Secrets of the Celtic Cross
Page 6
Our favourite image for the spread is the “Wheel and Road”, where we see the spread from the side, as if it were a wheel upon a road.
Illus. The Wheel and the Road.
The wheel has an axle in the centre made by the present situation and the challenge. If these two are not joined together properly as we have done in our previous sections, they make for a very loose wheel – which may come off at any point.
This happens a lot as we know – you try and avoid facing a challenge and eventually everything falls apart, particularly if you are travelling fast.
The tire of the “wheel” is made up of the Past and Future positions and the Resources and Aim. Here we can see that if your past and future are not balanced, or your resources and aim are not equal, your tire will be very uneven and make for a rough ride, even if everything else is fine.
Finally, we look at the “road” underneath the “wheel” which is made up of the positions of Self-Reflection, Others, Attention and our Outcome.
If those things on the road – our environment made up of ourselves, others, our attention and our outcome - are not smooth, then again, no matter how good our wheel, we will have a bumpy time of it, and we may not end up going where we wished.
We can see that by making new patterns in the spread, freeing ourselves of the rather disconnected title of ‘Celtic’ and ‘Cross’ we can draw new insight and provide our client recognisable metaphors for their own journey.
13: The Celtic Square
As we are over half-way through our sections on reading the Celtic Cross, we would like to take a break and showcase the heart of our outcome-orientated re-tooling of the Celtic Cross method. We call this the Celtic Square and it is a very effective spread for face-to-face reading, at Fairs, parties and other professional venues.
One of the many useful configurations or patterns in the original Celtic Cross is in the relationship of the past, present and future which are placed on a horizontal line.
Time is a very basic and universal experience for us, but is mysterious and processed unconsciously most of the time, so to speak. When we look at it closely, as no-one has a clock inside their head, we all tend to represent time in terms of space.
You can hear this in our daily language; “just put that behind you”, “look ahead to the future”, or “You’re always digging that back up again” (from where?!).
In modelling this, NLP discovered that any individual will tend to fall in one of two categories; either they will see time in a line going from behind them (past) and then ahead of them (future), or they will see time as a line stretching out to the left (past) and right (future).
It is a simplistic model but tends to work in most cases. If you consider a childhood memory or two, and see where you go looking for them, and then consider something that has not yet happened, you may be able to get a sense of your own time-line.
However, the Celtic Cross forces a time-line in the very centre of the spread.
So if we take out those three cards for the past, present and future and put them in a vertical line something quite magical happens.
We suddenly find that the Resources, Challenge and Aim cards neatly stack against the timeline.
Not only that, but so do the Self, Others and Attention cards.
We leave the Outcome outside the Square, as this is now properly our "outcome orientated reading".
We can see how the past, present and future run.
We can see how the resources meet the challenge towards defining the aim.
We can see how the self-position works with others when it attends to its outcome.
And even more powerfully ... look at the horizontal lines.
Illus. The Celtic Square.
We can now
See how the way we have applied our resources in the past has created our self-image.
See how the present and its challenges is bound to those around us and our environment.
See how the future is created by our aim and our attention.
This is exactly that old so-called "Celtic Cross" with a few tweaks to the keywords of the positions and a re-arrangement of the layout.
But it was there all the time.
14: You are I when I Say It Like This
When we work with outcome-orientated readings, it is important to recognise that the present moment is the one in which we work.
We always try in a reading to ground the person in a realistic awareness of their present state and open up the full deck of possibilities that is available.
In the Celtic Cross, we do this when we take the Self card and apply it to the Present position.
We tend to do this using the language pattern of a YOU/I switch by saying:
So, if I were you [pointing to SELF card] like this, let’s look at where I would be right now [move SELF card on top of PRESENT card].
We can then read those two cards in combination using phrasing such as “I know I would be …” and “I bet for sure I’d be able to …” and so on.
This frees the client from consciously having to consider these possibilities, whilst delivering them straight to the unconscious, which always identifies with the main subject of any story.
Illus. Self to Present with You/I Switch.
In our example, we see the 4 of Cups as the Self, being applied straight to the 6 of Swords in the Present.
We can refer back to how we have already interpreted these cards or simply re-interpret them as a new layer or angle of insight into the reading.
So we might say,
“Well, if I were you and sitting under this tree trying to ignore the opportunities ahead, [move 4 of Cups on top of the 6 of Swords] I might end up missing my boat. I guess sometimes we’ve all felt like we haven’t got on board with something [move 4 of Cups to the side so we can see the 6 of Swords in the Present] when in fact, I just need to make a little jump like so [move finger in a hopping gesture from one card to another] to take the ride of a lifetime”.
In doing this, we map a profound possibility for the client straight into their unconscious, bypassing any filter they might have placed about their own self in the present situation.
This YOU/I switch can be heard used often in the speeches of the world’s greatest orators, politicians and speakers, so it is a powerful tip when applied in any reading.
15: Should, Would, Could and Might
Carrying on from our introduction of a new language pattern in the previous section, we now look at another pattern which can also be used in any reading, not just the Celtic Cross.
It is another NLP language pattern and one very much evident in tarot readers and their readings when you listen for it.
It is called (get ready for it) … “modal operators of necessity”.
Do not panic!
You should panic!
You might panic!
You could be panicking!
Why shouldn’t you?
We do not want you to panic!
And those are all examples of modal operators, operating modally on your sense of needing to do something – it’s necessity.
Modal Operators are words like;
Could
Should
Must
Might
May
Couldn’t
Don’t
Must not
Mustn’t
Can you learn them?
You should!
You must!
You might!
You could, you know, have already learnt them!
In fact, you might want to listen over the coming day or two, to how many times you can hear other people using them.
You should really pay attention.
They might not be obvious.
Because we can use them all the time.
You must pay attention.
And the more you hear them, the more you might understand how in a reading we might consider how we should be more elegant in using them ourselves, might w
e not?
How many times do you use “should” to someone who might rebel automatically against “should” or “must”, or use “might” to someone who needs to hear just that they “could” actually do it?
And are some cards automatically associated in your mind and the way you speak with “must” such as ‘the two people on the Devil card must break free’ or are some softer “should” cards – ‘When the Temperance card is in this position you should really start to get a balance’.
Maybe there are cards that you have an even softer (but sometimes more powerful) “could” affixed to them – ‘you could really make a new start now, as the Ace of Wands is at the top of the spread’.
Listen, is all we ask of you in this section, and you might notice something interesting changes in your readings.
Well, you could. You might choose to not hear these words.
16: Add a Sliding Scale to your Cards
As we become more elegant in the delivery of our reading, using language patterns and a re-tooled Celtic Cross, we can better help our client (and ourselves) towards change.
You might notice that you talk about some cards as being very cut and dry; one way or another. The Blasted Tower card is “oooh, a sudden event is going to shock you” or the 3 of Cups is “You will find good company with women friends” and “cause to celebrate”.
We can add a slightly more elegant approach to describing cards when we consider that every card has an invisible sliding scale on it, like the volume control on a touch screen.
As you point to a card, you might want to consider that you are about to deliver the interpretation on a scale that is dependent on all the other cards in the spread.
So that “Blasted Tower” may actually be the least important card as you read it.
However, the client will often be looking with some concern at the Blasted Tower illustration, or if it were a card such as the 10 of Swords, and it might be difficult to bring their attention to the more important elements of the whole reading.
So rather than ignore or try to gloss over the cards we can use a sliding scale.
We do this by mirroring a behaviour we have seen several experienced tarot readers do naturally and unconsciously.
Start by touching the card at the top and say something like “This card illustrates very well a sudden shock”. This gets attention and is a verifiable truism. It is actually far worse to say “this card is not as bad as it looks” which sets the unconscious to wonder how bad it could look.
Then you slowly slide your finger down the side of the card to about a quarter down, saying as you do, “but of course, there’s all sorts of sudden events in life from a tree falling on your car” (move finger down a bit more) “to a small lottery win” (slide finger down a bit to the bottom of the card) “to finding out a favourite group has released a new song”.
Now you can say, depending on the other cards in the spread, and the importance of the particular card such as the Blasted Tower in the reading, “in this case …” and slowly slide your finger to the percentage importance of the card in the reading along the side of the card.
So if you want to drop the importance of the card to a half-impact in terms of the overall reading, you would slide your finger only half-way back up the card.
Then, having set this unconscious sliding anchor, we can say, “… the card has very little impact because when we look at the 10 of Pentacles ...”
In anchoring the importance of a card by giving a scale of impact whilst sliding you finger down the card you can then also use that anchor on any other card without even having to repeat the scale.
You may find this method so powerful that when you point to a card later in the reading and place your finger directly right at the top of the card and hold it there, the client’s attention will be absolutely fixed and expectant on this card and your interpretation, because they will have picked up the signal unconsciously.
17. Big Picture (Getting it Started and Finished)
In this section, we present the first part of an additional consideration of the Celtic Cross, called “Big Picture, Little Picture, Big Picture Little Picture”.
There are three sections (17, 18 & 19) in this part of reading the spread and in this first section we take a look at the overall balance of cards.
There are many ideas about taking notice of the overall balance of cards, and also the Suits that might not appear in your spread, but we want to share a more elegant and precise trick.
In this trick we can find out exactly where we can start and complete the change we want to make towards our outcome.
We start with the usual way of reviewing the overall balance of cards in the spread.
In our example we see that there is one Major card, two Court Cards and seven Minors, which is an average spread, other than we might expect one more Major.
THE AVERAGE SPREAD CONSISTS OF: 3 Majors, 5 Minors & 2 Court Cards.
So our example is a pretty average spread all over; nothing major, nothing minor.
In those Minor and Court cards there is also a roughly equal spread of the four Suits.
There is one more Sword than the others but not enough to take our attention, for example, if we had six Pentacle cards and just one Cup card, but no Swords or Wands. That would signify a very heavy spread probably about resources and money.
We also take a look at the numbers of the Minors, to see if we can see anything else there, such as a lot of Fives, or a lot of higher numbers, lower numbers, etc.
Illus. Big Picture.
In our example we see that there is an equal spread across the numbers, with one card only of each number ranging from 1 to 9, so in the Minor cards we have; 1 (Ace), 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, & 9.
The only thing we might consider in that range is that there are no ‘Tens’ which are the “finishing” or “manifestation” cards.
In fact, when we look at that, we might want to see where a Nine card might be, which is the card which secretly reveals where we might be closest to completion in this situation.
Here we see the Nine is the Nine of Cups in the position of “Others”.
This indicates that the closest point to manifesting change towards the outcome is secretly clued in the “Others” card.
As we have seen in the previous layers of this particular example, there is much work for our client to do with how others receive them – and how they work with others.
Looking at the Aces and Tens in a reading (or lack of them, and cards closest to them) shows how we can start or complete change – and not only that, but where that must take place and when.
Having seen how we can find the cards closest to the start and end of the change required in the situation, we next look at the “little picture” aspect of this part of the reading.
18. Little Picture (It’s in Your Hands)
As we saw in the previous section, we can quickly look at the overall balance of cards in a spread and get a “big picture” of the overall nature of the reading.
We can also use our trick to look for Aces and Tens for ‘startings’ and ‘endings’ in the situation.
We can further find the cards closest to the end and beginnings (Twos and Nines, for example) and see where we are closest to achieving a new start or getting closure.
Next we look at the details of all the cards together, and see how they are similar or very different in the “little picture”. This gives added nuances to the reading and allows us to fill in the details to give the client (or ourselves) a comprehensive picture of the situation.
One excellent way of doing this with the Waite-Smith Tarot and many others is to look at the appearance and symbolism of HANDS.
The hand is a symbol of control and agency. It is a symbol of being open, welcoming, being closed or even threatening. It is capable of expressing a range of emotions and so is a powerful tool in symbolism. It is often used in dream-work and lucid dreaming for its ability to remind us of our sense of control.
The method is fairly straightforward and can be broken into several steps.
(i) Take a look where a hand is presenting something, possibly in several locations in the reading.
Join these card meanings together to form a chain of offerings.
(ii) Take a look at where a hand is holding something, and then see where else things are being held back.
Join these card meanings together to show all the unreleased potential resources available to the client as they work towards change.
(iii) Take a look at how the hands change across a reading.
It can often reveal a profound message to the client or yourself.
(iv) Follow the movements and gestures of the hands in a reading by copying it with your own real hands, like a martial arts set or dance/mime sequence.
Now follow these instructions when looking at the three cards in the Past, Present and Challenge positions of our example and you may get a big surprise.
Try the fourth step and you may even find your facial expression changing as you perform those three gestures in one fluid sequence.
Remember too what we did with looking at the past and future cards to get an overall theme?
How is that theme picked out again in the sequence of hand gestures?
The “big picture” and “little picture” often interlock in a profound way and there are many other ways of exploring the two layers, such as looking at the direction in which feet (or hooves) are moving across the cards and much more – go explore!
We next put these two sections together in our third section of this part of the reading sequence, when we chunk the two layers together.