AUTHOR'S NOTE: The idea of "dogmatic entropy" as I recently encountered it proposes that entrenched attitudes and beliefs (dogma) can put a metaphorical "Denver boot" (immobilizing entropy) on the imagination and hobble creative thinking. Progress grinds to a halt as we grapple with these irrational limitations and often succumb to them. Perhaps the most egregious … Continue reading Dogmatic Entropy in Tarot
Esoteric Tarot
Qabalah, Cabala, Wherefore the Kabbalah?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Western occultists of the late 20th Century (or at least those with no prior background in Jewish mysticism) who spent time with the Hermetic Qabalah invariably encountered its progenitor, the Hebraic Kabbalah. This typically occurred (and probably still does) through exposure to the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) and the numerology of Gematria, … Continue reading Qabalah, Cabala, Wherefore the Kabbalah?
The “Power Grab” Spread: A Personal Power Profile
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As inquisitive beings we are always looking for insights that will aid us in understanding our inherent strengths and weaknesses. Although I don't use the "Tree of Life" spread often, here is a version that employs tarot cards to create a "power profile" showing the relative potency of eleven different aspects of our … Continue reading The “Power Grab” Spread: A Personal Power Profile
The 3 of Swords as “Patience”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is one I didn't see coming, and I wasn't quite sure where to go with it. But I think I got there in reasonable fashion. I was reading about the Taiji concept of "patience" recently and unearthed an interesting fact: the two pictographs (aka "radicals") that make up the Chinese logogram naixin, … Continue reading The 3 of Swords as “Patience”
“Wishing Won’t Make It So” – The Scholarly vs The Colloquial Tarot
"Your dream. It fadesBut truth. It staysAnd with truth you must live onFrom deep insideYour heart. It criesI wish that dreams lived onBut wishing won't make it soI proved it long ago"- from Wishing Won't Make It So by the Everly Brothers AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a result of my constant study of esoteric topics and … Continue reading “Wishing Won’t Make It So” – The Scholarly vs The Colloquial Tarot
The Eighth Nature: Beyond Patience
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay quickly became dense as I continue to draw inspiration from The Tao of Thoth, but it winds up with an exercise that you may find intriguing. Although there are seven tenets in Hermetic philosophy as presented in The Kybalion, an eighth metaphysical precept has been proposed that unifies them. One school … Continue reading The Eighth Nature: Beyond Patience
Polar Opposites and the Pendulum of Contrasts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: An interesting aspect of esoteric metaphysics is that there are no unconditional "black-and-white" polarities in terms of active/passive, positive/negative or masculine/feminine principles; everything is on a sliding scale and varies in proportion according to the circumstances. The result is a pendulum-swing of contrasting energies, quite often discordant themes that converge momentarily on a … Continue reading Polar Opposites and the Pendulum of Contrasts
Tarot and the “Lust of Result”*
*"For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect." - Aleister Crowley in The Book of the Law AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my study of Taoism I came across two concepts that have a bearing on the ethics of divination: the "conceit of silver" and the "conceit of iron," … Continue reading Tarot and the “Lust of Result”*
Tarot As “Offering Bowl” – A Situational Development Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The practice of Taiji envisions eight "offering bowls" that enclose space and also present the contents of that space to the aspirant. Here I've created an eight-position tarot spread modeled on the taijitu (yin/yang) symbol of the I Ching to show situational progress from constructive input (yin as receptive and cooperative) to productive … Continue reading Tarot As “Offering Bowl” – A Situational Development Spread
Natural Alignment: Separating the Cow from the Hamburger
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My opinion of Ethan Indigo Smith's imagination and sense of humor went up a notch while reading (in The Tao of Thoth) his discussion of the archaic Egyptian word "neter" (meaning vital energy or life-force), which he relates to the equivalent term "chi" in the Tao. He describes this organic animating principle as … Continue reading Natural Alignment: Separating the Cow from the Hamburger
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 