AUTHOR'S NOTE: After re-reading the Sepher Yetzirah and some of its modern commentary for the first time in several decades, I decided to rework the correspondences for the trump cards on the paths of the Qabalistic Tree of Life to align them with my renewed (some will say "skewed") awareness. During a discussion on one … Continue reading A Loony on the Paths
Month: February 2024
Words and Pictures
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I believe I've found the perfect aphorism to describe the art of tarot reading. It was in a 1989 short story by science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling, of all places. According to a quote in the story, "underground" (an old cultural buzzword) cartoonist R. Crumb (he of Fritz the Cat fame although you may … Continue reading Words and Pictures
“Who Am I Right Now?” – A Three-Part Personality Profile
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is an approach to personality profiling that uses a "prepared" deck split into trump, court and pip card sub-packs. The design employs three layers of significance: the outer rectangle of four "pip" cards displays a tableau of daily experience in four elemental attitudes or postures; the middle diamond of four court cards … Continue reading “Who Am I Right Now?” – A Three-Part Personality Profile
Projection and Reflection: Trump-Card Pairs and Triplets
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading The Tarot of the Bohemians by "Papus" (Gerard Encausse) I came across an interesting approach to correlating the Major Arcana that was new to me. This is the last of my essays from the book unless I read it again at some point in the future. In line with his "positive-negative-neutral-transitional" … Continue reading Projection and Reflection: Trump-Card Pairs and Triplets
A Valentine’s Day Mini-Tradition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This post is kind of a "gimme" for my daily blog update since I've been bumping the attached analysis periodically on Valentine's Day since I first presented it in 2018. I have quite a few new followers who may not have seen it. Because love readings are such a large part of the … Continue reading A Valentine’s Day Mini-Tradition
Scrambled Symbolism: Revisiting the Sepher Yetzirah
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently had occasion to revisit the Sepher Yetzirah (Hebrew "Book of Formation") as part of a discussion about the relationship between the tarot trumps and the 22 paths of the Hermetic Tree of Life. Once one acclimates to the euphoric "God-talk" and its mystical exhortations, the material in the brief epistle invites … Continue reading Scrambled Symbolism: Revisiting the Sepher Yetzirah
The Thoth Atu or Keys: Major Arcana in Brief
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay - the third and final installment of my Thoth "deep dive" series - is by far the most challenging. Crowley's take on the Major Arcana was nuanced and complex, full of syncretic flourishes and just plain ol' mystical ambiguity. But at least his rarefied excursions into occult profundity were a product … Continue reading The Thoth Atu or Keys: Major Arcana in Brief
The Thoth Court Cards: Old and Trusted Friends
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the second post in my three-part initiative to explore the Thoth tarot at a profound level that goes deeper than the card-by-card analysis I've already presented elsewhere in this blog. Here I'm tackling the court cards, for which I've always considered Crowley's compact explanations to be "some of the best out … Continue reading The Thoth Court Cards: Old and Trusted Friends
The “Glorified Pip Cards” of the Thoth Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Today I'm embarking on my promised "deep dive" into the Thoth tarot, beginning with the Minor Arcana. Note, however, that I'm not going to present an exhaustive card-by-card analysis of divinatory content; I've already done that in my posted "Tarot 101" course material, which is primarily Thoth-based, and in a more general way … Continue reading The “Glorified Pip Cards” of the Thoth Tarot
Thoth Preliminaries (and a Few Particulars)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In yesterday's post I set myself the task of "taking a deep dive" into the Thoth Tarot, an esoteric deck I've been using since 1973. I will approach it more systematically in future essays, so here I'm only going to outline a few important details. My ultimate goal is to avoid repeating the … Continue reading Thoth Preliminaries (and a Few Particulars)
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 