AUTHOR'S NOTE: At its finest, reading the tarot cards is a subtle art full of nuance and inflection that can't be shoehorned into a formula (or a TikTok algorithm). Ostensibly, I'm going to talk about the nominal influence of the cards in a spread, both individually and in combination, but I will also get into … Continue reading Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Card Meaning in Tarot Spreads
Esoteric Tarot
Elements and Modes in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: If there are any astrologers among my readers who were active during the era of New-Age metaphysical expansion, feel free to fact-check my historical observations. Having been there myself, this is how I remember it. Astrology uses a modal form of analysis: there are three quadriplicities (also known as modalities) - Cardinal, Fixed … Continue reading Elements and Modes in Tarot Reading
The Roads Not Taken (There Can Be Only One)
AUTHORS NOTE: In his famous poem, Robert Frost had two roads to choose from. Here I'm proposing four and using reversals to decide which ones should not be taken in favor of a more promising upright signpost pointing the way. Select a deck that has non-reversible card backs so you can discern orientation without turning … Continue reading The Roads Not Taken (There Can Be Only One)
Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm aware that some diviners read the tarot as partaking of five elements: the four of Empedocles (and Zoroaster before him, apparently, although I haven't researched it) - Fire, Water, Air and Earth - with the Major Arcana as the fifth element of Spirit. As an astrologer for a couple of years before … Continue reading Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
Reading the Signs: An Astro-Tarot Topical Forecasting Method
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This technique requires a natal horoscope for the querent; an astrological ephemeris for the year in question; and the Golden Dawn's Chaldean wheel of tarot-card correspondences. (See the graphic below). Due to the necessary preparation, it will not be suitable for most walk-in clients. More than one deck will be needed for this … Continue reading Reading the Signs: An Astro-Tarot Topical Forecasting Method
Full Moon Reading, February 12, 2025
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I normally do New Moon readings, for which I lay out the eight phases of the upcoming Lunation Cycle with tarot cards. But last night, after seeing the gorgeous moon-rise over the Atlantic Ocean in Daytona Beach, FL (photo inset), I decided to throw together a quick four-card Full Moon spread for the … Continue reading Full Moon Reading, February 12, 2025
Dexter and Sinister: The Straight and Crooked Paths
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In classical astrology, planetary motion was tracked in two directions: dexter (toward the right or counterclockwise through the signs) and sinister (toward the left or clockwise through the houses). On a monthly, annual or multi-year basis depending on their orbital speed, the planets traverse the signs in sequential order from Aries at the … Continue reading Dexter and Sinister: The Straight and Crooked Paths
The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After reading further into Donald Tyson's Tarot Magic, I decided to add a couple of new features to this spread. Tyson mentions that in traditional evocation, the Triangle of Art is drawn with its apex pointing away from the Circle of Summoning. The idea is that when the aspiration identified as the focus … Continue reading The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
The “Purge of Mars” – A Banishing Sigil
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The premise behind this exercise is that the querent has something he or she would like to eliminate from present and future circumstances - it might be a difficult person or an unpleasant condition. This conjuration applies the cleansing agent of Mars as embodied in the Tower and the four most relevant "Mars" … Continue reading The “Purge of Mars” – A Banishing Sigil
Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Tarot Magic, Donald Tyson described a hierarchy of tarot trumps based on a Kabbalistic cosmology that places the Earth at the bottom as fixed and unmoving; the three "Primal Elements" (Water, Air and Fire in ascending order) as the first three increasingly-subtle "spheres" one encounters when rising from the Earth's surface; the … Continue reading Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 