The heart of the matter, as it stands today.
What this position asks
What is going on for you right now?
This is the first card down and the centre of the whole spread. Every other card is read in relation to it. When Waite laid it, he said "This covers him", and wrote that it "gives the influence which is affecting the person or matter of inquiry generally, the atmosphere of it in which the other currents work."
I like that word atmosphere. The Present card is the weather you are standing in. It may not be the whole story, and it rarely is, but it is the air the rest of the story is breathing.
How cards behave here
A Major Arcana card in the Present tells you this is one of the big seasons of your life, and the question you asked sits inside something larger. The Tower here is a structure already coming down. The Hermit here is a time of pulling back that you may not have chosen.
A Minor card tells you the matter is closer to hand: this month, this relationship, this job. Read its suit first. Cups in the Present put feelings at the centre, Wands put drive and action there, Swords put thought and conflict there, and Pentacles put work, money and the body there.
A court card in the Present is very often you, or the way you are carrying yourself in the situation. Ask that before you ask who else it might be.
A reversed card here tells you the energy of the moment is stuck, held inside, out of balance or slow to arrive. It is still the heart of the matter. It is just not flowing freely yet.
Its partner: the Crossing
The Present never sits alone. The second card is laid straight across it, and the two are always read together. The Present is what is happening. The Crossing is what is pushing against it.
Read one without the other and you have half a sentence. The Two of Wands in the Present, a plan taking shape, means one thing with the Knight of Pentacles across it (slow, careful progress) and something quite different with the Five of Wands across it (a tug of war over which plan).
A few examples
The Three of Pentacles in the Present: you are in the middle of building something with other people, and the question is really about that shared work.
The Five of Cups in the Present: you are grieving something, and the spread will show you what is still standing behind you.
The Sun in the Present: things are going well, and the question may be about how to keep it, or what comes after it.
When this position speaks
If the rest of the spread confuses you, come back to card 1. It is the anchor. Every other card is answering the question the Present card raises.
What is the weather you are standing in right now, and how long have you been standing in it?
If you would like the Celtic Cross read against your own chart, my readings are here.
The Celtic Cross
The other nine positions, and the spread they belong to.
See every page and post in the Contents.
The Members area has songs, Moon pages to print, the Sunday article a day early and a first look at new Library pages.