Hi fellow readers,

This is a reading I did yesterday for someone I know personally. I thought it was quite a powerful (for want of a better word!) spread, but can't put my finger on why, exactly, or what component makes me think that. It could be because there are unusually so many Major/Court cards but, deep down, I don't think it's that.

Out of curiosity, what are your reactions to it? x

1 - Justice
2 - Queen of Cups
3 - Queen of Pentacles
4 - Ace of Pentacles
5 - Page of Cups
6 - Knight of Cups
7 - Nine of Wands
8 - Temperance
9 - Seven of Cups
10 - Knight of Wands


...........5 ...................10

4 ..... 1 & 2 .....6 .........9

...........3 .....................8

..................................7

Most tarot readers here would like to know the following in order to give an opinion.

1) What was the question?
2) What is the spread used? I know it is the Celtic Cross; but which version? There are so many of them and yours looks like the Joan Bunning's version.  What does each position stand for?
3) it would also help to see what deck you have used.

Ah sorry, the reading was a general one but I suspect it really was inclined to personal wealth, my friend has had money struggles recently but starts a new job in the New Year. It is indeed Joan Bunning's version, I find it best for general readings x

ETA: Rider Waite cards x

My view on this based on your version of the Celtic Cross, or better known as Joan Bunning’s version.

My God we have almost all the court cards in this reading. Your friend either has dealings with many people around her or is going through different personality traits and behaviour patterns.

Positions 1 and 2:
Current influences, Present situation, Opposing factors or reinforcing factor.
Justice and Queen of Cups.

If it is not a legal situation that your friend is involved with at present, in which case, I also feel justice will be served,  I also feel she is at a stage in her life where she has found a good balance in her affairs (whether emotional, financial or life in general) and is set to go and start living again. HOWEVER, there is a side to her (or someone in her life – Queen of Cups) who is still rather emotional and is clinging to certain feelings. If this is not a person in her life who is possibly holding her back with her sentimentality and over-caring qualities, your friend would probably need to take a step back and review her own emotions. If this is a factor for change, your friend may be acting a bit too logically view of her feelings of justice and equilibrium in her life and she might need to get in touch with her sentimentality and start seeing things from that perspective too.

Positions 3 and 4.
Root Cause, Unknown factor and The past, receding influences.
Queen of Pentacles. Ace of Pentacles.
Here we have again a Queen figure (female, mother, boss, employer……) whose impact on your friend has been detrimental. However, I do not get any negative feelings about this queen. Has she been a patron to your friend about which she has been unaware (I am assuming your friend is a female) or has your friend rejected that patronage. I have to insist I don’t get an untoward feeling about the queen of pentacles and whatever her impact on your friend, it could either have been a personality conflict or some misunderstanding.
Your friend may have had opportunities in the past which she either ignored or did not take advantage of – possibilities relating on matters of finance, investment or even a new prospect for a job perhaps? It is always said we may be given the gift of an Ace, but we may ignore it or decide not take it.
I am now beginning to put 3 and 4 together and by that I am deducing that your friend may have had a misunderstanding or difference of opinion with someone with whom she was involved work-wise (Queen of Pentacles) and by which she may have kicked away her chances for financial reward.

Positions 5 and 6.
Attitudes beliefs, Goal or purpose, alternate future and Future, approaching influences.
Page of Cups. Knight  of Cups.
What can I say? A mixed bag of a situation here with your friend.
It feels to me your friend is torn between her finances and her romantic side of life. It is almost like a total shift from one to the other….. or is it? She is almost expecting things to change and present themselves to her in a more romantic fashion. If the Page of Cups is news of the finer feelings, it could also be a new job offer, but what comes in the Future in the form of the Knight of Cups, a romantic involvement with someone who is equally romantic and sentimental, not to say rather emotional. If, in the event this is not a romantic encounter for your friend, I feel then she may be handling her affairs in a la, la, la land of utter emotion, day dreaming and out of touch with reality. She should be cautioned not to go down this route in her business affairs though.

Position 7: You as you are and you as your present yourself.
Nine of Wands.
Hmmmmm…… I feel your friend is rather protective about herself and the pains she has gone through to achieve what she has so far. She is also scared and defensive of who she makes contact with and what comes into her life. At times she finds herself vulnerable and the only ‘weapon’ she may reach to is self-preservation and putting up the brick walls for protection. I feel this may come from her mistrust to people around her and what she has experienced with them.

Position 8: Outside environment, Others’ point of view.
Temperance.
Despite her protective or over protective attitude about herself, there is a need about your friend to find a fine balance within herself, he own psyche. I feel ‘extremes’ whether in feelings or involvements should come to some form of moderation. She needs to find a balance between her mental, emotional and spiritual state of mind. Even if she manages to give that impression to the outside world, deep within, she isn’t and she needs to find that balance.

Position 9: Guidance, Key factor, Fears and Hopes.
Seven of Cups.
Your friend either likes having too many options and choices or she is not good at handling different choices and opportunities. Whilst life may present us with different options and choices, the Temperance of our inner world must be at ease in order for us t make the right choice. Having multiple choices is wonderful, but to choose what is right for us is even better. This is where the success or failure of your friend will lie and that is to make the right choice for her highest good. As the saying goes: not all that glitters is gold.

Position 10: Outcome; overall, inner state and effects.
Knight of Wands.
Another court card, this time someone more passionate and with get up and go (as opposed to the Knight of Cups) and full of energy, not to mention sexual energy too.
Is your friend going to meet her match? Is she going to take up the high road and be on the fast lane of her profession?
I would be cautious with the Knight of Wands though: whilst he may be charming and chivalrous, he can also be unreliable, two-faced and untrustworthy. If it is a good time that your friend is looking for, that she can have with this Knight, but she should be careful not to believe everything this guy says. I’m afraid, like with every human being, there are two sides to a person and it is only fair that both qualities of this knight are mentioned.


Summary: this reading is ‘general’ indeed whereby we see two aspects of your friend’s life being looked at: financial and romantic, on one proviso. If there is no romantic involvement in her immediate future, then she is best to find a fine balance between the personality traits of a Knight of Cups and Knight of Wands – total opposites.

It is not my style to combine the cards during a reading; I prefer to handle each card and position on its own, but on this one I felt I had to combine at least two cards to create a narrative situation. Styles are said to change with us...)))

This is my penny’s worth of your layout Englandsrose.
Hope it made sense to you as you know your friend.

Cheers

It really is a very interesting spread, thanks for posting it.
I only tried to picture the cards in my mind for a bit, since I am in such a hurry to leave for work once again, just to get a general feeling or impression. And also Cedars has made the in depth job, so there isn't much I can add.
The rate of Majors seems quite normal. It is the court cards that have showed up in full, as if invited to a party  

Looks to me as if your friend is someone rather dreamy and sentimental. Focusing on material things seems to take a toll, even though the Pents look promising.
There seems to be a need for balance between ideal goals, dreams and reality, which may lead to impetuous actions with little to show for it in the end.
There also seems to be some inner tension between the need to see things clearly and the deeply ingrained tendency toward daydreaming and evasion.
I'd say this person is weary from past struggle, would like to focus more on love life than business, and is in desperate need of some patience to fully understand the situation.

This is what I gleaned from it -sorry, I didn't even have the time to read Cedar's conclusions, but I promise to do so as soon as I get a chance, since they must be much more detailed-.

Tell you what I usually do after each CC reading when there is time or need for a little clarification: I take the 10 cards one by one in the same order they were initially laid and put them in a row. If you have a significator, you lay it as the first card on the left, then lay cards 1, 2, 3... to 10.
Once all in a line, I use a reading technique from the Golden Dawn tradition (I only learned it came from them a few days ago, through PW, of course).
It consist of reading the cards by pairing them two by two from the extremes and working towards the center. You forget about the CC position meanings and just read each two cards as a whole (the way Cedars does for each position in one of his spreads, he knows which).
If you have a significator, or if you added final cards or included those that fell out while shuffling, you might end with an uneven number of cards, instead of 10, so the central card is read as the key or an important element to consider. As for the rest, you get a different point of view of the same reading and the same cards.

Try it sometime, it is quite an eye opener and allows you to catch connections you might not have noticed in the CC positions.