AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whenever I see a post that purports to fact-check some controversial occurrence, I immediately become suspicious that the supposedly impartial investigator has a private agenda that is being served by facts specifically "groomed" to support the objective, a hunch that is usually borne out by the demonstrated bias of the platform on which … Continue reading Fact-Checking Fables: Truth, Fiction or “Spin” – An Exploratory Spread
Experimental Methods
Death of a Dream: the Seven through Ten of Swords as a “Downward Spiral”
"I woke up this morningAnd I got myself a beer.The future's uncertainAnd the end is always near."- from Roadhouse Blues by The Doors AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my recent essay on the Minor Arcana of the suit of Swords, I mentioned that the 9 and 10 of Swords taken together could be construed as meaning the … Continue reading Death of a Dream: the Seven through Ten of Swords as a “Downward Spiral”
“Present” Focus in Tarot Reading: Leveraging the Moment
"I woke up in betweenA memory and a dream"- from You Don't Know How It Feels by Tom Petty When it comes to temporal bias in a tarot reading (i.e. the traditional "Past/Present/Future" sequence), it could be said that there is nothing more useless to the timing of events than a memory and nothing more … Continue reading “Present” Focus in Tarot Reading: Leveraging the Moment
Cut to Fit: Existential Advice in Four Elemental “Flavors”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One problem with tarot spreads based on the four classical elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth is that there is often a significant qualitative mismatch between the elemental position meanings and the nature of the cards that land in those positions, requiring vigorous mental gymnastics on the part of the reader to … Continue reading Cut to Fit: Existential Advice in Four Elemental “Flavors”
“Waiting for Godot” – Court Cards in Long-Range Forecasts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of my sly assumptions when court cards appear in a tarot reading is that, rather than defaulting to psychological, ethical or spiritual conventions, they will quite often signify the direct involvement of another human being who has a stake in the querent's future "for good or ill." I say this mainly because … Continue reading “Waiting for Godot” – Court Cards in Long-Range Forecasts
A “Body/Mind/Soul” Positional-Bias Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a compact tableau that proposes to identify the ideal positional alignment the seeker should maintain going into a looming "showdown with circumstances." It uses a pre-established set of "situational bias" cards that facilitates adopting a "forward," "reverse" or "neutral" posture toward one's approach to a potential conflict scenario or uncertain evolution. … Continue reading A “Body/Mind/Soul” Positional-Bias Matrix
Leveraging the French Cross: An Alternative to Yes-or-No Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Conventional wisdom is that tarot is ineffective for addressing simple "yes-or-no" questions because it is more suitable for telling stories. I've always taken issue with this opinion, believing that the cards will provide an answer for any inquiry that is phrased properly. So rather than wanting to know "Will I or won't I … Continue reading Leveraging the French Cross: An Alternative to Yes-or-No Reading
The Message for the Querent: A “Quick-Read” Technique
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been re-reading 54 Devils by Cory Hutcheson, which is a brief treatise on playing-card cartomancy. (The standard deck of playing cards has 52 pip and court cards and two "jokers" for a total of 54). In it he describes a "quick-read" method by which the querent cuts the shuffled deck from right-to-left … Continue reading The Message for the Querent: A “Quick-Read” Technique
Missing in Plain Sight? – A Local-Area “Search Envelope”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: What's to be done when one wakes up at 2:00 AM and can't get back to sleep? I don't know about you, but I think about tarot. Here's my latest insomnia-fueled spread. I normally use horary astrology when I'm helping someone look for a lost item, or when I'm examining a missing-person case, … Continue reading Missing in Plain Sight? – A Local-Area “Search Envelope”
Kicked Upstairs: A Numerical Displacement Method and Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The assumption behind this spread is that the top tier of cards is more likely to be "fast-tracked" to closure, the middle tier will play out more gradually and the bottom tier will be substantially delayed. The table at the end of the essay offers a tool to determine which tier a card … Continue reading Kicked Upstairs: A Numerical Displacement Method and Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 