I once had a 95-pound German Shepard who fully understood the authoritarian zeal of the Emperor. He was big and strong enough to have ripped my throat out, so every informal training session included a demonstration of my "alpha male" superiority. He loved to mock-fight, so I used to don a pair of heavy work … Continue reading “Who’s the Boss?”
Courts
“Hard” and “Soft” Suits
One concept from the Tarot de Marseille "school" of interpretation - which has a meager divinatory legacy unless one can read French - that is worth carrying forward into general use is that of "hard" and "soft" suits. The former are comprised of the Wands and Swords cards, while the latter encompass the Cups and … Continue reading “Hard” and “Soft” Suits
Coming or Going?
In the Golden Dawn tarot papers, MacGregor Mathers made an observation regarding the facing or directionality of the Kings and Pages when placed in a spread: "The Kings, if looking against the direction of the reading, or if meeting it, represent the coming of a person or event, or phase of an event, but if … Continue reading Coming or Going?
Court Cards as Scapegoats
It can probably be said with some confidence that a good many people, when finding themselves in difficulty, first cast about for some other person on whom to fix the blame. Human nature seems to crave a salve for the troubled conscience, and woe to anyone who is careless enough to look even marginally culpable. … Continue reading Court Cards as Scapegoats
The Golden Dawn Factor
The contribution of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to our modern understanding and use of the tarot cannot be overestimated. Here is a link to a brief article on Biddy Tarot by Richard L. Palmer that lays out the fundamentals. https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-astrology-golden-dawn/ The esoteric concepts and structures devised by the Golden Dawn and its … Continue reading The Golden Dawn Factor
Simple Keyword Lists
Somewhere along the way I gathered these useful lists of basic keywords for the Major and Minor Arcana of the Thoth deck. I may have condensed them myself into this particular form, but more likely they came from the Aeclectic Tarot forum or an on-line blog. If I could recall from whom, I would credit … Continue reading Simple Keyword Lists
Court and Minor Cards as Allies to the Major Arcana
The appeal of systematically aligning the cards of the Minor Arcana with the Major Arcana has engaged many thinkers on the tarot, and a number of schemes have been proposed, most with a numerical or hierarchical root. Attempts along these lines have been made by James Wanless (Voyager Tarot) and Elizabeth Hazel (The Tarot Decoded). … Continue reading Court and Minor Cards as Allies to the Major Arcana
Astro-Tarot Decanate Tableau and Spread
It's probably obvious that I'm a tireless tinkerer. In the present case, I took the round zodiacal presentation of the Chaldean decans aligned with the cards of the tarot and turned it into a tabular structure. This arranges all of the decan cards, the court cards and the Major Arcana in an easy-to-read format that … Continue reading Astro-Tarot Decanate Tableau and Spread
Yes, No and Maybe Cards
A widely-held conviction among modern tarot readers is that there are no categorically "good" or "bad" cards in the deck, therefore no single card can give a "yes" or "no" answer via a one-card pull. I often quote James Wanless, who said "There are no negative cards, only opportunities." As a working hypothesis, this seems … Continue reading Yes, No and Maybe Cards
Thoth Court Cards “By the Book”
A while back, as a service to the on-line Thoth community, I went through every paragraph of the Court Card section of the Book of Thoth, trawling Crowley's "moral characteristics" for words and phrases that could be compiled into a robust keyword list derived from his own words. After tabulating that, I created a second, … Continue reading Thoth Court Cards “By the Book”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 