AUTHOR'S NOTE: Excuse the minor autobiographical redundancy in this essay; its repetition was essential to my purpose. A few years ago my son asked me how a guy who cuts down trees with a chainsaw can make such "girly" cocktails, an anomaly he found to be out-of-character (not that he doesn't quaff them willingly). Short … Continue reading “One Must Know These Things”
General Tarot
Tarot Personalities, Influencers and Straight-Shooters: Seldom in the Same Skin
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've never aspired to be a tarot "influencer," although I have a modest population of followers and a reasonably robust number of daily views, neither of which runs into the thousands. Considering the narrow demographic I'm courting, I'm content to serve those who stick around. My formative years with divination were built upon … Continue reading Tarot Personalities, Influencers and Straight-Shooters: Seldom in the Same Skin
Consider the Source: Crafting A Personal Tarot Philosophy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Near the beginning of Robert Anton Wilson's book Prometheus Rising there is a drawing that shows a man contemplating a model of his private universe at its narrowest cross-section, completely ignorant of the sweeping, sidelong view that would have given him a much broader perspective on its true size. It's as if he's … Continue reading Consider the Source: Crafting A Personal Tarot Philosophy
The “Seed” Card and Directional “Pointer” – A Multi-Path Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another unique way to use the single "focus" (aka Signficator) card to open a tarot reading. Additional Insights: I'm now home after the trip to Italy described in the example reading below. All of the anxiety I anticipated was reserved for the vehicular mayhem we experienced in Florence (Firenze), the one … Continue reading The “Seed” Card and Directional “Pointer” – A Multi-Path Spread
“Midpoint Mash-up” – The Role of Mediation in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently began reading Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising. I've dipped into his published work sporadically and randomly over the years with no clear chronology in mind, but as the old advertising slogan goes, you "can't eat just one," and in Israel Regardie's introductory comments I encountered the food for thought that inspired … Continue reading “Midpoint Mash-up” – The Role of Mediation in Tarot Reading
Divination as a “Last Resort”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just returned from Italy after a seven-day Mediterranean cruise and a destination wedding outside of Pisa (for the record, I'm convinced that Italy lived through its cultural glory days in the 15th and 16th Centuries and I have no intention of going back even though the Tuscan countryside, the country people and … Continue reading Divination as a “Last Resort”
Insight and/or Instinct: Finding the Middle Way
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those who have been following this blog for the past nine years know that I take a dim view of overly impressionistic tarot reading because it banks on unalloyed intuition and poses the risk of subjective bias that can overshadow more objective interpretation, derailing the literal point-of-view and leaving it without a voice. … Continue reading Insight and/or Instinct: Finding the Middle Way
The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the approximately fifty percent of my followers who read reversed cards, this is for you. The rest can take it however they choose. Over the years I've come up with over 200 discrete interpretations for the phenomenon of tarot-card reversal sorted into 15 broad categories, independent of the nature of the cards … Continue reading The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
Tarot Reading As Ritual (Not Only As Its Focus)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The topic of ritual preparation for a tarot reading comes up frequently in the online community, and there is a wide range of practices from which to choose. It's fair to say that my own opinion diverges substantially from the mystical assumptions of the average diviner. (For the more rational cartomancer, this essay … Continue reading Tarot Reading As Ritual (Not Only As Its Focus)
The Tarot Fives as “Difficult People”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I first want to mention that in some systems of numerological thought Five is the number of humanity (five senses, five extremities, five fingers, five toes, etc). For this reason I'm relating it to "people" for the purpose of this essay. The difficult disposition of the title can appear in these individuals as … Continue reading The Tarot Fives as “Difficult People”
