AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I pursue my study of the I Ching, I'm encountering numerous new ideas that demand scholarly attention while also creating a wealth of intriguing notions that I intend to fold into my ongoing exploration of the syncretism between the tarot and the Book of Changes. Here is the latest example. In general, … Continue reading Ascending and Descending Energies as Ruling and Yielding Principles in the Tarot
Experimental Methods
Planetary Energies and the Tarot: Seven Daily Meditations
AUTHORS NOTE: The seven days of the week all have a planet associated with them, and there are seven "planetary" trump cards in the tarot. Both the planetary energy-of-the-day and the related trump card create an environmental theme or situational backdrop against which the events of the 24-hour period play out. Thirty-six of the Minor … Continue reading Planetary Energies and the Tarot: Seven Daily Meditations
Full-Immersion Tarot Reading: Engaging the Five Senses
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently encountered the idea that, when we set out to do a tarot reading, we should crank up our creative imagination by holding in our mind's eye and contemplating the notion that we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell the object of our divination. (You'll notice that the "sixth sense" of … Continue reading Full-Immersion Tarot Reading: Engaging the Five Senses
Aspiring to Perfection: Mining a Metaphor
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As part of my exploration of esoteric syncretism, here I'm paraphrasing a quote from Benebell Wen's I Ching, The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes to make it more relevant to tarot reading. The quote relates to invoking the "Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens" as a metaphor to aid … Continue reading Aspiring to Perfection: Mining a Metaphor
Trumps and Trigrams: A Syncretic Exercise
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my recent essay (linked below) on syncretism between Western astrology and the I Ching, I correlated the twelve Ptolemaic signs of the zodiac with the eight I Ching trigrams and, via synthesis between consecutive signs, with twelve of the 64 hexagrams. In doing so I resorted to a good deal of inspiration, … Continue reading Trumps and Trigrams: A Syncretic Exercise
“The Fix is In!” – Invoking Tarot Energy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This tarot-based technique for magically imposing one's personal Will on circumstances is based on the concept of intention. If we "intend" something strongly enough we will ideally achieve its realization without "getting our hands dirty." As long as it isn't harmful to others (and if it is, the Wiccan "Three-fold Law" might kick … Continue reading “The Fix is In!” – Invoking Tarot Energy
The “Reset Arc” – Daily Draw x 7
". . . every day resets itself, from sunrise to sunset to sunrise again."Benebell Wen, I Ching, the Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes AUTHOR'S NOTE: The above quote should be the guiding principle behind every daily draw in tarot reading. But too many readers trust the one-card pull to satisfy this … Continue reading The “Reset Arc” – Daily Draw x 7
Trump Cards and Isomorphs
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I avoided discussing this technique in my previous post on reconstituting the trump cards, but I've been mulling over ways to make it work. Once again, I will use the Tower as my main example and also provide a couple of others. (If you're unfamiliar with isomorphs, I linked my "primer" on the … Continue reading Trump Cards and Isomorphs
The “Moving Card” Idea-Development Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just come up with a notion that intrigues me quite a bit, and I credit metaphysical author and blogger Benebell Wen for taking me there via the discussion of "moving lines" in her book, I Ching, The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes. Its ideal application may be in … Continue reading The “Moving Card” Idea-Development Spread
Two Approaches to Tarot Triangulation: The Quintessence and the Midpoint
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a technique used in navigation and surveying called "triangulation," the technical definition for which, in its simplest form, is "the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points." While navigation encompasses distance as well as direction and position and surveying only defines … Continue reading Two Approaches to Tarot Triangulation: The Quintessence and the Midpoint
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 