*Alternate Titles: "Yet Another Screed on 'How Tarot Works' or 'The Things You Come Up With at 4:00 AM" Taking their cue from advances in astrophysics, science fiction writers at one time loved to talk about the "space-time continuum," mainly as a backdrop for their noodling over ideas like "curved space" and "worm-holes" as a … Continue reading Cosmic “Drop-Outs”*
General Tarot
The “Old Moon” and Divination
In her generally excellent (but now slightly dated) 1984 book The Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History and Symbolism, Barbara Walker describes the colors of the Hindu Gunas as white, red and black, and also relates those colors to the three primary faces of the Moon goddess: waxing New Moon is white; effulgent Full Moon … Continue reading The “Old Moon” and Divination
“Nothing Is Sacred”
There, I said it. I can't think of a single thing when it comes to the tarot that should be considered immutable and inviolable, except maybe its 78-card structure since I don't cotton to extra cards; no "Happy Squirrel" card for me since such "augmented" decks act more as oracle than tarot. The same is … Continue reading “Nothing Is Sacred”
“Thinking Man’s Tarot”
If you listen carefully, you might hear John Wayne saying "Those're fightin' words, pilgrim!" But I'm not attacking anyone here; consider this an op-ed with a curmudgeonly observation or two (or six). Take it as you will. It goes without saying that I'm generally at odds with those who believe tarot reading thrives only on … Continue reading “Thinking Man’s Tarot”
Trimming the Sails
One of the best quotes I've ever seen describing the nature and purpose of tarot reading comes from respected occultist Dion Fortune in her description of the "intuitive compass:" "A divination should be regarded as a weather vane which shows which way the winds of the invisible forces are blowing, but it should always be … Continue reading Trimming the Sails
The Eyes Have It (The Nose Follows)
While reading Jonathan Dee's Fortune Telling Using Playing Cards, I came across a face-to-face reading technique that hadn't occurred to me before. I seldom look closely at my clients before or during a session because I want to avoid the impression that I'm "cold-reading" them to gather clues that I can then pretend I got … Continue reading The Eyes Have It (The Nose Follows)
Weasel This!
There is a reasonable assumption that, due to its layered symbolism, any card in a tarot deck can mean almost anything within its broadly-construed conceptual range when encountered in a reading. This elasticity of context is limited only by the diviner's resourcefulness in "connecting the dots," and it could be argued that, in the interest … Continue reading Weasel This!
No Fortune-Telling Here . . . Well, Not Much
It's fashionable these days for people who write about the tarot to say "The cards don't predict the future." My response to that is "Well, of course they don't, they never did." They are nothing but tools, evocative visual aids that serve as pointers for the diviner in helping the seeker explore the potential consequences … Continue reading No Fortune-Telling Here . . . Well, Not Much
The Arrow and the Song
All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT I haven't done one of these in a while, but recently I was performing a decision-making spread and the 8 of Wands came up as the "resolution" card in one of the decision chains; I judged it as reflecting an open-ended (inconclusive) outcome and was strongly … Continue reading The Arrow and the Song
First Things First: Preliminary Courtesies
"We're all here just to have a little fun Fred'll play the fiddle, now we'll begun" (from "The Corn Won't Grow So Rock-and-Roll" by Goose Creek Symphony) Most face-to-face tarot readers have certain protocols and courtesies they go through between the time a sitter "sits" and the moment the diviner "starts the clock" on the … Continue reading First Things First: Preliminary Courtesies
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 