The Outcome

Where this is heading if nothing changes.

What this position asks

Where is all of this taking you?

This is the last card down, at the top of the staff. Waite wrote that "The TENTH is what will come, the final result", and described it as "the culmination which is brought about by the influences shewn by the other cards".

Brought about by the influences. Even Waite tied the Outcome to the nine cards laid before it. It is the sum of everything else in the spread, and if any of those influences shift, the sum shifts with them.

That is why I call every outcome card a mirror. It shows you the road you are on, as you are walking it today. If you like what you see, keep going. If you do not, the other nine cards show you where to push.

I think of a river. Let the boat drift and the current will take you to a particular bend. Pick up the oars and you can land somewhere else.

How cards behave here

A Major Arcana card as the Outcome says this matter is heading for a real culmination, the end of one stage of your life and the start of the next.

A Minor card says the result is more contained, and more open to adjustment. Cups here point to an emotional result: contentment, reunion, or a feeling that has to be faced. Wands point to action and momentum, a venture that takes off or a fight that runs its course. Swords point to a decision, a clearing of the air, or a hard truth landing. Pentacles point to something tangible: a result you can bank, build on or hold in your hands.

A court card as the Outcome is often a role you grow into along the way. It can also be a person who will matter at the end of this.

A reversed card here is most often delayed or blocked. The result is coming, slowly, or something in the other nine cards is holding it back, and the spread will usually show you what. A heavy card as the Outcome, upright or reversed, is still a mirror. The Tower or Death here describes where things lead if nothing changes, and the other nine cards still show you what can be changed.

Its partner: Hopes and Fears

Card 10 sits directly above card 9, and I always read them together. They tell you whether what you want and what you dread are shaping where you end up.

Picture the Nine of Pentacles as the Outcome, a woman alone in a rich garden with a bird on her gloved hand. Independence, comfort, a result you earned. With the Devil in Hopes and Fears, two figures chained loosely at the base of his perch, you want to be free and fear you never will be, and the Outcome shows that freedom within reach. With the Eight of Pentacles in Hopes and Fears, a craftsman working coin after coin, the hope is to be good at what you do, and the Outcome shows that effort paying off.

A few examples

The World as the Outcome: a dancer inside a wreath. Completion, a cycle finished well, and the freedom that comes with it.

The Seven of Pentacles as the Outcome: a young man leaning on his hoe, looking at a bush of pentacles. The harvest is growing. The result for now is patience, and a fair look at whether the crop deserves another season.

The Page of Wands as the Outcome: a young figure holding a sprouting staff. This matter ends with a fresh start, some news, an idea that wants to be tried.

When this position speaks

Card 10 is the last card you read and the first one you want to look at. Resist that. Read it after the other nine, so you know what built it.

If you do nothing differently from here, is this where you want to arrive?

If you would like the Celtic Cross read against your own chart, my readings are here.