Cross

What this spread is

Five cards around one - the spread that shows a question from every side at once. The centre holds the substance, the vertical separates what you understand from what is working below your attention, and the horizontal gives you time. More depth than three cards, and less work than ten.

When to use it

When the position is more complicated than “what happens next” but the question is still one question. For situations where you suspect there is something you are not seeing, and for decisions with an unobvious reason behind them.

How to read it

Start with the centre and read it together with the card beneath: that is nearly always where what you think and what is happening come apart. Above and below are a pair, left and right are a pair; read in pairs rather than round the circle.

The positions

1. 1 Present

   The substance of it: what the spread is actually about, even if you asked about something else.

2. 2 Above

   What you know and acknowledge about it - the conscious part, the aim, the intention.

3. 3 Past

   What leads into this from behind and is still holding on.

4. 4 Future

   Where it is moving in the near term - the turn that is already being prepared.

5. 5 Below

   What works below your attention: a motive, a fear, or a circumstance you do not count as important.