When I was taught to read playing cards, the cross spread was presented to me as a general spread. However, over time I discovered that it can also be used to answer specific questions of a general nature, or simply to explore certain compartments of the querent’s life. Here is a recent spread on a male querent asking about his career:

To summarise the main meanings of the various fans:

1. Left: past-present
2. Center: in the heart, sometimes present
3. Right: present-future
4. Above: thoughts, would like
5. Below: dislikes, problem
6. To the side: future/answer

The cool thing about larger spreads is that sometimes we can just identify a single spot that answers the question clearly, and everything else gives details that may or may not interest the querent. Here, the clear answer occurs in the right spot: 9♣️ 8♣️ 8♠️, which translates as “for a long time the job will give the querent tears”.

Now that we have identified a clear sentence, let’s fill out the details. Since the sentence is quite negative, let’s look at other negative spots. In his heart, the querent has the 3♠️ which brings difficulties, complications etc. But it is followed by cards that bring hopes of a solution (the two Hearts). Clearly there has been something that caused the querent to start hoping.

Now look at the fan above: he would like a contract (3♣️) that gives him happiness (10♥️). Between these two cards we find the sickness card (6♠️). This could indicate that it is a vain hope or a sick hope, one that is not grounded in reality. On the left we see that he has a small income (3♦️) but works hard (5♣️ J♣️) so it’s not that he doesn’t deserve job security. Below we see a difficult situation with a man that might be his boss or a superior. Clearly he is not the teacher’s pet (the Q♣️ simply shows that the querent’s troubles reflect badly on his love life).

The final fan unfortunately robs the querent of all hope, although it argues that there will be help from a man. To dig deeper I should have done another spread. As it stands, the detail is quite vague.

MQS