IX THE TEN-RAY SPREAD
(THE CELTIC CROSS)
Questions
The Ten-Ray Spread takes the form of the Celtic Cross, the classic among spreads. It can basically be applied to any topic, but is particularly suitable for questions related to the trend of events:
• Where is my path leading me?
• What is the inner purpose of my actions?
• In what direction are my external aims developing?
• And how do I encounter the fruits of my actions in the external world?
Background
So that the messages received from the ten selected cards do not become too complicated, it is recommended that you first concentrate on the framework – the axes 1/7 and 4/10 – and disregard the other cards for the time being.
Card 1 then shows us who we are against the background of the question. Card 7 describes the psychological data bank (“inner self”) we have at our disposal from the rich store of individual learning and experience. At the same time, it provides hints about the final outcome – card 10, which sits in a state of grace upon the foundation of the soul (card 4). Card 7 depicts our spiritual power, or the higher self in which we appear “before the supreme being.” If card 4 is the unconscious character trait pointing to the verdict of fate (card 10), then card 7 is the higher aim of the ego (1) or the “path to the throne.”
If we consider this from a broader perspective, card 2 enables us to see the obstacle blocking our path in: the shadow, in so far as we redeem it, leads us to what card 7 shows us. Cards 5 and 6 indicate the background that constellates the problem relating to our current situation (3). The cards in positions 8 and 9 indicate the inner specters (hopes and fears) that we attract to ourselves from the world outside because they complement our inner disposition.
Interpretation
1 The Significator
The significator shows the position you are in, and thereby reflects the issue in question.
2 The Barrier
This depicts the inner or outer resistance that is crippling you. But it also shows your repressed side, which will make you complete if you succeed in living it out in a conscious manner.
3 The Foreground Experience
This card illustrates the foreground goal for which you are striving, everything you see and keep in view. It therefore stands for everything that drifts to the surface and can be observed.
4 The Foundation
The foundation is the original root or basis of the matter. It shows the more profound preconditions that have led to where you are now. “It comes down to this” is the magic formula. It indicates the unconscious original source. It is not be unusual to be surprised by this image because you repress the motives that demand to be elevated into consciousness.
5 The Recent Past
The fifth position reflects events from the immediate past (“This was before”). It therefore shows the visible effects of the unconscious foundation of card 4 elevated to the realm everyday life.
6 The Immediate Future
The immediate future gives you a view of the effects that will soon openly manifest themselves and reverberate in the world (“This comes afterwards”). This card therefore represents a direct consequence of cards 4 and 5.
7 The Higher Self
The relationship between the seventh card and the first is like the relationship between the self and the ego. It shows you the potential for growth needing to be integrated into your self by the ego through the developmental task of the situation in which you find yourself.
8 The Environment
The next card describes your situation from other people’s viewpoint: the image that your environment has of you and to which you can only respond in such a way as others expect.
9 Hopes and Fears
The second-to-the-last card reveals the world in the mirror of your expectations and fears. It makes you aware of the mask that you wear when you are confronted with your inner hopes and fears. It shows how you react to what you assume corresponds to the situation of your experience – regardless of whether something has taken place or not.
10 Culmination and Goal
Everything that demands to be realized as an end and new beginning is brought to completion here. This last card summarizes the other nine and is the goal of the development and the seed from which a new set of objectives can be born.
THE TAROT MEDITATION
The most intuitive, profound, and serious way of using the tarot is meditating with the cards. We can approach the mystery of the oracle by withdrawing to a quiet place for the activation of our spiritual perception. Sitting in a relaxed position, we close our eyes. With a little patience, a particular card will appear spontaneously at some point before our inner eyes. It will gradually vibrate onto the wavelength of a specific feeling or sensation, to which our spiritual aura then responds. For a moment, we have the experience of being part of the vibration of the card. We allow ourselves to be touched by what it says and perceive the longings or fears that this triggers within us. These vibrations, which our consciousness filters out of all the instinctive, mental, and bodily associations, are the focus upon which our psyche is now directed. Our subconscious mind tries to vibrate at the frequency of this specific card in order to unite with its spirit and receive its message.
In this type of meditation, we see particularly clearly that the individual preconditions in the personality structure always exist even before any form of interaction with the environment. In fact, it is our own spiritual disposition that initially and intuitively leads us to the card corresponding to our present inner state or in accord with the current development concepts in our psyche. The card surfacing before your inner eye is therefore not the perspective with which you look at the world, but rather a mirror in which your inner development is reflected.
Meditation sometimes occurs as a result of questioning the cards. We spread out the cards and one of them suddenly appears to have a very special meaning. Whether we like the card or not is beside the point: The determining factor is what compels us to like it or reject it. But it can awaken within us whatever has been slumbering unrecognized in our subconscious mind. Whether or not we believe in the reincarnation of the soul, in the soul’s sense of guilt caused by its own actions in earlier incarnations, is not important. The card we like embodies our conscious aims, and the card we do not like represents the shadow currently accompanying us. So we focus on the way in which we experience the card: Which experiences do we associate with this card and what we can gain if we recognize and integrate the things that the card triggers?
This form of meditation demands a certain willingness and ability to become involved with the inner images. If our own perceptions are orientated less towards the images and more towards rational understanding, there are other possibilities. For example, we can read the descriptions of the cards and focus on the interpretations of the specific cards that provoke a spontaneous, deep reaction within. This can also help us become clear about light and shadow regions in our own soul wanting to be acted out, meaning those areas whose