AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the idea that an unpopulated tarot spread (prior to laying the cards) represents an "unseen map of the question" (this coming once again from Vincent Pitisci's Genius of the Tarot, my current "morning-treadmill" read). This squares well with my own premise that the spread positions represent "signposts" or "way-points" … Continue reading The Unseen Map: “Here Be Dragons”
Celtic Cross Spreads
“Turning the Page”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's a rare diviner who doesn't occasionally encounter an almost entirely neutral tarot reading, one that is about as exciting as dishwater, and who doesn't have a good feel for how to shine a constructive light on the forecast. A common practice is to simply keep pulling cards until something more inspiring or … Continue reading “Turning the Page”
Tarot Prediction and the “Eternal Now”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Over the last couple of years I've been toying with the increasingly popular theory that what we are looking at in a tarot prediction is not the foreseeable "Future" but just another face of the "Eternal Now" that has not yet presented itself to the querent's conscious awareness. In other words, every conceivable … Continue reading Tarot Prediction and the “Eternal Now”
“On the Other Hand . . . ” (A Study in Contrasts)
I've been thinking about the presence of interpretive contrasts and contradictions in almost every tarot reading, particularly when using spreads that include a "reactive" position such as the three-card "action/reaction/resolution" layout in which the second card provides an occasion for rebuttal against the original premise. Unless we are indulging in wishful thinking of the "It's … Continue reading “On the Other Hand . . . ” (A Study in Contrasts)
A “Poser” for the Celtic Cross
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The term "poser" has a couple of meanings; it can refer to a question that is exceptionally difficult to answer, or to an individual who is "faking it" in some way. I recently read a fascinating essay in New Yorker magazine about the "imposter phenomenon" (not "syndrome" since, according to its creators, it … Continue reading A “Poser” for the Celtic Cross
“Blocked Energies” in a Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Some mornings I wake up with an idea in my head for a blog post. This was just such a morning. One of the assumptions we often make as tarot readers is that the energy of a reading can be "blocked" in its usual mode of expression. This occurs most commonly as one … Continue reading “Blocked Energies” in a Tarot Reading
The “Future Present” Celtic Cross Reading
I recently did a Celtic Cross reading about potential changes in my experience of an ongoing matter a year or more from now. In doing so, I realized that the normal timeline of the "cross" section didn't make any sense. The top position of the six-card cross in my standard spread design represents the "Present," … Continue reading The “Future Present” Celtic Cross Reading
Waite’s Celtic Cross: A Critical Analysis
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Imagine that you're an experienced diviner at the beginning of the 20th Century when you first encounter Arthur Edward Waite's "Ancient Celtic Method of Divination" in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. What would a critical assessment of its advantages and shortcomings suggest to you? (The obviously hand-drawn image below is from the … Continue reading Waite’s Celtic Cross: A Critical Analysis
The Archetypal Celtic Cross
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The deck in the photograph is the Waite-Smith Centennial Edition in a Tin, which is copyrighted by U.S. Games Systems Inc. of Stamford, CT, used by permission and in accordance with the provisions of Fair Use. In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky characterizes the Magician as dwelling entirely in the present, and … Continue reading The Archetypal Celtic Cross
The “Mandala of the Moment”
In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky envisions arranging all 78 cards of the Tarot de Marseille in a single emblematic pattern, a geometric "mandala" that can be visually absorbed at a glance, instantly embraced by the mind and easily understood in its entirely once the cards' basic meanings have been internalized. While pondering this … Continue reading The “Mandala of the Moment”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 