AUTHOR'S NOTE: Get Together, the utopian anthem of unconditional love and peace by the Youngbloods, is one of the most hopeful (and, in retrospect, most naive) songs to come out of the "hippie generation" (although I sense a little of the poignant introspection of Kahlil Gibran or Omar Khayyam in it). Here is my interpretation … Continue reading Youngbloods in the Tarotscope
General Tarot
Reading Skills: Black & White or Technicolor?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: These are entirely my own opinions about what it takes to become an effective tarot reader in a face-to-face setting, based on over five decades of practice. (Online reading doesn't count since it is not an interactive art requiring presentation skills; it falls under the "black & white" category of the title.) This … Continue reading Reading Skills: Black & White or Technicolor?
Tarot Worldview: A Matter of Perspective
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Germans have a precise but rather fierce-sounding word for it: weltanschauung. As an esoteric thinker with Germanic roots and a decidedly rational (as well as curmudgeonly) approach to tarot matters, I've always had reservations about the metaphysical worldview that assumes everything in existence is mystically entwined in a matrix of perfect congruence, … Continue reading Tarot Worldview: A Matter of Perspective
“Movement Cards” of the Waite-Smith Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While contemplating the Waite-Smith (aka "RWS") 6 of Swords as a card of transition from one mental state to a more promising one, I decided to identify the other RWS images that signify movement as a consciously-applied force and not merely a consequence or byproduct of other factors. Some of the best examples … Continue reading “Movement Cards” of the Waite-Smith Tarot
“The Boomerang Effect” – Reversal as Denial
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was reading Isabel Kliegman's description of the reversed 9 of Cups as indicating "denial of the need for self-care" (my words paraphrasing hers) in an alcohol-addiction scenario where the client was obviously lying to herself. Smelling another opportunity to enhance my growing appreciation for reversed-card significance, I decided to look through my … Continue reading “The Boomerang Effect” – Reversal as Denial
A Worthy Outlet?
One thing to which any blogger pays at least casual attention is daily site traffic. In my own case I haven't monetized this blog so I'm not hanging on every minuscule fraction of a penny that changes hands over my contribution to the community. But, although I have slightly more than 300 followers now (a … Continue reading A Worthy Outlet?
The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn – A Deck Interview
This is Pat Zalewski's much-anticipated take on the Golden Dawn tarot. Its main selling point is that it is hyped as being faithful to the color scales of the Order, while in a less beguiling sense it looks remarkably like a color-corrected, minor artistic overhaul of the graphics created by Robert Wang in collaboration with … Continue reading The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn – A Deck Interview
Tarot Prediction and the “Eternal Now”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Over the last couple of years I've been toying with the increasingly popular theory that what we are looking at in a tarot prediction is not the foreseeable "Future" but just another face of the "Eternal Now" that has not yet presented itself to the querent's conscious awareness. In other words, every conceivable … Continue reading Tarot Prediction and the “Eternal Now”
The Reconciler
Over the past few weeks I've written at some length about the various ways to read a three-card tarot spread. One idea I didn't spend much time on is the aggregating power of the middle card: rather than merely being a transitional turning-point in the narrative or a "hinge" between the past and the future, … Continue reading The Reconciler
The Fool and The Tower: “Flirtin’ with Disaster”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was listening to Molly Hatchet while on my treadmill this morning and the Fool and the Tower jumped right out of the headphones. Now I know what to think when I see the two close together in a reading: "playing with fire." The rest of the cards pretty much fell into place. … Continue reading The Fool and The Tower: “Flirtin’ with Disaster”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 