AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just begun reading Dean Radin's Real Magic, and I can already see that it aligns with my own view of rational metaphysics that has evolved over the last fifty years of study and practice, both anecdotally in the public arena and experimentally in private. As I’ve often said, I’m inclined to believe … Continue reading Real Tarot (Not Just “Coping”)
General Divination
Tactfulness: The Professional Diviner’s Best Friend
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A recurring topic of discussion in the online tarot community is whether a public reader who is confronted with a highly negative prediction should just dump it on the seeker with no attempt at moderating the presentation. There are some who would rather walk away in these situations than sugarcoat their statements or … Continue reading Tactfulness: The Professional Diviner’s Best Friend
The Tarot Reader and the “Sword of Truth” – The Perilous Pursuit of Speculative Divination
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”- Attributed to Mark Twain (with thanks to Dean Radin for the tip) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those tarot readers who champion freestyle improvisation and dismiss matter-of-fact appraisal of the cards have an implacable "sword of truth" … Continue reading The Tarot Reader and the “Sword of Truth” – The Perilous Pursuit of Speculative Divination
The Monkey Mind and the Meat Brain: Putting the Brakes on Mystical Excess in Divination
"I'm a monkey, m-m-monkeyI'm a monkey, m-m-monkeyI'm a monkey, m-m-monkeyMonkey, monkey man"- from Monkey Man by the Rolling Stones AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm indebted to James Ricklef and Lon Milo DuQuette, in Tarot Reading Explained and Tarot Architect respectively, for bringing these concepts to my attention. (Oh, and to Mick Jagger for obvious reasons.) By way … Continue reading The Monkey Mind and the Meat Brain: Putting the Brakes on Mystical Excess in Divination
Metaphysical Entropy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During a recent conversation in the online tarot community, the questionable accuracy of long-range forecasts came up for discussion. The idea of intervening variables was mentioned, those unexpected changes in circumstances that can render a prediction invalid before it fully matures. I made the following observations (slightly edited for this essay): The main … Continue reading Metaphysical Entropy
The “Thematic Threads” of the Major Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTE: More insights from Tarot Reading Explained by James Ricklef. This essay is a rehash of several previous posts on the subject, but I think the common tendency of tarot readers to exaggerate the impact of trump cards in a reading bears further scrutiny, and I received reinforcement for this assumption from my re-reading … Continue reading The “Thematic Threads” of the Major Arcana
An “AI Reckoning”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In online discussion groups I frequently encounter ill-tempered sniping over whether specific written content is an original creation or whether it was assembled via internet "scraping" by generative AI. Because of my admittedly literate writing style, I've been waiting for the day when I'm accused of such derivative chicanery. To see where I … Continue reading An “AI Reckoning”
An Inevitable Transition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I started this blog in the summer of 2017, I made it abundantly clear that I would be writing primarily for myself, not the public, and I would not monetize it, instead paying for the privilege of saying whatever I want to say on the subject of divination, which I - as … Continue reading An Inevitable Transition
Anecdotal vs. Empirical: The Rational Diviner’s Dilemma
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was recently engaged in an online conversation with an avowed skeptic who wants to delve into the occult but can't overcome the perception that there is no objective evidence of its legitimacy, while also acknowledging that he hasn't actually made an attempt to prove otherwise to his own satisfaction. This was my … Continue reading Anecdotal vs. Empirical: The Rational Diviner’s Dilemma
Divination: A Step Away from Ceremonial Magic
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a longtime student and practitioner of the esoteric arts, I progressed through several years of close contact with ceremonial magic back in the 1980s. This was a natural outgrowth of my investigation of the Hermetic Qabalah and the literature of its chief proponents that began in 1971, particularly addressing the contributions of … Continue reading Divination: A Step Away from Ceremonial Magic
