Secrets of the Celtic Cross Page 3

  In this case take the Trump card ‘Justice’ as the significator as it has reference to legal matters. But if the question is “Shall I be successful in my lawsuit?” one of the court cards representing yourself should be selected.

  Subsequently consecutive divination can be performed to ascertain the course of the process itself, and its result to each of the parties concerned.

  Having selected the sig. place it on the table face upwards, then shuffle well and thoroughly the rest of the pack cutting three times after each shuffle – lastly keeping the face of the cards downwards, turn up the top or front card of the pack and cross the significator with it and say

  1. This card covers him.

  This card gives the influence which is affecting the person or matter of the enquiry generally, the atmosphere in which the other currents move. Turn up the second card and say

  2. This covers him

  It shows the nature of the obstacles in the matter. If this is a favourable card the opposing forces will not be serious, or it may indicate that something good in itself will be productive of good in this particular connection.

  Turn up the third card and place it on the Sig. and say

  3. This crowns him.

  It represents 1st the Querents aims or ideals in the matter.

  2nd the best that can be achieved under the circumstances but that which has not yet been made actual. Turn up the fourth card place it below the Sig. and say

  4. This is beneath him.

  It shows the foundation or basis of the matter, that which has already passed into actuality and which the Sig. has made his own. Turn up the fifth card and say

  5. This is behind him.

  It gives the influence that has just past or is passing away. N.B. If the Sig. is a trump card or a card that cannot be said to face either way the diviner must decide beforehand which side of the Sig. he will take as facing. Usually this fifth card is placed on the right hand side of the sig. as it will be found that most of the court cards are looking towards the left hand. Anyhow if you decide to always adopt the plan it will be found to work satisfactorily, only make a rule always to do so.

  Turn up the sixth card place it on the side that the Sig is facing & say

  6. This is before him.

  It shows the influence that is coming into action and will operate in the near future.

  The next four cards are turned up in succession and placed in a line by the side of the others which are in the form of a cross. The first of them is the Seventh card [which] signifies the person himself or else the thing enquired about, and shews its position or attitude in the matter. 7.

  8. The eight card represents his House i.e. his environment, and the tendencies at work there which have an effect on the matter for instance his position in life, the influence of immediate friends and so forth.

  9. The ninth card gives his hopes and fears in the matter.

  10. The tenth card is what turns up, the final result, the culmination which is brought about by the influence shewn by the other cards that have been turned up in the divination.

  The operation is now complete and if in any divination the tenth card should be a court card it shews that the subject of the divination falls ultimately into the hands of a person represented by that card and its end depends mainly on him. In this count it is possible to have a fresh divination taking the court card as the Sig. to discover what is the nature of his influence in the matter and to what issue he will bring it.

  Great facility may be obtained in this method in a short time, allowance being made for the gifts of the operator, that is to say his faculty of insight, latent or developed, and besides which it is free from all complications.

  Fortune telling by cards. Non Order method.

  [Here ends the transcript of the original text]

  There are some immediate points that can be made from this typescript; firstly, that the title including “by F. L. Gardner” does not of course mean the method was composed by him; it could be that Yorke meant “in the hand of” as he catalogued other materials – but Yorke was always specific about such matters where possible.

  The similarity of the paragraph with regard to “great facility may be obtained …” and other phrases of course can be heard in Waite’s published version. So if this is indeed an earlier version, one would imagine Waite would have had to clear it with Gardner to reproduce this method almost verbatim. Could this be what Waite meant by his 1909 comment about assistance from another “well-versed” and not Yeats?

  Another exciting point is that the title refers to Gardner’s magical name within the Order. We know that Gardner took a magical name when he joined the Order – which was not well-received by the Chiefs – and later changed it on entry to the Inner Order, to that given here. If this typescript is verbatim, and the title was on the hand-written original, then we can date the manuscript to 1895 or thereafter.

  It is of relevance perhaps that Westcott was still using the Opening of the Key reading in 1894 as was Annie Horniman in 1904.[5] If this alternative method was being utilised by any other member of the Order, it was not widely adopted as far as the evidence suggests, albeit we do not have all the records of the Golden Dawn members.

  Let us now look at the work of F. L. Gardner and see if he could indeed be the likely creator of the Celtic Cross method which was then published by Waite.

  The Work of F. L. Gardner

  So could F. L. Gardner have actually designed this spread himself? We can say that it is not impossible. Gardner was the son of ardent Spiritualists and had visionary experiences when he was young – and he later personally knew Madame Blavatsky herself. He had a large collection of books, and worked hard within the Golden Dawn initiatory system, taking grades between June 1895 and February 1897.

  By the 4th February 1897 he was initiated into the Inner Order as a Theoricus Adeptus Minor and able to examine other candidates to the Portal grade leading to the Inner Order. This would have demanded a thorough knowledge of the subjects of the Golden Dawn; Astrology, Kabbalah, Tarot, Egyptian Myth and more.

  Interestingly enough, in letters dating 1895, discussing Moina Mathers, Astrology and Tarot, he mentions a reading for the “result of a lawsuit”, for James Durand, the very same question used as determining the significator in the example of his typescript.

  As a person we have a few records of his character – however, Mathers did describe him as “uncertain and wavering … excitable and nervous” when he joined the Order, and Farr didn’t like his drill-instructing of candidates in ritual. We are presently searching for a photograph or portrait of Gardner.

  There is then the matter of the interesting title “gipsy method” which seems to be at odds with his likely studies. Is it possible that he himself was referencing something he’d read as a “gipsy method” and this was published even earlier? This might also accord with Waite’s cryptic suggestion that it had never been published “in connexion with Tarot”.

  It would be interesting to have a catalogue of the Cartomancy books and pamphlets he was selling for a long time, and scour those for such a “gipsy method”. In the meantime, let us consider how the actual method was originally given and how it has become confused in most books ever since Waite released it to the public.

  The Method

  As a practical method, we can see some confusions creeping into this spread. The original notes obviously indicate a very brief description of what each position means – and this may account for the sheer variety of personal variations that followed in the literature as each subsequent author attempted to make the method clearer, and in so doing added more complexity to those buying more than one book describing the method.

  The Rosy Cross and the Celtic Cross

  In papers written for private circulation between 1906-1911, Waite wrote on the “Tarot and the Rosy Cross”.[6] In this treatise on the Tarot and its relation to the Tree of Life – in particular the stage between the Inner and Outer Order, th
e phrase “Rosy Cross” is mentioned nine or ten times. If Waite were going to refer to a cross in a Tarot spread, surely it would be “Rosy”, particularly at this time of his magical career, rather than “Celtic”?

  So where might the “Celtic” nature of this Cross crept in? It has been here seen and suggested elsewhere that both Waite and Yeats had a Celtic tendency, and Yeats was possibly involved to some extent at the time of the deck’s (and spread’s) publication. He had met Colman-Smith and had been involved with Waite a number of times.

  There is a connection between Yeats and the Celtic Cross - an immediate and direct connection. Yeats specified, in a poem, where he wanted to be buried, and what epitaph should be on his tombstone:

  Under bare Ben Bulben's head

  In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.

  An ancestor was rector there

  Long years ago, a church stands near,

  By the road an ancient cross.

  No marble, no conventional phrase;

  On limestone quarried near the spot

  By his command these words are cut: Cast a cold eye

  On life, on death.

  Horseman, pass by!

  This burial place, at Drumcliff, has indeed a Celtic High Cross, with a carving of the Tree of Knowledge and Adam and Eve upon it, and even a nearby Tower; which just happened to be struck by lightning,

  So the Celtic Cross had profound meaning to Yeats, and it would be likely he made a suggestion that the spread - becoming popular in the first year - be tagged with this important symbol – perhaps even as a magical act.

  When did the Spread become Ancient?

  Unless we discover an earlier “gipsy method” available to Gardner and Waite in their extensive collections of books, the spread dates to around the late 1800’s at its earliest, perhaps around 1895. This is hardly “ancient” in most conventional contexts, and certainly not “ancient” in a historical sense. So although it is referred to as “ancient” in later versions of the Pictorial Key, how is it associated with such antiquity? The answer lies in marketing and a return to earlier views of the Tarot that Waite had sought to banish.

  In an issue of The Occult Review, dated 1920, advertising the deck being published by Rider, we see that there is no mention of the ancient origin of the deck, nor any reference to anything other than “methods of divination” or “Fortune-Telling by the Tarot”. It was not Rider and Waite that promoted this antiquity, despite the new title of the method.

  However, as we then see in a later 1938 catalogue, the unauthorised copies of the deck and book being marketed by the De Laurence Company were now described as the “Ancient Tarot” with a marketing spiel containing:

  … Came with the Gipsies from India … The early tarot cards are said to be of Oriental and Egyptian origin … The early gipsy connection is affirmed. These cards came with the gipsies from India…

  It was in such marketing, prevalent throughout the 1930’s-1950’s, whilst the Tarot sat in the relative doldrums between the revival of the method in the Golden Dawn at the turn of the century and the 60’s esoteric revival that the idea of antiquity crept back again.

  The Tarot became an occult tool with secrets hidden from the uninitiated, taught only in small Orders – deriving their work on the whole from the Golden Dawn - and in the public mind became associated with superstition; the key marketing ingredients of that period are wizards, pointy hats, and rather oddly, an Owl which turns up in many adverts of the time.

  Most importantly, the symbols of the Pyramids of Egypt are often depicted in the background of such adverts – most notably in Rosicrucian (AMORC) adverts.

  This almost subliminal yet obvious call to antiquity has become associated within the public consciousness as what is called “illegitimate knowledge” in Cultural Studies.

  Conclusion

  In concluding this section, we can see that this spread is neither Ancient, nor Celtic, nor particularly a Cross.

  It was possibly designed in London, (14 Marlborough Road, Gunnersby, to be precise) dating about 1895-97 by the bibliophile and bookseller F. L. Gardner, aged 40-43 at the time, and a member of the Golden Dawn and ex-Theosophist and Freemason. It was designed as a shorter method than the time-consuming Opening of the Key method taught by the Order and originally called a “Gipsy Method”.

  It was published by Waite in 1910 and – likely based on the Celtic Revivalist tendencies of Waite and Yeats – after a revision, termed “Celtic” rather than as was written originally and correctly, “used in England, Scotland and Ireland”. This “Celtic” did not even then refer to the “Cross”, merely the “method” and the pseudo-historical/geographic usage of the method.

  Subsequent publishing introduced the term “Cross” into the title, again, perhaps at the suggestion of Yeats, to whom the symbol of a “Celtic cross” had particular significance. This also led to a sometimes-proposed suggestion that Yeats had designed the spread himself. Waite himself had no particular interest in the symbol – preferring the concept of the “Rosy Cross” and neither did he have much interest in the use of Tarot as divination, as his second – and generally unknown - Tarot work testifies.[7]

  Within thirty years of its publication in 1910, marketing began to re-introduce the idea of “antiquity” to the cards, which became confused with the spread, leading to it also being later perceived as “ancient”.

  So from an “alternative and quick” method likely designed by a Hermetic student in London in around 1895, it became an “Ancient Celtic Cross” spread within the course of a century and has been referred to such by every author since that time with varying amounts of explanation.

  There remain unanswered questions that this research might provoke and avenues that have not yet been fully explored – other than those usually asked, such as “which card do you place down first?” or “should I use reversals in this ancient spread?” which include:

  • Are we sure that the person intimated by Waite as assisting the design was Yeats? Could it have been F.L. Gardner or another? I look forward to getting a copy of Roger Parisious’s work on this matter (Waite and Yeats) which has so far remained elusive!

  • The Gardner typescript is probably of an original hand-written document – where is that?

  • When Waite refers to the spread as not being previously published, “certainly not in connexion with Tarot cards”, does he simply mean, it was published within the Golden Dawn, or – more interestingly – does he mean it was previously published, but perhaps in a book (owned by Gardner, who also donated books and shelves to the Order?) on Cartomancy, playing cards, or some other subject?

  That could mean that Gardner – or another Golden Dawn member – did take the spread from somewhere earlier! This would take our research into reverse as it might indicate the spread as being more “ancient” than we are giving it credit!

  • Who exactly might have influenced the change of title of the spread? Could it have been the publisher – [about which more could be said] and not Yeats – why would he have had a say in the matter?

  • If it were not indeed Gardner who designed the spread, as the typescript suggests, was it then another member of the Golden Dawn, Mathers, Westcott, even possibly Yeats or another?

  At the very least, after several years of research, we might now be able to go back to Tarot.com and suggest they re-word their description of the Celtic Cross as not dating back “hundreds of years”. Or perhaps they know something we don’t …!

  We hope you have enjoyed this section on research endeavours and it encourages you to look at your Tarot through open eyes and with excited heart, asking questions and questioning answers; a true divination.

  We will now turn to new approaches in the practical reading of this spread, which despite its convoluted history and misnamed title, proves a powerful and enduring method of reading tarot cards.

  Reading the Celtic Cross

  In this section we will look at the powerful methods of reading the C
eltic Cross that arise from an outcome-orientated approach. We will give these in twenty-three parts with a concluding story about reading the spread.

  These methods are modelled on practical readings of the spread for over ten thousand face-to-face readings over thirty years, so are the result of three decades of refinement. There are many variations to reading the spread, the one given here is the one that has proven most effective for real people over a long period of time.

  It is also formulated from the work of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and Solution-Orientated therapy, although you do not need to know anything specific about these approaches in order to apply the methods in this book. The work of Richard Bandler and John Grinder in originating NLP, the language patterns of Milton H. Erickson, and the neo-Ericksonian work of William H. O’Hanlon, Doug O’Brien and Stephen Gilligan have also been major influences on this approach.

  You can find a suggested reading list at the end of this present book to further your interest in this work.

  As most of these methods are about causing change in a client’s life after a reading, towards a defined and practical solution, the change-work model of problem formation and resolution from Paul Watzlawick and John Wekland is used as an under-pinning to the whole approach.

  All of these inspirations and influences have been hidden under the hood of simple and easily applied methods of tarot card reading, and are mentioned for those who want to further deepen their ability to help a client towards change in their life.