AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here is a reading based on the “Tarot Magic” spread I just created using introductory comments in Donald Tyson’s book Tarot Magic (formerly titled Portable Magic) and Pat Zalewski’s The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn. (Since I’m sharing this post on a Thoth page, I decided to use the Thoth deck for the test reading.) The template is shown below and the essay with the spread guidance is linked at the bottom. I consider this a more open-ended and esoterically-defensible form of creative visualization than that proposed by the “Law of Attraction” and its antecedents going back to Franz Mesmer.

I approached this exercise in the role of a hypothetical querent who has no specific idea what he’s after and wants the tarot to advise him. The nominal question was “What is my heart’s desire and how can I obtain it?” I pulled the “Querent Card” randomly, and with the “Object Card” I applied the premise “I don’t know what it looks like but I’ll know it when I see it,” so I also pulled that randomly.

Right off the top, it’s notable that there are no truly pessimistic cards in this layout. About as bad as it gets is the 10 of Wands (Oppression) and that is relegated to a “warding” role, which reminds me of an epidermal “counter-irritant” like the medicinal unguent Ben-Gay; the surface burn masks any and all more-profound symptoms of discomfort but it only goes “skin-deep.”

The Querent Card (2 of Disks; Change) suggests that I (as “Mr. Querent”) am at a turning-point in life and feel that my circumstances are ripe for a make-over. This Earth card is buttressed by two higher-ranking cards of the same element (the Prince of Disks and the Hermit, which strike me as “self-made-man” cards), but the three Air cards (the Lovers, Adjustment and the Knight of Swords are elementally unsympathetic. Still, the Knight leaping vigorously off the top suggests not being intimidated by this fact, while The Lovers at the bottom is driving an important decision and Adjustment and Art are making headway in clearing a path for it.

The cards of the “Warding Axis” I think of as “psychic safeguards” that go beyond the defenses provided by the protective circle and the restraining triangle (assuming that the Object Card is aggressively antagonistic, which is not the case here). In this spread they form an uneasy triumvirate: the Princess of Cups as “Gatekeeper” advises caution while Lust wants none of that and the 10 of Wands is irritated by the mere suggestion. This standoff may not halt progress but it could slow it down. (In retrospect, it may be instructive to consider the Princess of Cups as the stand-in or surrogate for the lunar High Priestess in the present reading since in Medieval cosmology the Moon was the “Gatekeeper of the Heavens” that separated the sublunary (below the Moon) region from the translunary (above the Moon) zone, in which case the Wardens would represent the Pillars of the Sanctuary. Extending that thought further, perhaps the High Priestess should be routinely placed in the “Gatekeeper” position with the Wardens being pulled randomly to indicate how much help she can expect in her protective duties.)

The 4 of Cups (Luxury) as the Object Card is understandably pleasant to contemplate, but it may be overreaching (even though it gets an encouraging nod from the Gatekeeper). As an aside, if I were to summon an elemental spirit to aid in pursuing this objective, it would be an undine as long as I could overlook a certain “clamminess” (sweaty palms?)

The accompanying Air cards serve to rein this in with their logical perspective, while as a Fire trump the Aeon is not interested in hauling emotional baggage of the “wish-fulfillment” kind. As the pinnacle of the triangle, the Ace of Swords acts as an inspiration for the Knight of Swords by presenting it with a high ideal to shoot for; I see this pairing as an auspicious omen.

Overall, nine of the 14 cards are either Air or Fire, implying that ambition is “running hot” for “Mr. Querent,” and I don’t see much to prevent him from steering positive “Change” into the lap of “Luxury.” However, the cloistered position of the 4 of Cups echoes the title of the Rolling Stones song “Emotional Rescue,” although it’s unclear whether he would be the rescuer or the rescuee (on reflection, it’s tempting to think of the Knight of Swords as a “knight in shining armor”).

Portable Magic by Another Name