The question sometimes comes up regarding whether a diviner has a professional duty to be brutally honest in making predictions for paying clients, or whether a little leeway should be allowed in the interest of human kindness. I believe there are a couple of different scenarios where this consideration arises. Obviously, in cases involving sensitive … Continue reading A Duty of Honesty
General Divination
Hobbled and Hamstrung: The Scientific Fallacy
It has struck me that all past efforts to legitimize psychic phenomena have attempted to play by the rules of conventional logic in trying to apply established quantitative benchmarks to unknown phenomena. Making the observation fit the intellectual hypothesis is a time-honored practice by which theoretical discoveries are brought under the umbrella of academic acceptance. … Continue reading Hobbled and Hamstrung: The Scientific Fallacy
“Psychism with Props?”
While rereading Robert Wang's The Qabalistic Tarot, I came across the following statement that got me thinking about my own assumptions regarding the proper use of tarot for divination: "The Tarot is best used for divination about mundane matters. It is not particularly well-suited for furnishing answers of an important spiritual nature because it is … Continue reading “Psychism with Props?”
The “Big Three”
As I frequent the more popular Facebook tarot pages, I notice a number of patterns beginning to emerge in posts by those new to divination. Almost every day, someone (or several "someones") asks one of the following questions, even though it may have been posed just the day (or the hour) before. There doesn't seem … Continue reading The “Big Three”
The “Hedge Mystic”
In a recent post I characterized myself as a "garden-variety mystic" in that I don't identify as a "psychic" (much less an all-seeing one) or a "sensitive" in my professional pursuits (nor as an "empath" either, but that's a subject for a different post), I just "read the cards." Today I hit upon the even … Continue reading The “Hedge Mystic”
Time Bites: The Value of a Minute
Upon entering the ranks of the professional diviner, we inevitably encounter the question "How much is enough?" Time, that is, or effort expended for value received.I was once advised that, in rural New England where I lived at the time, the going rate for a face-to-face tarot reading was a dollar a minute. This was … Continue reading Time Bites: The Value of a Minute
Bridging the Gap Between Magic and Meaning
You will often hear me say that, at least in my own work, divination is a subliminal process rooted in the unconscious (or, if you like, "Higher Self") that relies heavily on imagination, inspiration and ingenuity to tease practical messages from evocative symbolism that is typically shrouded in rather obscure "magical" imagery. In the best … Continue reading Bridging the Gap Between Magic and Meaning
“Mixed-Media” Reading
"Mixed-media" technique is a concept usually limited to the visual arts; a good example would be combining paste-up photo-collage and manual deposition of some kind (brush, pen, pencil, crayon, stick, etc.) to create an integrated and aesthetically pleasing image. (Before anyone asks, presentation technology often relies on "multi-media" delivery, a different animal.) I'll get to … Continue reading “Mixed-Media” Reading
Enlightened Folly?
More musings on "how tarot works," with a new twist or two (but I will spare you a few of my overused personal aphorisms and axiomatic bromides). I've long believed that the Age of Enlightenment (aka the Age of Reason) that arose out of Renaissance "humanism" between the 17th and early 19th Centuries did more … Continue reading Enlightened Folly?
Taking the Pulse
As an online essayist, I try to stay abreast of which blog posts attract the most attention so I can continue to pursue similar topics in my work. WordPress archival statistics don't seem to be flexible enough for a real-time, on-demand roll up and ranking of the individual posts or categories that have drawn the … Continue reading Taking the Pulse
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 