With this spread I believe I've found a satisfactory alternative to my long-standing use of the venerable and reliable Celtic Cross. I want to acknowledge that this isn't entirely original work; I found a suggested interpretive model on Wikipedia that was presented as one possibility among many. I tweaked most of the position descriptions to … Continue reading The “Tetractys” Decision-Making Spread
Experimental Methods
Counterparts and the Tarot de Marseille
This tableau presents the Tarot de Marseille in a matched arrangement of numerological and archetypal counterparts that provides a condensed "snapshot" of the model I've been exploring in detail with the Waite-Smith deck. This layout shows the pre-eminence of the first nine numbered trump cards (the Fool as zero is a non-participant in this model), … Continue reading Counterparts and the Tarot de Marseille
Recombinant Trumps: Chariot and Devil
The fourth array of trump-card counterparts involves the Chariot and the Devil on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Seven, Fifteen and Six; there are no court-card counterparts for these trumps. Once again, I have inserted the Fool into this tableau without an obvious numerological derivation because the … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Chariot and Devil
Recombinant Trumps: Strength and Temperance
The third array of trump-card counterparts involves Strength and Temperance on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Eight, Fourteen and Five. I decided to insert the Fool in all of these tableaux, even without an obvious numerological derivation. because the Fool represents the "jumping-off place" for all of … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Strength and Temperance
Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
The second array of trump-card counterparts involves the Hermit and Death on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Nine and Four. The interplay of numbers across this one is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if it repeats with the remaining eight tableaux. The Hermit, numbered … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
This post brings together a few ideas I've floated in past essays: "playing both ends against the middle" when approaching the trump-card sequence; the concept of "numerological counterparts" among the trumps; the trumps as "archetypal expressions" of the "pip" cards; and the linking of certain trumps through means other than immediate proximity. I've recently been … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
It took a while, but I finally got the game-board spinner necessary to try out this unusual spread. https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/the-round-it-goes-decision-making-spread/ I found it useful to select a deck that matched the height of the spinner pad fairly closely so I could lay out the cards in a uniform way that eliminated the possibility of "pointer overlap" … Continue reading A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
This layout is a spin-off from my "Rogue's Gallery" unsolved homicide spread, in which I'm using the Tower as the central "focus" card to signify a traumatic accident rather than Death, which symbolized a homicide in the original spread. I'm also using the 10 of Swords as the pointer or "finger" card because in many … Continue reading Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme
I've found over many years of working with them that single-card daily draws are more useful for showing the background "tone" of the upcoming day than for trying to pinpoint specific activities or events. They are too limited in scope to effectively convey all of the ramifying "overtones" that can accompany the main theme, which … Continue reading Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme
Health & Happiness: A Knee-Injury Reading
For the last six weeks I've been suffering from a moderately debilitating knee injury. As near as I can tell from my research, it seems to be patellar tendonitis, perhaps bordering on tendonopathy. I've struggled with it from time to time while skiing and jogging over the last fifteen years, occasionally experiencing sharp pain right … Continue reading Health & Happiness: A Knee-Injury Reading
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 