AUTHOR'S NOTE: During my studies I occasionally see a distinction being made between a narrative "storytelling" approach to explaining the cards in a reading, in which a series of scenes is presented much like the panels of a comic strip, and a less-anecdotal descriptive style that defines the broader relationship among the cards, often in … Continue reading Narrative or Descriptive Reading: A Cartomantic Divide
Month: September 2023
A Lenormand “Whodunnit” Tableau & Example Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those who have been following this blog know that I have an abiding interest in criminal "cold-case" readings. I normally use horary astrology and tarot for this purpose, but here I'm exploring an interesting way to apply the Lenormand cards. The first thing I did was locate all of the cards that could … Continue reading A Lenormand “Whodunnit” Tableau & Example Reading
Lenormand and the Tetractys Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Some time ago I created a 10-card "tetractys" (aka "decad") spread based on a template I found on-line, applying my own modifications to personalize it. I intended to use it only with tarot cards. However, while reading Lisa Young-Sutton's book, The Petit Lenormand Oracle, I encountered her use of the 10-card "pyramid" spread, … Continue reading Lenormand and the Tetractys Spread
The “Wild-Card Tableau” – A Tarot-Lenormand Experiment
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I seldom use tarot cards in combination with Lenormand cards in a reading, but the minor merger I've come up with here looks like something I can live with. Cartomantic theorists are always looking for effective methods to bring tarot cards and oracle cards together in a combined reading. Lenormand writers have proposed … Continue reading The “Wild-Card Tableau” – A Tarot-Lenormand Experiment
Above, Below and In-Between
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "As above, so below" is a cornerstone of esoteric thought in the Hermetic tradition. According to this theory, life on Earth is a mirror or "microcosm" of the spiritual realm, or "macrocosm." Humans could therefore be viewed as approximate (and perhaps distorted) replicas of the perfect beings who inhabit the more numinous levels … Continue reading Above, Below and In-Between
A Recipe for Timing (or “Why Did My Cake Fall?”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay is not about a Betty Crocker bake-off; it discusses certain event-timing techniques used in divination. But I couldn't resist the analogy! Modern bakers who use "fail-safe" pre-mixed aggregates (you know the hype: "just add water") won't have a clue what my subtitle is about and will only shoot me a blank … Continue reading A Recipe for Timing (or “Why Did My Cake Fall?”)
The “So What?” Moment
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm indebted to a fellow r/tarot contributor for expanding my vocabulary of exclamatory responses to the surprising things I encounter in tarot readings (although this one may be more routine than exceptional and will understandably evoke a dismissive "Ehh"). We've all heard of the "Aha!" moment, the instant during a reading when an … Continue reading The “So What?” Moment
Waiting For The “Drop” – A Situational Response Spectrum
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Serving as a (welcome?) bit of relief from my relentless Lenormand commentary, here is an approach to situational awareness and response based on the idea that a particular activity described as a set of circumstances or facts can be foreseen to precipitate a "second act" of a countervailing nature (a divinatory parallel to … Continue reading Waiting For The “Drop” – A Situational Response Spectrum
Don’t Accept “Maybe . . .”
. . . when "Yes" or "No" will do. AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a strong bias in the cartomantic community against putting simple "yes-or-no" questions to the cards. Such efforts are seen as no better than a coin-flip, an odd-or-even roll of the dice or any other 50/50 divination method, and when they do invoke … Continue reading Don’t Accept “Maybe . . .”
The Cross in Context: Millstone or Turning Point?
". . . one of the most negative cards in the deck." (Andy Boroveshengra, Lenormand, Thirty Six Cards) AUTHOR'S NOTE: As one of the "stop" cards in Lenormand, the Cross is particularly sensitive to where it appears in a reading. We may be tempted to lump it in with the Coffin as showing a clear … Continue reading The Cross in Context: Millstone or Turning Point?
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 