Sometimes you just "gotta do what you gotta do." This simple spread is designed to show the risk and payback potential of any chancy course of action. No detailed guidance is needed, the spread positions are self-explanatory. Either your idea is a good one or it isn't. The "Advice" card is the quintessence derived from … Continue reading The “No Guts, No Glory” Risk Analysis Spread
Month: May 2018
The Blame Game: Court Cards as People
I haven't been polishing my "curmudgeon cred" much since I ended my "Cheap Shots" series, so here is another crack at it. Late-19th-Century tarot authorities, lacking our psychological and sociological sophistication, almost unanimously considered the court cards to show other people in the querent's life, even going to the extreme of trying to describe their … Continue reading The Blame Game: Court Cards as People
Keywords: Guilty As Charged
There is no way around it, keyword memorization is one of the cornerstones of the tarot student's curriculum. It is a convenient and familiar way to acquire at least a modest vocabulary without having to think too hard about it. Keywords are "training wheels" for the wobbly novice. Most tarot writers are able to fill … Continue reading Keywords: Guilty As Charged
A “Tough Love” Example Reading
This reading was performed on a hypothetical romantic relationship by applying my "Relationship Crisis Spread." I used the Thoth deck, with reversals; this spread does not require a Significator card. I also calculated the two optional "quintessence" cards to show how that is intended to work. The relationship in question was between a man and … Continue reading A “Tough Love” Example Reading
Tough Love: A Relationship Crisis Spread
There is a saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Although it is intended to mean that the tough knuckle down and battle on through to the end, when things get truly ugly the toughest option may be to pull up stakes and leave the situation. The main question is obviously "Should … Continue reading Tough Love: A Relationship Crisis Spread
Multiculturalism or Cultural Appropriation?
Yesterday I came across a news article about a young woman who chose a traditional Chinese dress to wear to her high school prom because she appreciated its modesty. She posted a picture on social media and was deluged with howls of protest over such an egregious expression of "cultural appropriation." From where I sit, … Continue reading Multiculturalism or Cultural Appropriation?
Where Is Celia? – A Missing-Person Reading
UPDATE: It has been reported that Celia was found "safe in New York." There was no detail regarding where she was found, how she got there or whether she was aided in any way. This has the earmarks of an "assisted runaway" scenario, but we will probably never know. Case closed for now. Fifteen-year-old Celia … Continue reading Where Is Celia? – A Missing-Person Reading
Psychoactive Tarot
Every once in a while on the tarot forums, someone asks whether it's helpful (or even wise) to attempt reading the cards while under the influence of psychoactive "substances," whether drugs or alcohol. The thrust of the question usually revolves around the perceived loosening of cognitive strictures that may create a more fluid intuitive climate … Continue reading Psychoactive Tarot
Journals, Good Intentions and the Road to Hell
The aphorism I'm referring to in the title is "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions," to which, in the present context, I would append ". . . and littered with musty old tarot journals." It's a given that modern writers on "how to learn the tarot" will unanimously recommend that new students … Continue reading Journals, Good Intentions and the Road to Hell
The Pentagram of Air Spread
This is the last of my "Invoking Pentagram" spreads. It begins with an emotional urge to clarify one's thinking on a subject of interest (Water); crystallizes that impulse into workable ideas (Air); acts creatively on those thought-forms (Fire); addresses the ethical and moral implications of such actions (Spirit); and experiences the practical outfall of the … Continue reading The Pentagram of Air Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 