5-card spread
Five card cross
A three-card line with a card above and a card below. The horizontal axis tells the story in time; the vertical axis adds what is consciously in view and what sits underneath it.
Hover a card to see what its position means.
The positions
- 1PresentThe situation now, at the centre of the cross.
- 2PastWhat has shaped it: recent events and old patterns.
- 3FutureWhat is coming: the direction of travel.
- 4AboveWhat you are aware of and reaching for: hopes, goals, the conscious mind.
- 5BelowWhat lies beneath: the foundation, the unconscious, what is not being said.
Reading it well
Two axes
Read the row first for the story in time, then the column for what sits above and beneath the situation.
Above and below disagree?
That gap — between what you consciously want and what is really going on — is usually the reading.
An example reading
“Why does this friendship feel strained?”
At the centre, the Two of Cups reversed: the give and take has slipped out of balance. The Three of Cups behind it shows how good it was, and the Six of Swords ahead suggests a quieter phase rather than an ending. Above, the Two of Swords is the conversation nobody wants to have; below, the Five of Pentacles hints that one of you is struggling and has not said so. Start there.
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