"Do what thou wilt." Arguably the four words in Aleister Crowley's vast esoteric oeuvre that are at the heart of his repugnance to polite (that is to say, religiously - and now also politically - correct) company because they seem to fly in the face of the hallowed Golden Rule. Not, of course, that he … Continue reading Wilt or Want? That is the Question
Month: August 2017
Expanding Your Reach
A brief article in the latest issue of The Cartomancer quarterly posed the question of whether anyone should feel inadequate for being a "one-trick pony" in the divinatory arts, only focusing on a single branch of the tree when the public seems to expect a well-rounded "gypsy fortune-teller" repertoire. This has me thinking about my … Continue reading Expanding Your Reach
The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
This is an earlier and more complex 15-card version of the "active-or-passive" decision-making spread I previously posted as the Balance of Forces spread. It is a study in its own right, in that it uses a qabalistic Tree of Life format with my own take on Adam Kadmon, the "Heavenly Man," standing within the Tree … Continue reading The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
This is a slightly cheeky poke at workplace dynamics (and by extension, politics). The "boss" (Fool) is at the center of the corporate universe, and there are up to twenty options to represent co-workers, either as second-level supervisors (Aces) or peers (court cards). The idea is that you only need to populate as many of … Continue reading The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
This is a "Majors-Only" spread in which only four of the cards are drawn from the 22-card deck; the rest are derived from the card first drawn in each row. It adopts the concept that all of the Major Arcana cards except the Fool as "0" have one or more "numerological counterparts" based on the … Continue reading The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
“Cheap Shots” #13 – 2150 or Bust
There is a thread on the Astrologers' Community forum titled "Is Anyone Else Tired of Waiting for the Age of Aquarius to Take Effect?" Consensus among the numerous commenters is that the poor, benighted OP missed the boat somewhere. Personally, I'm not so sure. I understand that, sidereally, the Age of Aquarius will begin around … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #13 – 2150 or Bust
“In the Court of the Crimson King” 3-D Elemental Matrix
This isn't a spread per se, it's a simpler substitute for the initial step of the "First Operation" of the Golden Dawn's Opening of the Key method. Instead of separating all 78 cards into four stacks and finding the Significator, only sixteen cards including the Significator are selected for the matrix, four in each elemental … Continue reading “In the Court of the Crimson King” 3-D Elemental Matrix
At Home with the Wanderer
A request recently came up on one of the astrological forums wanting to know what our favorite natal planetary placement is (that is, in our own birth charts). Since I don't give much weight to the three modern planets these days, my decision was fairly straightforward, and not the one you might expect. First-house Jupiter … Continue reading At Home with the Wanderer
Cold Reading Then and Now
"Cold-reading" is an interesting subject; it seems to mean something entirely different now than in the past. In my own experience, it used to describe reading with zero prior knowledge or information, simply drawing insight from the cards or other tools of divination with no preliminary "warm-up" clues from the sitter. But it now implies … Continue reading Cold Reading Then and Now
“Is this love, or is it just confusion?”
Jimi Hendrix could have been channeling a dysfunctional 2 of Cups when he wrote the lyrics to "Love or Confusion:" Oh my head is pounding pounding Going 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round Must there always be these colors? Without names without sound? My heart burns with feelin' but Oh but my mind is … Continue reading “Is this love, or is it just confusion?”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 