Spread of the Week 6: The 6-card Cross

Every week in the Forest of Life, focus on a different Tarot theme. Using that theme, we explore a different spread pattern. This week we are focusing our attention on the number Six. Six represents harmony and resonance.

This spread pattern  appears in the center of the very popular “celtic-cross spread”. It explores a situation or person and that situation or person’s past-present-future, as well as the conscious and unconscious influences that are in play. This is the ideal seed pattern for a general reading. It is balanced, useful, and flexible.

So how do you throw this spread?

1: The situation.

2: Energies affecting the situation.

3: The past.

4: The future.

5: The unseen/unknown.

6: The seen/known.

Step 1 : Get into Magickal Mindstate

There are many ways of getting into the mindstate - wearing special clothes, burning incense, lighting a candle. I typically visualize the deck as a bowl, ready to receive energy. I empty the bowl of contents, clean it in a waterfall of light, heal any chips or cracks (think kinsugi!) and then I place my felt question, like a spark, into the bowl. I shuffle the deck while visualizing that spark within it, and when it feels right, I stop.

Step 2: Lay out the 6 card Spread

Lay out the cards as in the diagram above. There is a crossroads pattern in the centre, and two axes passing through it: the vertical axis is consciousness, the horizontal axis is time. This is therefore a model of a moment, experienced by a conscious being.

Step 3: Reveal Central Crossroads

Begin by revealing the central crossroads, and processing it. The first card is the situation, the second card shows aspects of the situation, or ways the situation is expressed. Do these two cards jive together, or are they in conflict?

Step 4: Reveal Past, Unknown, Known, Future (3,5,6,4)

I reveal the cards in the order, past (insofar as it is influencing the present), unseen (ie “the unconscious” - but try not to over-psychologize it), seen (again, the conscious, but it is best to avoid trying to make it about ‘subjectivity’ - it is what you are aware of - it is beyond subjectivity or objectivity), and finally future (insofar as it is emergent from this state of the present). I turn over the future last because it is the card with the most dramatic tension - so much hinges on what turns up here, so it is important to build to it.

Step 5: Weave it all together

Now we weave it all together into a synthesis. For example, in the above six card spread, we have a story of somebody processing their own projections, fantasies, and imaginings - “phantasmagoria”. (7 of Cups). This is a case of taking the time out to get to the root of what is real and what is illusion. (Hermit) It is like a self-imposed quarantine, hiatus, or hermitage. This has been triggered by a burst of spiritual enthusiasm - a desire to become truer to the way (Page of Wands), which must now grow into its own intentions. Beneath the surface is a survival anxiety - there is a worry about lively-hood and wellbeing, and an uncertain state of affairs regarding prosperity (5 of Pentacles). On the surface however, the querent is playing a role as a leader or role model - so they must show confidence, integrity, and decisiveness (Emperor).  Finally what is on the future-horizon is connection and communication - by working with others it is possible to come through the tunnel of introspection and give in such a way that others prosper. That is the key, to consider how to help build the upwards spiral of relationships. (Lovers)

Step 6: Expand into a Celtic Cross.

At this stage it is a simple matter to expand the reading into a classic Celtic Cross spread, simply by laying out a sideboard of four cards, as shown in the diagram.

7: The Querant.

8: Energies affecting the Querant from without.

9: Hopes and Fears.

10: Outcome.

The Celtic Cross adds another layer of depth, and since the cards of the sideboard have resonance with cards of the central cross, more nuance can be developed. Generally speaking, position 7 and 8 resonate with the crossroads (1 and 2), and position 9 is congruent with the conscious/unconscious axis (5 and 6), while 10 and 4, the outcome and the future have an obvious correlation. Ask yourself if these card combinations are harmonious or conflicted when you are coming up with the full interpretation.

• In the above example, the initial situation is greatly illumined by the sidebar which shows how the process of shadow work suggested by the Hermit and the 7 of Cups is in fact a true completion (4 of Wands), and a test that puts to rest past doubts and anxieties when it is successfully passed. There is a chance to learn incrementally by putting the skills of introspection and meditation into consistent practice (8 of Pentacles). Hopes and fears often have a “bending” effect on the outcome. In this case, the optimistic frame of mind is being employed - the whole situation is being directed towards the hope of being-in-the world. This openness sets a good tone and helps the Hermit navigate towards prosperity and pragmatism. Finally the outcome shows deep, lasting satisfaction, the enjoyment of family and legacy (10 of Cups), a card which resonates with and amplifies the Lovers in the future position. “You’ll get through this difficult stretch, and will find your family.”

• In total this 10-card reading is a picture of a person stressed out by financial uncertainty, but obligated to be a leader, who seeks the root of their distress in their own mentality and succeeds, through diligence, in making a transformation that supports prosperity.

Pro Tip - Remember that everything happens in the Now. Even the past and future are experienced in the present. The Now is the embrace of time that includes the past, future and present within it, and the present is like a little crinkle of that now that is experiencing itself undergoing change. The present is a micro-now. We can change ourselves and our perspectives in the present in ways that will affect the past and the future. Meditation will give us the keys to the perspective we need to do this. We are not predetermined by fate for any kind of future - only by habit. The best thing to do when we encounter difficult cards, in any position, is to immediately cleave to them and develop a “fortitude” for facing them. In this way we take responsibility for the habit-field our of existence. We practice transforming fearsome scenarios into useful ones, and in so doing the Tarot becomes a tool for creating any destiny we wish. We are time travelers, and the Tarot is our vehicle within eternity.

Let the cards speak to you, and trust your intuition. Step by step, drop by drop, never hurry, never stop.