I was right in that it's Tarot for Your Self in which Mary talks about the Celtic Cross Permutations. It's in Chapter 6. She looks at the following permutations:
- The Turning Wheel - rotating the cards that surround the cross one turn at a time and interpreting the cards in each of the positions
- Past, Present, Future - group specific cards from the reading into groups of past, present and future and interpret them
- The Whole Person Summary Spread - sort the cards into suits (Wands through Pentacles and then Majors at the bottom), centering the cards to form a balanced visual image and then look at them as an overview
- Yod He Vau He - The Path of Hermes - arrange specific positions from the Celtic Cross into three overlapping triangles and interpret them as described in the book
Of course there are many other exercises in the book, but those are the 4 permutations listed in my Newcastle Publishing version of the book. If other permutations were added in later reprintings of the book, I don't know about those.
Hope this helps,
Rodney
I have the 2002 2nd Ed. of Tarot for Your Self (New Page Books/Career Press); in this edition, the work on permutations begins in Chapter 2 with a basic 3 card spread, and is more fully explained in Chapter 6 (as Rodney explains above).
In short, permutations are re-arranging the same cards in the spread into "new and different patterns and relationships," to quote Greer.
eg: In your basic Past/Present/Future, move the card drawn for "Past" into the "Present" position, the "Present" into the "Future" position, and the "Future" card into the "Past" position. Then re-interpret the spread from that perspective.
There are a few variants out there, but the one I use is this:
1) Core
2) Crossing - can be obstacles, can be reinforcement depending on cards
3) Base - card below central cross. Represents past and/or basis of situation
4) Recent Past - this is the card to the immediate left of the central cross. Represents the influence just passing away. This influence is often still being felt and playing a role in the central situation, though its influence is waning.
5) Crown - card above central cross. Often means possible outcome, though it also often means forces just coming into consciousness.
6) Near future - this is the card to the immediate right of the central cross. Indicates influences coming into play, though the sitter may not necessarily be consciously aware of them at the time the reading is done.
7) Self - base of staff. The sitter's position on the issue or what they really feel, whether or not they want to admit it.
8) Environment - what the sitter's environment feels about the situation at hand. This can be positive, it can be negative, it depends. Usually when there's a definite contradiction between this and 7 it means someone is acting in a manner contradictory to what they really feel and/or putting a good face on things.
9) Sitter's Hopes/Fears - this position tells me what the querent feels about a situation for better or worse. It may or may not gel with what they openly *say* they feel or what their environment says.
10) Final Outcome - this is what it says it is. This card is the summary of all that's gone before.
Does this help?
The CC is far and away my go-to spread as it often gives a clear overview of the situation at hand as well as advice on how to deal with it.
I'm glad to see you look at 2) "that which crosses" as possibly being reinforcement as well, depending upon the other cards.
It occurred to me after studying the other day that barriers aren't the only things which cross our paths...bridges and stiles do, too, and not all "roadblocks" are bad. Traffic detours, for instance, are [allegedly] for the purpose of keeping us out of trouble.
I thought I might be off-base, on account of being new to the Tarot. It's reassuring to see that someone with more experience has had the same insight.
Have you also encountered a situation in which the thing the sitter hopes for is also the thing she or he fears?
Lovely topic, Farzon!
imarya
