Articles
On A.E Waite’s Original Celtic Cross Tarot Spread
In this article, we will look at A.E Waite’s original instructions for laying out the celtic cross tarot spread. That is, in contrast to the modern, psychologized versions that proliferate today.
In 1911, Arthur Edward Waite published The Pictoral Key To The Tarot (ill. Pamela Coleman Smith), a full sized book (not the little white book) to accompany his Rider Waite Smith tarot deck.
In ‘Section 7: Divination’, Waite claimed that the celtic cross spread was an old, unpublished, method of divination that had been used privately in the UK for “many years”.
The celtic cross tarot spread has since become a perennial classic amongst tarot readers except, perhaps, to the TikTok generation. In revealing it, Waite reasonably recommended this layout for almost any inquiry. Time has also shown it’s spread positions to be easily adapted, as we will soon see.
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