AUTHOR'S NOTE: After reading further into Donald Tyson's Tarot Magic, I decided to add a couple of new features to this spread. Tyson mentions that in traditional evocation, the Triangle of Art is drawn with its apex pointing away from the Circle of Summoning. The idea is that when the aspiration identified as the focus … Continue reading The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
Experimental Methods
The “Purge of Mars” – A Banishing Sigil
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The premise behind this exercise is that the querent has something he or she would like to eliminate from present and future circumstances - it might be a difficult person or an unpleasant condition. This conjuration applies the cleansing agent of Mars as embodied in the Tower and the four most relevant "Mars" … Continue reading The “Purge of Mars” – A Banishing Sigil
Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Tarot Magic, Donald Tyson described a hierarchy of tarot trumps based on a Kabbalistic cosmology that places the Earth at the bottom as fixed and unmoving; the three "Primal Elements" (Water, Air and Fire in ascending order) as the first three increasingly-subtle "spheres" one encounters when rising from the Earth's surface; the … Continue reading Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
“High Road or Low Road?” – A Crossroads Navigation Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not one to interpret the Lovers as a "soul-mate" or "twin-flame" card because the Hebrew letter associated with it is often translated as "sword," implying an important decision to be made by taking a judicious stab or swipe at it. Here I'm using the Lovers to represent my favorite definition, a "crossroads" … Continue reading “High Road or Low Road?” – A Crossroads Navigation Spread
The “Slice of Life” Structured Pull
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A question frequently posed by beginners to more seasoned tarot readers is "How do you pull the cards for a reading?" It's a legitimate request since the method of delivery determines which cards appear in the spread. I have always followed the advice of Eden Gray in her 1960 book The Tarot Revealed: … Continue reading The “Slice of Life” Structured Pull
The “Star of Hope” Personal Initiative Sigil
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a layout that forms a sigil or "charm" intended to influence another person or situation that the querent wants to bend to his or her will. It uses a "significator" card at the center to represent the objective of the enchantment (for lack of a better word), and the seven classical … Continue reading The “Star of Hope” Personal Initiative Sigil
The “Ace-in-the-Hole” Spread: Just a Little Extra
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Ace in the hole" is a stud poker-players term for a face-down Ace or similar high card that the other players don't know about until it is played for the win. Here is a spread that uses reversals to create a "resource pool" of hidden cards that can be tapped when the predicted … Continue reading The “Ace-in-the-Hole” Spread: Just a Little Extra
The “Zodiacal Strip” Monthly Astro-Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is not nearly as messy as it looks. Those who are familiar with astrology will be able to make good sense of it. Here is a different take on the 12-position astrological spread that I adapted from Donald Tyson's book, Tarot Magic. It uses the twelve zodiacal trump cards and the seven … Continue reading The “Zodiacal Strip” Monthly Astro-Tarot Reading
Leveraging the Hexagram: A Motivational Spread
AUTHOR’S NOTE: For this spread, I’ve lifted the internal hexagram array from my “Tarot Magic” layout to use as a motivational overview covering both mental/spiritual and physical aspirations as well as four types of opportunity: adventurous (i.e. risk-taking) or pragmatic (both aligned with Physical Motivation) and intellectual or emotional (associated with Mental/Spiritual Motivation). Taking a … Continue reading Leveraging the Hexagram: A Motivational Spread
A Tarot Compass and Range-Finder: Locating the Lost
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although horary astrology is much better for it, I sometimes work with tarot as a means of finding lost items or people. I once applied the left-or-right gaze of the human figures on the cards to indicate a past or future bias in a querent's situation. Here I'm bringing it to bear, along … Continue reading A Tarot Compass and Range-Finder: Locating the Lost
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 