AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are several ways to split the 22 Major Arcana into rows; one of the most popular is the 7x3 layout of 21 cards with the Fool standing apart, an array I first encountered in Rachel Pollock's 78 Degrees of Wisdom (although it is much older). Here I'm organizing the rows into "duets" … Continue reading Inspirational and Cautionary “Catch-Phrases” for the Major Arcana
Esoteric Tarot
Mistaking Etteilla: An Insult to Hairdressers
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It seems I was justified in my belief that I would find fresh insight regarding the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Alliette (known to cartomancers as "Etteilla") in the closing chapters of Ronald Decker's esoteric tarot history book, The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah. As an admittedly biased admirer … Continue reading Mistaking Etteilla: An Insult to Hairdressers
Tarot and the “Virtues”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reading Ronald Decker's occult tarot history book, The Esoteric Tarot . . . etc, has put me into "intellectual overdrive." Here I'm reflecting on his discussion of the "Virtues" - both the four Platonic originals and the three "theological" additions of Christianity - in which he explores their relationship to the Major Arcana … Continue reading Tarot and the “Virtues”
“Highest in Red, Lowest in Black” (or Not)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Occasionally, playing cards and tarot cards converge in unlikely ways, as they do here. When my brother and I were kids learning to play "trick-taking" cards games from our grandmother (who was an old-school cartomancer, although she would never read for us or even talk about it), her oft-repeated mantra was "Highest in … Continue reading “Highest in Red, Lowest in Black” (or Not)
The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his occult tarot history, The Esoteric Tarot . . . etc. (I get tired of typing the whole title), Ronald Decker theorizes that when the primordial tarot-as-we-know-it was developing in Renaissance Italy, there were only 14 numbered trump cards ending with Temperance (the unnumbered Fool was a thing apart) and they were … Continue reading The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
“Optical Naturalism” and Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a fairly complex topic that will take some doing to sort out (not to mention a couple of very long sentences). In The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah), tarot historian Ronald Decker mentions that Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci often applied the principles of optical naturalism … Continue reading “Optical Naturalism” and Tarot Reading
The Page, The Ace and the Fool: Three of a Kind
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've long believed that there is a conceptual link between the Fool, the Aces and the Pages of the tarot as the inspiration but not necessarily the "prime mover" for a departure from the status quo. They might put the idea in our head but, if anything useful is to be made of … Continue reading The Page, The Ace and the Fool: Three of a Kind
Dice, Cards and the Quintessence Calculation: A Three-Phase Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dice and cards (particularly the numbered "pip" cards of a standard poker deck) share a long history as gaming devices. Their joint role in divination is less storied (except perhaps in the fortune-telling manual, Triompho di Fortuna, published in 1526 by Sigismondo Fanti of Venice), but I have been using them together for … Continue reading Dice, Cards and the Quintessence Calculation: A Three-Phase Tarot Spread
Abundance or Absence by Card Type: Feast or Famine in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Judging from the amount of dialogue about it on the internet tarot sites, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the consequences of receiving multiple cards of the same type (number, suit, rank, etc) in a spread. Many of the key historical figures in the tarot world (Waite, Crowley, Mathers and others) … Continue reading Abundance or Absence by Card Type: Feast or Famine in Tarot Reading
The Fives and the Inverted Pentagram: The Abrogation of Spirit
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another of my random, intermittent forays into the Minor Arcana of the Thoth deck, which has been my steadfast companion in the study and practice of tarot for over five decades. (See my Tarot 101 series of posts for a more systematic overview.) Think what you will of Crowley, his deck … Continue reading The Fives and the Inverted Pentagram: The Abrogation of Spirit
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 