AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a fairly complex topic that will take some doing to sort out (not to mention a couple of very long sentences). In The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah), tarot historian Ronald Decker mentions that Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci often applied the principles of optical naturalism … Continue reading “Optical Naturalism” and Tarot Reading
General Tarot
Reversal as Imbalance
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are numerous ways to decipher the significance of reversed cards in a tarot reading. Here is one that will perhaps have more universal applicability than some of the others I've explored. Tarot expert Paul Fenton-Smith has a unique take on reversed cards. His premise is that when a card appears upside-down in … Continue reading Reversal as Imbalance
History or Story? – Descriptive or Discursive Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I never know where I'm going to find inspiration for a new essay. Recently I was following a dialogue in the r/scotch sub-reddit that debated which Scottish whisky distillery is best to visit on an informational tour, and one suggestion was to decide what you want from the experience, history or story (one … Continue reading History or Story? – Descriptive or Discursive Tarot Reading
Abundance or Absence by Card Type: Feast or Famine in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Judging from the amount of dialogue about it on the internet tarot sites, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the consequences of receiving multiple cards of the same type (number, suit, rank, etc) in a spread. Many of the key historical figures in the tarot world (Waite, Crowley, Mathers and others) … Continue reading Abundance or Absence by Card Type: Feast or Famine in Tarot Reading
Connecting Sky and Earth
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his book on the history of the occult tarot (The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah), Ronald Decker ventures into astrological symbolism as it may have appeared in some of the early decks. In his discussion of the traditional planetary deities he cites a passage from the magical tome … Continue reading Connecting Sky and Earth
Further Thoughts on Rational Journaling
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Several times over the last five decades, I've started and stopped recording my tarot observations and reading results in a journal because I tend to overthink and consequently overwrite, then I never go back to look at any of it. Here is another way to tackle it. It's one of tarot teaching's accepted … Continue reading Further Thoughts on Rational Journaling
Structured Intuition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Buried in the strident chorus of "Just go with what you feel!" and "You don't have to read books!" emitted in self-righteous certitude by a significant percentage of 21st-Century tarot "influencers," an occasional quiet voice is raised in defense of developing a method of reading the cards that is both rational and instinctual. … Continue reading Structured Intuition
A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading Michael Snuffin's The Thoth Companion, I encountered one of the most lucid explanations of the goals and methods as well as the advantages of performing divination with the tarot cards that I have ever seen in print. I'm summarizing it here since so much of it agrees with my own beliefs. … Continue reading A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading an interview with Robert de Niro in which the actor observed that every dramatic character has a "rhythm" that must be internalized in order to convincingly master the role. It struck me that a competent tarot reading exhibits a similar rhythm that is often a function of the spread … Continue reading The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
Personalizing the Princesses
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my previous essay on assigning tarot court cards to the Sun, Moon and Ascendant degrees of the natal horoscope, I promised to address how the multi-sign Princesses of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley can brought into the same model. Here goes! It is a traditional assumption that each King has mastered … Continue reading Personalizing the Princesses
