by Marcus Katz
Well ... it does, of course - it has everything to tell us about where the client is putting their attention.
This card shows us where internal attention is being directed in a way that has nothing to do with the problem.
It is why this position is often called, confusingly to most students, "worries or concerns", or even "worries or hopes", etc.
It is neither of those things; it is more simply where someone's attention is going. If that attention is placed in a 'negative' context, it would rightly be called a 'worry', and if it were a 'positive' attention to something equally that isn't real, that is called a 'hope'.
The card in this position always shows us what the client should drop, forget, release, sacrifice, put out of their heads, and in doing so, make space for reality.
It could be something nice they have to drop, such as them telling themselves 'he'll come back and no longer be such a nasty piece of work and it'll all be rosy' or something nasty, such as 'he'll come back and I won't stop him and he'll still be a nasty piece of work'.
This position is where such confusion arises, so is also fitting to reach clarity with just this one card in isolation.
I don't often refer this card to any others in the reading, or get clever by bridging it to other positions, etc., I sometimes even move the card out of the way from the table once I've read it.
Tip: This is called a "living metaphor", where your actions with the cards communicate the same verbal message you are giving. This is a powerful and easily implemented trick in the Tarosophy approach to reading.
Illus. Removing the Concerns.
In our example, we have the Page of Swords. And where attention goes, everything goes. So, the person is concerned they do not have enough information. They are holding their tongue, their guard. They are not committing because they feel that they are not ready ... etc.
And that's all nonsense. We are never ready.
So, we describe this card, tell them that this meaning of not being ready, watching and holding back, etc., is simply where their attention is going and that it must be taking a lot of energy and time in their heads ...
And then we suddenly say, "but this card shows what is being wasted in your situation, so we don't need it" and remove it from the table.
We don't elaborate on it, explain it again, or refer to it with regard to any other card. We don't even include it in our summary.
The unconscious will take this card as a big red flag, because it will not be able to weave it with every other piece of information in the reading, and it will hate that. It will niggle at it, work at it, and try and make sense of it. The unconscious is a holistic process and we can take advantage of it without much effort.
In the end, the only way it will be able to make sense of what you have sown is by directing the client to take the very action that keeps the context of the card outside the main picture. The client will suddenly find themselves doing something that simply makes the hope or worry irrelevant, because that will fit what the unconscious has already processed and settled.
7: The Past is Behind You Now
So far, in our first part of reading the Celtic Cross, we have looked at the Outcome and applied it to the Present. We then took the Present as the time in which to meet the opportunity of the Challenge. We further took the Resources available to us to drive towards the Outcome based on a sensible and workable Aim. We then made a contract with the parts of ourselves and the considerations of others as a reflection of that inner contract.
We deliver all this information in the flow of the future and the tone most suitable for the way things are changing in the life of our client.
We also noted the concerns that were getting the attention of our client and moved them out of the way.
Now - and only now, do we look at the pesky past.
In the context of this approach, the past is only a story we tell ourselves. It has no other bearing on the situation other than how we see it now.
When we approach it in this manner, we can use the card in the Past position to change that story in the light of the desired Outcome.
This is illustrated in the Celtic Cross, as are many other wonderful patterns of transformation, by a loop we can draw by connecting the Present + Challenge through the Past - across the Aim - and to the Outcome.
You will see in the illustration this loop is then above our 'concerns' or 'attention' position, and only in passing connects the Past.
Our delivery focuses only on the outcome. This is outcome (or solution) orientated reading.
In our example, we already know that the present situation (6 of Swords) is unstable, and the person does not want to rock the boat (2 of Pentacles). We have seen that there is a great opportunity to move (8 of Wands).
We have also seen, when we glanced at the Ace of Pentacles in the Past, that the client has been distracted by binge shopping.
Illus. Looping the Past.
We might now return to that situation in passing by framing our sentence like this:
"Just for a moment, as part of being able to make all the changes you are now seeing are possible, let's see what you will be releasing..."
We then look at the card in the Past position, and weave that into a story like this:
"So, in the Past you used to [interpret card] which can no longer meet the challenge of [re-interpret Challenge card] so now, [re-interpret Present Situation card], in order to aim for [re-interpret Aim card] you can release (or use) [re-interpret Past card] which will result in [re-interpret Outcome card]."
It sounds a bit convoluted but it is quite easy to say out loud and practice in your own words and way of delivering it. The important thing is the order in which you connect those cards, to drive it to the outcome.
Here is the wording filled in using the cards from our example spread:
"So, in the Past you used to spend and spend again without fully enjoying all those things which can no longer meet the challenge of all these new ideas to get on with your life! So now, even though you will rock the boat to get so much done so quickly, in order to aim for making a stand for yourself, you can release (or use) all those things you bought - perhaps as gifts to other people - which will result in a far better balance in your life. Who knows how much else will happen when you make that one change in your life now?"
We have left the wording to be quite vague because in the real reading, we give facts and messages particular to that person - this example is to show how the meanings are linked together to get the best possible delivery towards actual change.
8: Positive Outcome Frame
As we are looking at “Outcome Orientated Reading” we now review the spread to ensure that the client can get the most out of all the points we have raised so far in their situation.
To do this, we use the “Positive Outcome Frame”, which is a model derived from NLP that captures the important bits of doing any task successfully, particularly a task which you intend to actually do.
One interesting aspect of this model is the consequence of success.
As we have said, most people having a reading are fully focused on their situation, challenge, problem or obstacle. The last thing they are thinking about is what will happen after it has gone.
However, this is a problem in itself. The consequence of success can contain something that the person would not want, or to which part of them might object, or find more challenging than the actual problem.
It may also be more simply that they are not yet ready, prepared, or have the resources or state of mind that will be comfortable with the situation after the present challenge is resolved.
An example would be from a real case in my practice where a client had writers block. To cut a long story short, it turned out that they believed if they wrote a book and were successful, they would be interviewed, recognised,
and be subject to public gaze – all of which, as they realised during the session, they would hate, as they were a “very private person”.
When we elicited examples of successful authors who had maintained their privacy, even nowadays, such as J. K. Rowling, it released that unconscious anxiety and within a few weeks they had written a whole chapter of their first novel.
So in the Celtic Cross we can also look at this by comparing the Aim and the Outcome card. This will show any gaps between what the person is aiming to achieve and what the outcome will be. In those gaps we can examine any possible consequences of success and deal with them.
So, in our example we have the Aim as the 7 of Wands and the Outcome as the 2 of Pentacles.
Illus. Discovering the Consequences of Success.
They may be aiming for stability but the outcome will be a very unstable situation – even if it is a good one, or better than the present state.
So, we would ask them to tell us how they might deal with a situation that is positive but uncertain. Perhaps it would be with the resources we have seen in the foundation card at the bottom of the cross? Perhaps it will be with the relationship between themselves and others we have seen in the Self/Others pair of cards. Or perhaps we might discover it echoes with what we discovered in their Aim and Challenge cards?
However we discuss it – and we can always pull an extra card for an oracular answer – we should fill in this important ‘hidden’ link in the spread, and it will ensure the client is far more positive about achieving the outcome, and able to do so.
As ever with these sections, they are all mini-methods that you can make into individual quick spreads, for example, you can pull two cards from the top of your shuffled deck (or take out the top and bottom cards of a shuffled deck) whilst contemplating “What is the hidden/unspoken consequence of resolving Situation X positively?”
Look at the two cards and imagine a link between them; the first is what you are aiming for, the second is what will likely happen. In between the two card images is a hidden consequence of success, so let it arise.
You can then draw a third card, asking, “What do I need to do to prepare for this consequence of success and get even more out of successfully changing my situation?”
9: Finding the First Step
Another important aspect of the positive outcome frame is the next step. We cover this whole method in our several other tarot books (listed in the reading list at the end of this book), and you can apply it also quite simply to the Celtic Cross.
It uses some Kabbalah and some NLP, but you do not need to know anything particular about either subject to use the method.
In the positive outcome frame, which is a series of prompts to think about achieving something in the most likely way to actually achieve that thing, one question is “What will you do first?”
for a goal to be something possible or realistically attainable you really have to know the first step. You also have to be able to measure this little goal, so it must not be something like “I’ll be happier” or “I won’t be as poor”, but rather “I’ll have phoned Samantha” or “I’ll have twenty dollars”.
In the Celtic Cross we can locate this first step in the hidden space between the Aim card and the Present Situation card. There are many hidden spaces in the Celtic Cross which contain as much information as the visible spaces or card locations.
In that space, you can work backwards from the Aim card and (whether you say it or not out loud to the client) and step backwards to a reasonable and more immediate first step.
If it is a Major card, go one back down the sequence, so if it were the Emperor (numbered 4) as the “Aim” card, it would be the Empress (3). If it were the Magician (1) you go back in a loop to the World (21).
The Fool card is the only card that has no previous or next step – as is fitting! If you have the Fool in the Aim position, all bets are off, freedom is the only rule, choose whatever you want.
If it is a Minor card, simply go one step back in the numbers of the Suit, so the 5 of Pentacles would become the 4 of Pentacles. If you have the Ace, that goes back to the Ten.
A Court Card goes back down the Ranks, so a King becomes a Queen, or a Page loops back to the King. A knight becomes a Page.
That “card before the Aim card” shows the next step open to the client to achieve the Aim card.
If that card itself looks unrealistic or doesn’t present an immediate actual task, then go back another. You rarely have to go more than a couple of cards back down the sequence to find the required step that will get from the Present Situation towards the Aim.
Illus. Finding the Next Step Card.
In our example, we have the 7 of Wands in the Outcome position, so the next step back would be the 6 of Wands. That card immediately conjures a suggestion of the “kings courier” as Waite puts it in Pictorial Key to the Tarot. A message needs to be delivered. It needs to be delivered in a particular and dignified way.
This act, of delivering a message, will lead us best towards the situation in the 8 of Wands, when we can hold our own ground, so we need not look back down the chain any further.
The “first step” then towards the Aim is to deliver a message to someone. This would be put in the context of the situation and often makes immediate sense to the client, as they nod and go “yeah, I know what that means”.
Tip: If the Next Step card is already in the spread, in another location, then pay particular attention to it as the next step is already available in that position. If, for example, the 6 of Wands had already been in the Past position of our example spread, it would indicate the next step was to contact someone from the past.
10: The Anchor Card
Over the thirty years or more of using this spread, a number of habits have arisen that seem to work well for clients. One such habit is that we always (or nearly always) select one card on which to anchor the whole reading.
If there is a repeated word you find yourself using during the reading, and that relates to one of the cards in the spread, use that card as your Anchor.
If there is a particular card that the client has reacted with more strongly than the others, use that card.
If there is a card that that you have kept returning to as part of the overall reading, time and time again, use that card.
And at the end of the reading, in your summary, say something like this;
“What I’ve found really useful when giving a powerful reading like this is to ask you to remember at least one image, one card, which will remind you of the whole reading – “
You can then watch the client’s eyes to see if they also glance unconsciously at a particular card in the deck. If they do, choose that card instead of the one you originally chose. This is the only use of “cold reading” (which is not really cold reading as you are still interpreting the actual card yourself) that we would consciously utilise in a reading.
You would then continue …
“- and in your case, we are selecting this card [pick card up] so I’d like you to particularly remember this one image and card when you think back to the reading, and that will help you remember everything we’ve talked about and all the changes you’ll be making”.
The Anchor card should usually follow the next section, which is “four important things”. It can be one of those four important things, or a different card entirely.
11: The Four Important Things
When delivering a reading, tarot readers can give the client several hundred different pieces of information, ranging from “this is my Thoth deck” to “And the 3 of Wands corresponds to Binah in Atzliuth”.
Some of these pieces of information will be of more relevance to the client than others, and we may not be conscious of everything that we say.
So a useful tip and rule of thumb in readings is that there are on average 5 – 9 pieces of information that will be most easily retai
ned in memory by the client.
You should then be aware that when you summarise the reading, you give about four “most important things” from the reading as clearly as possible.
If you want, you can repeat up to nine at most, but four is the safest bet.
You can also ask the client which four things they will take away most from your reading or simply use the phrase;
“So, the four most important things from this reading are …”
If you do not elegantly summarise in this way, you will rely on the client to select the 5-9 most important things they remember from hundreds of things you have said, and you might not want one of them to be “I think they used something called a Tough Deck or something”.
There may be situations, of course, where you do not want to clarify or summarise the reading, but rather let the whole experience sit with the client, which is down to the art of reading rather than the science.
12: The Wheel and the Road
As we first covered in Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot and an even earlier magazine article in Tarosophist International, also reproduced here in this book, the “ancient Celtic Cross” spread is neither ancient, nor Celtic, nor much of a cross.
However, we can see that there is a cross in the middle and a bit of a column to the side. In the very first notes in the Golden Dawn archives of this spread, that column is actually placed to the left as we have seen.
It is important not to become too stuck with the picture of a Cross and Staff in the spread. When we look at it in other ways can see a lot of other resonances and patterns in the spread, and these help frame our reading towards a positive outcome.