How to Deal Tarot Cards
There are a variety of ways to deal a spread of tarot cards. Those who are experienced like to design their own spreads, and others stick to traditional layouts. The Celtic Cross is a popular one that readers use. It's a simple design that's easy for beginners to remember, yet gives powerful messages. When you deal the cards, you form two shapes on the table: one is an actual cross that consists of seven cards, and the second shape is four cards laid in a straight line that sits to the right of the cross, called the staff (see Free-Tarot-Spreads.com in resources for a diagram).
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Instructions
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Create the Cross in the Celtic Cross Spread
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1
Select a card to represent your client. This is called a significator. A princess card is used for a young woman and a knight to signify a young man. A queen card is for a more mature woman, as a king would stand for an older man. Cars from the suite of wands indicate people who are blond-haired and blue-eyed. Cups cards stand for those with light brown hair and light-colored eyes (hazel, blue or green). People with dark brown hair and eyes should have figures from the swords suite represent them, and those who are black-haired and black-eyed use significators from the pentacles suite.
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2
Lay the significator card face up on the center of the table. All of the other cards you deal will also be face up. As you draw them from the deck, reveal their faces by turning them over sideways. Don't flip the cards from top to bottom: The meaning of a card changes if it's sitting upside down, and you will alter the meaning of a reading if you accidentally turn a card over.
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3
Tell your client to shuffle the cards until he feels ready to stop. If a card slips from the deck, put it aside and read it after you review the spread. Its message was intended to be heard.
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4
Lay the first card on top of the significator card. Say "This card covers you." This card relates to the aura surrounding the person's present situation or question.
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Place a second card so that it forms a cross atop the first card. Say, "This card crosses you." It represents the issues or forces working against the person.
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Set a third card below the crossed cards. Say, "This is beneath you." The card indicates the basis of the situation the person is inquiring about.
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Put a fourth card to the left of the crossed cards. Say, "This is behind you." The card reflects on an influence that has just passed.
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Place a fifth card above the crossed cards. Say, "This crowns you." It warns about an influence that may come to pass.
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Lay a sixth card to the right of the crossed cards. Say, "This is before you." This card tells of what will happen in the immediate future. (Once you have laid this card down, you will have formed a second cross.)
Create the Staff in the Celtic Cross Spread
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Set a seventh card down to the right of the third card. (This is the card that's directly below the crossed cards that indicates that basis of the issue at hand.) Say, "These are your fears." The card shows what the questioner is worried about.
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Draw an eighth card and sit it above the seventh card. Say, "This is the opinion of others." The card indicates what other people think of the situation.
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Place a ninth card down above the eighth card. Say, "These are your hopes." The card will speak to the client's aspirations or ideas of success.
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13
Draw the 10th (and last) card and put it above the ninth card. (You will now have a straight line consisting of four cards sitting to the right of the cross layout.) Say, "This is the final outcome." The card points to the likely outcome of events.
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Read the meanings of the tarot cards in numerical order, starting with the first card that crosses the significator card.
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