7 cards · intermediate

Relationship Cross

Seven cards on the mechanics of a partnership: each person, what each wants, what each fears, and what holds it together.

Draw the Relationship Cross spread

Optional, and worth doing. Questions starting with what or how, about you, get far more out of a reading than yes/no or predictive ones.

Changes which part of each card's meaning is surfaced.

Reversals

New to tarot? Turn these off until the upright meanings feel automatic.

How to read the Relationship Cross

A deeper relationship reading than the five-card version, and structured to prevent the most common error in relationship readings, treating the spread as surveillance of another person.

Positions 2, 4 and 6 describe the relationship's view of the other party, not their private thoughts. Read them as what is being expressed into the dynamic, which is all any reading can honestly reach.

The seventh card is the foundation. Read it last and read it as the answer to "what is actually keeping this together", which is sometimes love, and sometimes habit, fear or logistics.

Full guide and layout diagram

The positions

  1. YouYour position in the relationship as it stands.
  2. ThemTheir position, as expressed into the dynamic.
  3. What You WantWhat you are actually seeking here.
  4. What They WantWhat they appear to be seeking.
  5. What You FearThe fear shaping your behaviour in this.
  6. What They FearThe fear shaping theirs.
  7. The FoundationWhat is actually holding this together.

For reflection and entertainment. Not medical, legal, or financial advice.