AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since I'm working with the Waite-Smith deck and not my preferred Thoth in these "numerological counterpart" exercises, I'm treating Strength as the eighth trump and pairing it with the Star (17=1+7=8) because I've already written about Justice as "11" (or 1+1=2) and equated it with the High Priestess. My customary approach is to … Continue reading Strength and The Star: A Case of “Brute Finesse?”
Esoteric Tarot
“Pictures, Words and Numbers, Cardman”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is an old movie from the early '90s titled Eddie and the Cruisers that portrays Michal Paré as Eddie Wilson, the leader of a 1960s-era rock band, sagely advising Tom Beringer (as Frank "Wordman" Ridgeway, the group's lyricist) on the nature of the business: "It's about words and music, Wordman, words and … Continue reading “Pictures, Words and Numbers, Cardman”
The Lovers and The Devil: “I Double-Dare Ya!”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the third in my series of essays examining the trump cards of the tarot as "numerological counterparts" that present "alike but different" versions of a common theme. This time I'm looking at two cards that express the number "6," those "strange bedfellows" the Lovers (VI) and the Devil (15=1+5=6). Esoterically, Six … Continue reading The Lovers and The Devil: “I Double-Dare Ya!”
“This Changes Everything”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I sometimes think that history could not have played a more malicious prank on the earnest 21st-Century diviner than the Death card. Cherry Gilchrist is undoubtedly correct in asserting that many of the trump-card images as we know them originated as "triumphs" ("parade floats") in the processional queue of a Medieval pageant, and … Continue reading “This Changes Everything”
“Midpoint Numerology” – A New Name for an Old Idea*
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As an astrologer I spent a lot of time in my early years exploring the importance of the "midpoint" between two planetary positions as another sensitive degree in the horoscope that can`become a "trigger" for predictive transits or directions. For the last decade I've been applying the same theory to tarot cards by … Continue reading “Midpoint Numerology” – A New Name for an Old Idea*
The Chariot and The Tower: “Risky Business”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the second essay in what may become a series where I take a structured look at "numerological counterparts" among the trump cards as "alike but different" expressions of a common theme. Here I'm tackling The Chariot (7) and its counterpart, The Tower (16=1+6=7). In approaching this subject, I recognized that both … Continue reading The Chariot and The Tower: “Risky Business”
“Crisis at the Crossroads” – A Problem-Solving Spread
This spread uses elemental affinity and reversal to arrive at one of three possible outcomes for problem resolution: "Accept and Support;" "Try Everything" or "Do Nothing." In each case it creates a five-card reading with the "Crossroads" card as the "turning point" in the matter. Shuffle the deck to allow for reversals.
High Priestess and Justice: The Quest for Perfection
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During my studies I often come across the opinion that the High Priestess and Justice display two faces of perfection, one natural and the other imposed. Although I'm mainly a Thoth and Tarot de Marseille guy, here I'm using the numerological structure of the Waite-Smith Major Arcana, which places Justice in the eleventh … Continue reading High Priestess and Justice: The Quest for Perfection
Deconstructing the Quintessence Calculation
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I have always preferred to perform the "quintessence" calculation in a way that rolls up the numerical values of all the cards on the table (including the court cards) to generate a single trump card as a condensed overview of the situation and the outcome, I have in the past "parceled out" … Continue reading Deconstructing the Quintessence Calculation
Why Healing?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, while reading the tarot literature I've encountered the opinion that the Temperance card relates to "healing." I've unloaded on this notion in the past, but I've had a few more insights since then. The premise that there must be a "healing" card among the tarot trumps presumes that the other cards … Continue reading Why Healing?
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 