Celtic Cross - Step Five: Hopes, Fears, & Outcome
Position Nine - Hopes and Fears: Placed above card eight. This is your greatest hope and/or deepest fear about the situation.
Position Ten - Outcome: Placed at the top of the staff. This is where things are headed; the outcome as things currently stand.
The final two cards don’t pair up in the sense that the other pairs have, but they do for the sake of 2 cards a post🙃
So card 9 deals with Hopes and Fears. This is your greatest hope and/or deepest fear about the situation. The and/or is an important distinction because sometimes they are one and the same.
For example, my friend's Hopes/Fears card was The Tower. Scary card, right? This obviously speaks to his fears about the coming change and potential upheaval of the way he’d gotten so used to things being. But, is change not ultimately the goal? There’s obviously fear about the changes not working in your favor, but at the other end of that is the hopes that they do. Ideally, you go through this massive change and end up all the better for it.
An important note, I don’t always read this as hopes AND fears. This example is one where the card speaks to both sides, but sometimes it’s one or the other. Take some time to consider both the positives and the negatives of the card. Is it exclusively what you’re hoping for? Is it entirely what you fear? Are the two intertwined in ways you hadn’t realized? The reading will reveal what is the most pertinent information to you at this time, so don’t be discouraged if you can only read it as one or the other. It is and/or for this reason.
And finally, the outcome. Arguably one of the more straightforward positions to interpret. I’ll note again that I don’t believe in “predicting the future.” I read this card as where things are headed. This is the direction you’re going in with all factors as they are.
So for example, my friends reading showed the outcome as the 2 of Swords. It suggests an upcoming decision that he may be making blindly. So simply by giving him the reading, we’re potentially changing the outcome. By bringing this card to his attention, it becomes less likely that he’ll be thoughtless and rash in upcoming decisions (assuming he keeps the reading in mind haha).
So don’t pull this card and end your reading with “this is what’s going to happen.” Look instead at what it suggests may be coming up, and whether or not you need to be mindful or make changes to achieve or avoid that outcome.
And that’s all I’ve got for you! I hope that this series has been helpful to new readers and seasoned diviners alike. The Celtic Cross is a complex spread, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult one. Happy reading 😊
Spread | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4
💗Blossoms🌱