AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I delve into more complex subjects, my backlog of minor posts awaiting publication has become ten-deep. I decided to clear out the cache by presenting these three recent experimental spreads in one post. Tarot Holdem: A Self-Made Destiny Spread AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread that will put your intuition to the … Continue reading Three New Spreads: Catching Up on the Queue
Experimental Methods
A “Lenormand Grab-Bag” 26-Card Example Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here I've taken the explanatory pull from my previous post about this spread and spun it out into a narrative around an imaginary querent (Lady) and the central focus cards (as well as exploring the "second-line" story suggested by the ten extra cards). I'm only going to examine a few key points in … Continue reading A “Lenormand Grab-Bag” 26-Card Example Reading
The “Lenormand Grab-Bag” – A 26-Card, 5×5+1 Tableau
AUTHOR'S NOTE: To my knowledge, between the 9-card, 3x3 "box" and the 36-card Grand Tableau there is only one non-linear layout, the 15-card, 5x3 mini-tableau (although the 21-card, 7x3 Gypsy spread might qualify). Here is an unconventional attempt to fill that void using the 36-card deck and a single six-sided die as a pointer. It … Continue reading The “Lenormand Grab-Bag” – A 26-Card, 5×5+1 Tableau
The Tarot Reading As “Mind-Map”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been juggling so many interesting essay topics lately that I had to look at the planets transiting my natal horoscope to see what's going on. As I might have guessed, it turns out that just as the Sun makes its ingress into dramatic Leo, transiting Mercury is also in Leo in the … Continue reading The Tarot Reading As “Mind-Map”
Gap Analysis: The Three-Card Reading and the Hidden Agenda
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not much of a fan of the three-card tarot reading because, as I've mentioned before, it leaves too much up to subjective guesswork in bridging the narrative gap between cards that may have nothing even remotely in common. In the three-card pull, utterly antagonistic cards are the intuitive reader's worst nightmare since … Continue reading Gap Analysis: The Three-Card Reading and the Hidden Agenda
Pythagorean Number Theory and Lenormand
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I'm normally a literalist in my reading of the Lenormand cards, this is the sort of thing that excites my imagination. Here I'm playing around with Pythagorean number theory as it might be applied to Lenormand. They are both traditional systems of thought that seem to be entirely compatible. The single-digit 1-to-9 … Continue reading Pythagorean Number Theory and Lenormand
A “Method to the Madness” Multiple-Midpoint Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a natal astrologer I've always been fascinated by the mathematical midpoints between factors (typically the planets and angles of the horoscope) that represent sensitive locations in a birth chart that will eventually be "triggered" by predictive transits and progressions. The concept (which implies "hidden symmetry" in an apparently irrational Universe) can just … Continue reading A “Method to the Madness” Multiple-Midpoint Spread
The “Tarot of Place” Situational Outlook Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread that takes its design from the directional model of horary astrology while also offering an opportunity to bring the pendulum into play. In horary astrology, the geographic location of the astrologer and not that of the querent or the "quesited" (that which is being asked about) is a key … Continue reading The “Tarot of Place” Situational Outlook Spread
“Turning the Page”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's a rare diviner who doesn't occasionally encounter an almost entirely neutral tarot reading, one that is about as exciting as dishwater, and who doesn't have a good feel for how to shine a constructive light on the forecast. A common practice is to simply keep pulling cards until something more inspiring or … Continue reading “Turning the Page”
Sublimation as a Reading Strategy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I'm using it here, to "sublimate" something means to "elevate it to a higher order of excellence." I'm focusing this principle on the problem of how to deal in a constructive way with particularly discouraging cards in a tarot reading that stubbornly resist interpretive mitigation. We may not be rewarded with a … Continue reading Sublimation as a Reading Strategy
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 