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Ongoing Series: The Rider Waite Smith System In context

Go beyond keyword memorization. Advance your understanding of all 78 tarot cards within the Rider Waite Smith system by learning how their meanings can be applied to major life areas, common spread positions and paired card combinations. By studying this series, you can grasp the skill of interepreting tarot cards in any reading.

Toby Skibinski Toby Skibinski

The Original Celtic Cross Tarot Spread Explained (A.E Waite’s Version)

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In ‘Section 7: Divination’, Waite claimed that the celtic cross spread was an old, unpublished, method of divination that had been used privately in the UK for “many years”.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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Get Paid To Write A Guest Blog Post (Article Contributions)

I am on the lookout for tarot readers who can write engaging and helpful pieces of at least 1,500 words. You will be paid around ÂŁ80 or more for your contribution, depending on quality and word count. Please pitch ideas using the form below.

I am particularly interested in articles which are provide unique, insightful and provocative perspectives on practical tarot reading questions such as; future prediction, handling your tarot deck (charging, cleansing, storing etc), reading contradictory cards, reading with alternatives to Golden Dawn based correspondences and so on.