AUTHOR’S NOTE: While in college I had a philosophy professor who was also an ordained minister with an open mind. He brought “Pascal’s Wager” to our attention: all things considered, it’s less risky to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being when there isn’t one than to disbelieve when there is. In the first case it doesn’t cost us anything, while in the second instance it could cost us everything. Or as God said to Abraham in Bob Dylan’s song Highway 61, “The next time you see me comin’ you better run.”

Not long ago I decided it would be interesting to take out a few of my more esoteric (i.e. Golden-Dawn-based) decks and put some of life’s big questions to them in a “Yes-No-Maybe” format. I chose the Thoth Tarot, the Tarot of Ceremonial Magic, the Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn, the Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus, the Hermetic Tarot and the Rohrig Tarot. I applied that “pecking order” to each question and performed two rolls of a single six-sided die, one to decide which deck would be tapped and the other to reveal which answer it would favor. The location of the single card pulled in the six-card array would provide the verdict while the nature of the card would offer a rationale for the conclusion. This is only a fascinating exercise that I wouldn’t “take to the bank,” so you can draw your own conclusions from the results.

The first imponderable question (and perhaps the root of all the others) is whether there is a Supreme Being who cares about our personal happiness. (Disclaimer: I’m inclined to side with Spinoza and the Deists who proposed that any such entity is impersonal and doesn’t care one way or the other, so – with apologies to Pascal – I don’t really have “a horse in the race” on this one.) I rolled a Six and then a Five with the die, which gave me the Rohrig Tarot and an answer of “Likely.” However, the visage on the King of Coins doesn’t look particularly sympathetic, so maybe we think we’re dealing with the “Big Guy” (that would be the Emperor) when it’s only a lieutenant who is not too happy about being delegated to babysit us. (Can you say “vengeful God” of the pettiest kind?)

The next question is a perennial favorite of religious mystics: Is there life after death? I rolled a Three on the die, tapping the Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn, followed by a Six giving me a “Yes” answer. However, the 8 of Swords is an uncooperative card reminding me of Israel Regardie’s observation that humankind is only potentially undying; we have to earn the right to persist beyond death through spiritual purification in our current incarnation. The 8 of Swords suggests the way of asceticism.

A related question is whether we will reincarnate after death. The first roll was a Six, again calling on the Rohrig Tarot, and the second toss was a One, yielding a refusal to answer on the part of the card pulled, which was a repeat of the King of Coins. I knew there was a reason for that baleful stare, even though the King delivered an encouraging answer in his first appearance. The upshot of the two occurrences is that, while there may indeed be a Supreme Being, there is no guarantee we will be granted a return engagement.

As to whether human beings are immortal, we can hark back to Regardie’s remark that we are only potentially so. I rolled a Three, once again summoning the Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn, and then a Two, invoking the Ace of Disks for an unequivocal “No.” As denizens of the Plane of Earth, we have our feet planted firmly in the mud and we must “earn our wings” each time we aspire to transcend it. A better question would be whether we will evolve spiritually since the answer to the “Is there life-after-death?” query was a qualified “Yes.” Even if we do reincarnate over-and-over, we may wind up on a treadmill and never escape it. Does anyone else remember the old horror film The Hunger with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie? Glamorous vampire Deneuve promised immortality to lover Bowie, but not that he wouldn’t decay over time; when he became decrepit but couldn’t die, she kept him in a coffin in the attic with the rest of her old cast-offs.

I rolled two Fours regarding whether human consciousness is really a product of one seamless, all-embracing “hive-mind” (umm, I mean psychically-connected “happy family!”) The Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus deck answered the call and came up with a resounding “Maybe” in response. The jury is out on whether there is any confluence of subliminal energy that is shared by everyone. The Ace of Swords can be viewed in two ways: one as an expression of “mental unity,” supporting a “Yes-leaning” reply to the question, and the other as original thinking at the individual level, which would shade the outcome toward “No.” As a skeptic of “all things woo,” I can more readily defend the second interpretation.

There may be more “big questions” of a similar kind but these are the candidates that struck me as most prevalent.