the french cross and its variations is a versatile spread for all sorts of questions. traditionally it was laid out with the major arcana only, which i only do if i use a majors-only deck. some readers lay out a layer of majors followed by a layer of minors, which i tried but is too fiddly to bother with. many folks nowadays just deal from the top of a completely shuffled deck and that's where i lie.
left: the querent's state and influence in the situation
right: the state and influence of whatever the querent is asking about
top: piece of advice on how to move forward, harmonize the two positions
bottom: the outcome (short term, following the advice)
center: quintessence, a core theme of the situation, something under the surface and yet crucial to the dynamics.
originally the fifth card would be calculated by adding up the numbers on the majors used for the first four positions and reducing to reach a number under 21 using your preferred method. adding the digits is popular, but whenever i have to reduce numbers in a reading i'll just subtract 22 however many times it's needed (after all, tarot isn't 9-based?) if you're using a whole deck you could still add the values, just figure out how you'll count the court cards (11, 12, 13, 14? or all as 10? golden dawn's card counting values? something else?) or skip all that and deal the card like you would all the others.
left: positives, strengths, things going well in the situation
right: negatives, weaknesses, things going wrong/against the querent
other cards same as original
a shortened version without dealing the last card. it saves on space, and not all situations require a deeper look/not all querents are looking for this type of analysis.
