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I've been experimenting and I think I arrived at a very satisfying general spread, which at the same time makes it easy to kind of “step out of” those rigid meanings into a more intuitive, free-flowing, visual reading. A spread to do it all! So far the querent responses have been positive, so that's an endorsement from both sides of the reading table.

It's a deconstructed version of the Celtic Cross, so follows the same restrictions (?) – not really great for yes/no questions, or asking about other people. Pretty good for understanding the complexities of a certain situation, gaining clarity, insight into one's self. Perhaps also generating more particular questions to answer later.

It's mainly two lines of five cards, with a few extra at the top if you'd like. Makes it easy to see the make up of the suits, numbers, interesting repetitions and patterns – like one row being all majors, the other a mix of minors, or certain elements visually hemming in others. You can do the free-form layer of the reading before, after, or during and in between interpreting the positions, however you like to work – I kind of go back and forth.

Here's how it goes:

Generally the bottom line is the outside world – events, things beyond your control, and the top line is the inner world – what's happening in your psyche, how you move through the world. The main central structure of the original cross is reflected in cards 1 through 7. I see them as such:

• cards 1, 2, 3 are “where” you are – the past, present, and future events surrounding the issue at hand – what actually happened, where does it look like it's going etc.
• cards 4, 5, 6 are “who” you are – what has shaped you and your conceptions around this subject in the past (upbringing, important events), what you aspire to be in the future (who you want to be, what values drive you), and the you now, in between those two states, a sum, a blend of the two external cards
• card 7 – optional, is the “what crosses you” card, which here I take as the sum of the two “present” cards – “who you are now” interacting with the “where you are now”; it sets the tone of the reading (but you can also just feel out the two present cards for that – is there tension, do they play nice together etc.)

The two vertical pairs on the outside of this main spread – 8 and 9 on one side, 10 and 11 on the other – are the “staff” of the Celtic Cross spread:

• 8 – how you are affecting the situation at hand, your contribution, what's in your power
• 9 – other factors affecting the situation, other people, things outside your control
• 10 – your hopes and fears about the future of the issue
• 11 – actual outcome of the situation

There are effectively four future cards (3, 6, 10, 11) to look at and explore the interactions of.

If the story of the main spread doesn't include any guidance for a clear way forward, you can add two more cards flanking card 7, our summary of the problem:

• 12 – what not to do, what to move away from and leave behind, what's not helping, your weakness
• 13 – what to do, what can help, your strengths and assets

I try to make those as practical and actionable as possible.

If you want, you can lay out the “staff” cards farther away, to have a clearer view of what's where, but I like laying it all close enough to form clean lines of five cards. While I dart in and out of this more flexible reading during analyzing the spread, I will consciously try to look at the cards as if they were spreadless at the very end – what would I say about the situation if I were only presented with these main ten cards out of context? There's always a little something extra that pops out.

And there you have it! Hope you try it out next time you need a Big One and that it proves as helpful to you as it has to me.