AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been involved in another online discussion about the use of reversed (upside-down) cards in tarot reading. The comment I offered was my standard response reflecting over fifty years of working with reversals, but the dialogue provided some fresh insights that I will explore here. I've been reading reversals since I started practicing … Continue reading Going Off-Script: Reversed Cards as “Gradients”
General Tarot
The Virtue of Numbers: Contrast vs Polarity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Esoteric number theory is an important part of divination with the tarot cards. Aleister Crowley wrote in the Book of Thoth: "Ultimate reality is best described by numbers and their interplay." Since revealing objective truth through subjective engagement with the cards is one of the main goals of serious prognostication, number associations will … Continue reading The Virtue of Numbers: Contrast vs Polarity
No Flatfooting Allowed: Transcending Inertia and Leveraging Imbalance
"The fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent."- Aleister Crowley in The Book of Thoth AUTHOR'S NOTE: The inspiration for this essay comes from an observation in Ethan Indigo Smith's book The Tao of Thoth about the martial-arts aspect of Taoist philosophy and the risk of standing flatfooted in the middle of the ring like … Continue reading No Flatfooting Allowed: Transcending Inertia and Leveraging Imbalance
The Ruination of Tarot?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yesterday I responded to a post in the r/tarot sub-reddit that deplored the exhausting challenge of having to deal endlessly with clients' inane questions about socially-charged matters of little real import, primarily superficial affection ("Will he text me?"), animosity ("Why did she block me?") and aloofness ("Why are they ignoring me?"). It's all … Continue reading The Ruination of Tarot?
The Purposeful Diviner
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I briefly covered some of these talking points in the "statement of intent" linked at the bottom, but I thought it worthwhile to put a more personal slant on them. As a diviner I consider myself a purveyor of serious content. It would be tempting to tell my clients "Sure, I'll take your … Continue reading The Purposeful Diviner
Now Is Not The Time: Demonstrating “Care in the Right Moment”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my never-ending quest to simplify and clarify my understanding of reversed cards* in a tarot reading, I'm always seeking fresh insights even when it has the unnerving side-effect of creating yet another iteration in my expanding repertoire. At the moment I'm re-reading The Tao of Thoth by Ethan Indigo Smith, and I've … Continue reading Now Is Not The Time: Demonstrating “Care in the Right Moment”
“In Angles They Will Pursue Thee” – Angles Speak Louder Than Curves
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the following quote (attributed to The Emerald Tablets of Thoth by Taoist author Ethan Indigo Smith) that brought me back to the subject of predictive vs psychological (or humanistic) astrology. "Know ye, the hounds of the Barrier move only through angles and never through curves of space. Only by … Continue reading “In Angles They Will Pursue Thee” – Angles Speak Louder Than Curves
The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Suppose that every card in a horizontal three-card line isn't an isolated instance but rather the randomly-drawn locus of another perpendicular three-card set based on its "natural" position in the 78-card run. We would then have a nine-card tableau with "mini-storyboards" that can be read vertically and diagonally as well as in the … Continue reading The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A large percentage of everything that goes on in our environment is cyclical rather than linear in nature (although some cycles like the 25,800 year "wobble" of the Earth's axis are so long that it's difficult to observe their periodicity). The alternation of day and night and the turning of the seasons are … Continue reading Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
Subconscious Induction: Bridging the Gap
"I have only come here seeking knowledge/Things they would not teach me of in college" - from Wrapped Around Your Finger by the Police AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a diviner who prefers face-to-face reading but no longer has a steady clientele (the COVID pandemic and my cross-State relocation saw to that), I now pursue my esoteric … Continue reading Subconscious Induction: Bridging the Gap
