There are many forms of divination I know little about, but I'm constantly trying to educate myself. One such practice is lithomancy (the art of casting stones), for which these is very little published literature. One of the best resources I've found is this one by Gary Wimmer. http://garywimmer.com/writer/litho_book.htm Although Gary uses stones thrown onto … Continue reading Casting Lots
Month: February 2018
The Three-Card Carousel
"Round and round she goes, and where she stops nobody knows." I'm pinching those words from the old Ted Mack Amateur Hour TV show to illustrate one method of reading a three-card spread in tarot divination. There are differing opinions on this: some always read in a line from left-to-right, with the Past on the … Continue reading The Three-Card Carousel
Thrown Under the Bus: The Major Arcana and Fate
Although the title of this article is only half-serious, it points to a common perception about the appearance of several Major Arcana (aka “trump”) cards in a reading. Eden Gray summarized it neatly in her 1960 book, The Tarot Revealed: “If the majority of cards in the layout come from the Major Arcana, there is … Continue reading Thrown Under the Bus: The Major Arcana and Fate
Knighting “On the Diagonal”
While working up my previous post on using intersection with cards in a Lenormand Grand Tableau that have a diagonal rather than right-angle relationship with one another, I touched on the subject of approaching knighting from an oblique perspective instead of the usual squared-off "chess-move" pattern. Here is a visual comparison of the two. Diagonal … Continue reading Knighting “On the Diagonal”
A King is a King is . . . a Knight?
I'm going to tackle one of the most confusing and contentious issues in the annals of esoteric tarot: Samuel Liddell "Macgregor" Mathers tinkering with the traditional order of the court cards in his Golden Dawn instructional material, Liber T. At the heart of the issue is the assignment of the four classical elements, and by … Continue reading A King is a King is . . . a Knight?
A Study in Facing, Part 3: Pip Cards
The Minor Arcana, or "pip" cards, of the RWS deck are by far the most diverse population from a directional standpoint, since there are more cards that I would classify as "ambiguous." This includes cards with posture/gaze misalignment and cards with multiple figures that give no clear sense of facing or "visual flow." There are … Continue reading A Study in Facing, Part 3: Pip Cards
A Study in Facing, Part 2: Trump Cards
I separated the Major Arcana cards of the RWS deck into three subgroups: those cards that have either a pronounced or insinuated "lean" to the left (the past), those that are gazing or aligned straight out of the card, facing the observer (the present), and those that favor the right side (the future). The key … Continue reading A Study in Facing, Part 2: Trump Cards
A Study in Facing, Part 1: Court Cards
Facing or directionality in the cards of the tarot has always intrigued those who use the cards for divination. One convention that takes advantage of this phenomenon is the assumption that the cards to the left in a line reading represent the past, the focus card in the center shows the present, and the cards … Continue reading A Study in Facing, Part 1: Court Cards
Soothsayer or Master Craftsman?
The frequent on-line debates about whether the tarot cards have a distinct "personality" or whether they are in truth just inert pieces of printed cardboard bearing compelling pictures sometimes spill over into other "tools of the trade." For instance, scrying devices - such as magic mirrors and crystal balls - are often subjected to a … Continue reading Soothsayer or Master Craftsman?
The Angle of the Dangle
Since I'm going to talk about reading diagonal lines in the Lenormand Grand Tableau, let's assume for the moment that the title of this post is a colorful allusion to that rather than a) an aeronautical term for the angular deflection or "droop" of an airplane tow rope, b) a prenatal determinant of gender or … Continue reading The Angle of the Dangle
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 