“We live in two worlds… the world into which we were born, and the otherworld that was born within us. Both may be a blessing or a curse. We choose.” – excerpt from a Druid homily.

The word “Celt” is derived from the Greek “Keltoi” – meaning foreigner – although period etymology points to an alternate meaning as “secret” or “hidden” according to Indo-European and Old Irish origins.

Keeping things hidden and secret was a tenet followed by ancient Druids – forbidden from recording any mystical knowledge in written form. As a result, other than manuscripts of Greek and Roman scholars of the 4th century, surviving texts of Celtic pagan spiritual practices remain scarce, yet – notably – references found within folklore, mythology, and song have had an enduring legacy that remains highly visible within contemporary culture.

Celts of yore were a highly mystical people who, among an array of spiritual customs, venerated all forms of nature. As animists, they believed that trees, rocks, streams, and mountains were imbued with an otherworldly presence and could portend future events.

Such powers of “second sight” can be traced back to the supernatural druids who practiced various forms of divination. Analysing the activities of birds for omens, and studying celestial configurations were among their many functions as religious leaders, lore keepers, and political advisors. In particular, Irish druids carefully observed cloud formations (a ritual known as “Neldoracht”) to foretell the future using a yew rod inscribed with words written in Ogham – the ancient script of Ireland.

Runes and tarot cards came centuries later, and although the origin of the tarot is not exclusively Celtic, its most famous spread is, nonetheless, named for the Celtic Cross.

Yet, how did the most popular tarot spread, within the most widely used divination tool, become titled with the most recognized Celtic religious symbol? Typically, the answer relies on a scarcity of sources, although research into the origins of the tarot and its connection to the Celts does offer a glimpse into the pervasive presence of ancient Celtic culture that has endured through the ages.

References to the occult are apparent in various cultures on virtually all continents. As one of the most practiced forms of divination, the tarot has a long history that begins in the Western world – in Italy during the late Middle Ages – when playing cards were all the rage amongst the rich.

Elaborately hand-painted with intricate illustrations, cards were coveted by Kings and nobles as luxury items.

These original decks (adapted from earlier versions from China, Persia, and Egypt) consisted of four suits – variations on those recognized today: swords – (spades); sticks/wands – (clubs); goblets/ cups – (hearts); and coins/pentacles – (diamonds).

By the early 15th century, 21 trump cards were added to a standard deck. These “triumphs” or “Trionfi” (so-called in Italy) – depicted exquisitely designed subjects such as the Fool, the Emperor, and other mediaeval allegorical characters and settings. This early version of the tarot – known as “Tarocchi” – eventually spread throughout Europe, popularized in “trick-taking” games that later evolved into a modern version of the card game Bridge.

By the 18th century, French writer Antoine de Gebelin introduced the concept of using Tarocchi cards as divination tools and suggested that the added trumps had connections to mythical sources as diverse as the ancient Egyptian texts of the Book of Thoth and the Hebrew alphabet and Kabbalah. However, none of these claims was ever fully substantiated.

Soon after Gebelin’s literary text on the tarot was released, Jean-Baptiste Alliette – known under the pseudonym “Etteilla” released the first tarot deck to be used exclusively for fortune-telling in 1789 – the same year as the French Revolution. As the news spread across Europe of “la Grande Révolution”, the revamped version of the cards as a divination tool also made its way across the English Channel, eventually igniting a little uprising of its own with the members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a century later.

While books about mysticism made their way through Europe in the late 1800s, a group of British men and women created an underground movement devoted to metaphysics and the occult, analysing a wide range of material from medieval manuscripts to Egyptian and Hellenic archaeological discoveries. Essentially, freemasons with a bit of a twist, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn attracted the interest of many influential artists, writers, and musicians. Irish poet W.B. Yeats was a prominent participant, as was English occultist Aleister Crowley. Scholarly spiritualist A.E Waite, also a member, would go on to create the widely used Rider-Waite tarot deck with illustrations by author and artist Pamela Colman Smith, published in the early 1900s.

Waite’s newly created deck included the accompanying groundbreaking guide, “A Pictorial Key to the Tarot” – now considered the basic blueprint for all things Tarot in the post-modern age. In addition, the guide contains one of the few recorded references connecting the Tarot to what he termed “an ancient Celtic method of divination” when he first introduced the Celtic Cross Spread in the 1910 publication.

“I offer a short process which has been used privately for many years past in England, Scotland, and Ireland,” he wrote. “I do not think that it has been published – certainly not in connexion with Tarot cards”

Undeniably the most popular of all Tarot formats, the Celtic Cross spread is laid out in the shape of the iconic religious symbol found across Ireland, with four additional cards placed to the right of the cross to represent the staff.

According to some interpretations, the cross structure incorporates both Christian and pagan elements representative of various facets of ancient Celtic lore. The distinguishing circle at the intersection of the cross, linking the four arms mounted on a staff are – ostensibly – symbolic of the two seasons of Samhain (winter) and Bealtaine (summer), which are then further defined by the festivals of Imbolc (Spring) and Lugnasadh (Autumn). Further, the four seasons may connect to the four directions (North, South, East, and West) – and the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The circle at the centre represents the sun that unifies the four quadrants, with various masculine and feminine attributes ascribed to elements within the arrangement. Some interpretations liken the four directions to the phases of time itself: The North representing Possibility; the South denoting the Present; the West, the Past; and the East, the Future – with each of these accounted for in the Celtic Cross Tarot spread.

Since lore reveals that the ancient Celts lived their lives according to the movements of the sun, it is appropriate that the spread attempts to convey as much within an esoteric equivalent. According to this theory, the transitory nature of time and its phases is linked to a raising of consciousness (sunrise), emerging from the unconscious realms (sunset), occurring within an ongoing cycle of light and dark – or, conversely, via awareness and detachment.

Numerous formats and methods of interpretation for the Celtic Cross Spread have evolved and been adapted over the years. British actress and socialite Frances Farr – also a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn – is credited with creating an enduring layout based on numerology that differed from Waite’s original concept.

Despite the exhaustive speculation over the years, the precise origin of the Celtic Cross Spread remains a mystery.

For over a century, occultists and scholars have speculated on the connection between the tarot and Celtic culture and whether it exists at all. Some experts claim that the naming of the spread was most likely the result of Yeats’ involvement in the Order of the Golden Dawn, which counted many Celts among its members.

John Michael Greer, author of the “Celtic Golden Dawn” (2013) explores the Celtic connection to the original English Hermetic Order in his “Complete Curriculum of Druidical Study”. He cites three factors for the significant Celtic influence within the Order and writes,

“The fascination with all things Celtic that pervaded English culture during the heyday of the Golden Dawn…(included) three factors… Samuel Mathers, one of the order’s founders, descended from the MacGregors and an enthusiast for all things Celtic, …Mather’s wife Moina, a gifted clairvoyant and as much as a Celtophile as her husband; and William Butler Yeats who was initiated into the order in 1890”.

Yeats most certainly played a significant role in creating the earliest version of the spread, given his involvement in, and the popularity of the Celtic revivalist movements of the early 20th century.

Since the emergence of the Rider-Waite deck in 1910, numerous versions have followed that deviate significantly from the illustrations of Waite’s original. Current Celtic Tarot decks incorporate a range of ancient imagery that includes druids, faeries, and Celtic gods and goddesses – notably absent from the early days of the Tarot. The Celtic Cross spread, however, remains the mainstay for most Tarot divinations.

Although the precise origins of the Celtic connection to the tarot remain shrouded in mystery, what is apparent is the ongoing interest in the mystical ways of the past that have endured through centuries. Even though most knowledge of ancient Celtic spirituality remains based on Greek and Roman texts – likely unreliable given the tactical viewpoint of those authors – the remaining spiritual lore of the early Celts of Ireland and Scotland, particularly, has not only survived but thrived, thanks to many proud and practicing Celts today.

 

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