The Celtic Cross is the ten-card tarot spread that A. E. Waite published in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, and it is still the best known layout in tarot. This tool shuffles all 78 cards in your browser, lays ten of them in Waite’s order, and explains each place in his own words, with the meaning of each card from its guide on this site.
How it works
Waite called the layout “An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination” (part III, section 7 of his book) and said it is “the most suitable for obtaining an answer to a definite question”. The first six cards make a cross and the last four a line beside it:
- This covers him. The general atmosphere of the matter.
- This crosses him. Laid across the first card: “the nature of the obstacles in the matter.”
- This crowns him. The aim or ideal, and the best that can be achieved but is not yet real.
- This is beneath him. The foundation, what has already happened and become your own.
- This is behind him. The influence that is just passing away.
- This is before him. The influence that is coming into action in the near future.
- Himself. Your own position or attitude in the circumstances.
- His house. Your surroundings and the people around you.
- His hopes or fears.
- What will come. The culmination of what the other cards show.
Ten different cards are drawn, each of the 78 equally likely in each place, using your browser’s random number generator. If you tick the box for reversed cards, each card also has an even chance of being upside down. Waite begins by setting aside one card to stand for the person or the matter, the significator, and you can choose one; it is then left out of the draw.
Reading the result
The result shows the layout, then each card with Waite’s words for its place and the card’s meaning: its upright or reversed passage from our guide where the guide has one, otherwise its opening paragraph, with a link to the full guide. Waite asks the reader to give the tenth card the most thought, because it gathers up the rest. Many readers start with the two cards at the centre, then the past and near future on either side, and only then the line of four.
Notice where the Major Arcana cards fall, since readers treat them as bigger themes, and which suits appear most often.
Where traditions differ
Waite chose the significator by age and colouring: a court card for a person, or a card whose meaning fits the matter, such as Justice for a legal question. Many readers today skip it or choose freely. Waite places the card behind and the card before according to the way the significator faces, so in his own diagram, with the significator facing left, the card before is on the left. We draw card 5 on the left and card 6 on the right and name them, so the picture does not depend on which way a card faces. This tool follows Waite’s order and his words for each place.
What it does not do
It does not tell you what will happen. Even the tenth card, which Waite calls what will come, is best read as where things are heading if nothing changes, and as a prompt for your own thinking. It does not keep your question: it is shown back to you and stays in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Who created the Celtic Cross spread?
It was published by A. E. Waite in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), where he calls it "An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination". The name suggests an old Celtic origin, but Waite gives no source for the layout.
↳ What does each of the ten positions mean?
In Waite's order: what covers you, what crosses you, what crowns you, what is beneath you, what is behind you, what is before you, yourself, your house (your surroundings), your hopes or fears, and what will come. The tool quotes his words for each.
↳ What is a significator?
A card chosen before the reading to stand for the person or the matter asked about. Waite usually took a court card. You can pick one in the tool, or leave it out and draw all ten from the full deck.
↳ Should I include reversed cards?
Waite gives reversed meanings in his book, and many readers use them; many others read every card upright. Both are common. The box starts unticked, and the tool says which way each card fell.
↳ Is the draw really random?
Yes. Your browser's random number generator picks ten different cards, each of the 78 equally likely in each place. In a check of 100,000 draws, no card was ever drawn twice in one spread.
↳ Can a Celtic Cross predict the future?
No. Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a proven way to predict events. Read the spread as a set of questions about your situation, and use your own judgement for decisions.