AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is an approach to personality profiling that uses a "prepared" deck split into trump, court and pip card sub-packs. The design employs three layers of significance: the outer rectangle of four "pip" cards displays a tableau of daily experience in four elemental attitudes or postures; the middle diamond of four court cards … Continue reading “Who Am I Right Now?” – A Three-Part Personality Profile
Courts
The Thoth Court Cards: Old and Trusted Friends
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the second post in my three-part initiative to explore the Thoth tarot at a profound level that goes deeper than the card-by-card analysis I've already presented elsewhere in this blog. Here I'm tackling the court cards, for which I've always considered Crowley's compact explanations to be "some of the best out … Continue reading The Thoth Court Cards: Old and Trusted Friends
“Putting A Face To It” – Physical Profiling with the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Most of us have felt the quandary expressed in the trope "I know the name but I can't put a face to it." I'm often asked whether the court cards of the tarot can be used to reliably describe the physical characteristics of someone involved in the querent's life. Here is my answer … Continue reading “Putting A Face To It” – Physical Profiling with the Tarot
The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of weeks ago I posted an essay in which I took issue with the Golden Dawn's arrangement of the Kings, Queens and Knights on the Chaldean wheel of the zodiac. Rather than the Queens being Cardinal (a dynamic and enterprising mode), I've always felt that they should be Fixed due to … Continue reading The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
Schrodinger and the “Fabric of Reality”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't touched on this subject recently, but my involvement in the Reddit sub r/seculartarot brought it back around. I once described divination in fanciful terms as "running my mental fingers through the warp-and-woof of the fabric of reality, trying to tease out threads of truth." More recently I encountered the ideas of … Continue reading Schrodinger and the “Fabric of Reality”
Rethinking the Chaldean Court
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During a recent online conversation, a question was raised about the reasons for the Golden Dawn's arrangement of the court cards on the Chaldean zodiac. I had a plausible answer for the Princesses: basically there was no place else to put them in the grand scheme, so the GD came up with a … Continue reading Rethinking the Chaldean Court
The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been contemplating the notion that any single, vertical sword shown in a tarot card can act as a "lightning rod" that conducts focused inspiration directly into the subject of a reading. I'm indebted to Sallie Nichols for bringing this to my attention as it relates to the raised sword of Justice that … Continue reading The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always felt that the purpose of working with the tarot on a regular basis is to acquire wisdom and thus to become more savvy day-by-day. Our daily experiences are often a product of our mental state, except to the extent that we're in thrall to the agenda of someone else, either individually … Continue reading The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot
Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two separate insights regarding the Lenormand playing-card insets have been gnawing at me lately. (Three if I count whether or not to even bother with them.) As a result of my cursory study of traditional cartomancy, I discovered that the divinatory meanings for the playing cards don't align all that well with those … Continue reading Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
“Patience Is A Virtue:” A Tarot Perspective
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It goes without saying that most of the cards of the tarot imply some kind of "movement," if only because nearly every reading is about personal growth or situational development. But there are a number of cards that embrace the idea of "patience" in the form of refraining from immediate action, or that … Continue reading “Patience Is A Virtue:” A Tarot Perspective
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 