AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent post I mentioned that the Hierophant, due to his conventional and conservative appointment, can be viewed as an example of "maintaining the status quo." (I've also called it the "don't-rock-the-boat" card.) There are a number of other cards that convey a similar sentiment. Because the Major Arcana represent an archetypal … Continue reading Status-Quo Cards (as in “Maintaining the . . . “)
Courts
A Reversed-Card Digest: King of Cups, 6 of Cups and 8 of Wands
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is no connection between these cards other than the fact of reversal. They weren't part of an involved study, just the subject of three different pending essays that I compiled to clear out my backlog of unpublished posts. These vignettes are prime examples of my present approach to reversals; they were inspired … Continue reading A Reversed-Card Digest: King of Cups, 6 of Cups and 8 of Wands
The Emperor’s Deputies: Kings as “14” and “4”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As promised, here is the second iteration of the court cards as numerological counterparts to the trump cards according to "transcendence" of the second digit in their numeration, this time covering the Kings (Thoth Knights). "Transcendence" is Jame's Ricklef's word for Alejandro Jodorowsky's "decimal equivalency" that is also used by James Wanless in … Continue reading The Emperor’s Deputies: Kings as “14” and “4”
Two Sides of the Tarot Queens: “13” and “3”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My recent post on the numerical "transcendence" of the second number in the two-digit trump and court cards inspired a few thoughts on the nature of the tarot Queens (with the rest of the court cards to follow). This essay and those in progress build on the observations of a previous post that … Continue reading Two Sides of the Tarot Queens: “13” and “3”
Transcendence in Two-Digit Tarot Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few years ago while reading the companion book for the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless, I encountered the concept of the second number in a two-digit tarot trump creating a kind of "numerological counterpart" between that card and the single-digit trump of the same number (for example, the Hanged Man as 12 … Continue reading Transcendence in Two-Digit Tarot Cards
A “Royal Disconnect”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Any historian who writes about the development of cartomancy in the West will eventually have to deal with the fact that there are three "royal" or face cards - King, Queen and Jack - in a standard playing-card deck and four "court" cards - King, Queen, Knight and Valet or Knave - in … Continue reading A “Royal Disconnect”
Somebody Wants Something: The Single-Minded Focus of the Court or “Face” Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just set aside the two uninspiring tarot books I've been reading and went looking for a volume on playing-card divination. A member of the online cartomancy community recommended Roger Horne's Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft, and I was able to buy it on Kindle for a small sum. His writing style is a … Continue reading Somebody Wants Something: The Single-Minded Focus of the Court or “Face” Cards
An “Italian Romany Spin-Off” Playing-Card Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a playing-card reading using a truncated version of a fifteen-card Italian Romany design I encountered several years ago. I created the spread (linked below) for use with the Tarot de Marseille but it should be equally effective for playing-card divination. It can be read in two ways: 1) as rows that … Continue reading An “Italian Romany Spin-Off” Playing-Card Reading
“Counting Round” in Playing-Card Reading: An Experiment
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I've been "counting round" in Lenormand reading for years, I recently came across the idea of using a comparable technique with playing cards. The Lenormand concept is to lay out a Grand Tableau of 36 cards, then start at the identified Significator card and - treating the Significator as "1" - count … Continue reading “Counting Round” in Playing-Card Reading: An Experiment
The Maverick Cartomant, Part 2: Tarot de Marseille (TdM)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realize that it's moot to identify as an iconoclast when dealing with a system of divination that - as I was told when I first took up the TdM - has no established or documented tradition of interpretation going back to the era of its origin. (After all, it was primarily a … Continue reading The Maverick Cartomant, Part 2: Tarot de Marseille (TdM)
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 