.
That connection is optional. If the maker does not recognise the concern, they can leave it unused. The card does not reveal a feeling they must secretly have.
Turn the later positions into a checkable plan
Page of Pentacles, Three of Pentacles and The World suggest a possible connection between practical effort, collaboration and completion. In this scenario, the maker could build one sample page, ask the sibling about a specific caption-checking time and verify the printer’s lead time.
These actions come from the card themes combined with known constraints. The World does not guarantee an album by the birthday. If the printing schedule will not work, the maker needs to adjust the scope or delivery plan regardless of the final card.
Their closing note could be:
I could simplify the design and test one page. I still need to check printing time and my sibling’s availability. My next action is to make that sample before planning the remaining pages.
The recipient’s reaction and the project’s eventual outcome remain unknown.
Practise with the InnerSigns Celtic Cross
The InnerSigns Celtic Cross reading uses the ten labels explained here. It draws ten different cards at random, uses upright meanings and lets you reveal the cards in any order. Following positions 1–10 is a useful way to work through this tutorial, but the tool does not require that sequence.
The tool provides card meanings and position prompts; you make the connections to your question. Your draw will differ from the deliberately selected example, and the tool does not offer exact-card selection.
Write down any reflection you want to keep before refreshing or starting a new reading, because the reading is not saved for you. If a position remains unclear, record that uncertainty. You can finish with one useful question or action without forcing all ten cards into a complete story.