AUTHOR'S NOTE: Jungian tarot author Sallie Nichols made a strong case for why it isn't helpful to ask "Why?" of the tarot cards. I gave her a fair hearing but came away unconvinced. In her lengthy chapter on the Wheel of Fortune in Tarot and the Archetypal Journey (which I've been wading through in half-hour … Continue reading Why Ask “Why?”
General Tarot
Detachment, the Master Key to Objectivity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've yet to meet a tarot beginner who hasn't agonized over whether an emotionally unsteady state of mind will improperly bias the outcome when reading for themselves.* This can certainly happen (for example, in stressful romantic situations), but it doesn't have to. For the record, divination with the cards is an emotive storytelling … Continue reading Detachment, the Master Key to Objectivity
“The Kid-Glove Treatment:” A Soft Approach to Reversals
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This meditation on reversed cards joins more than a dozen other unconventional approaches I've already examined in past essays, while revisiting some of my earlier observations. (See my two "compendiums" [compendia?] of earlier posts on the subject elsewhere in this blog.) "Kid gloves" were made from the exceptionally supple hides of baby goats … Continue reading “The Kid-Glove Treatment:” A Soft Approach to Reversals
Jupiter’s Child: A “Tarotscape”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While writing my recent essay about the Lover and the Chariot I had occasion to look up the words to Steppenwolf's 1969 rock song Jupiter's Child, and confirmed my recollection that its mythic tone is perfect for my approach to linking tarot cards with song lyrics. I decided to use the Anna K … Continue reading Jupiter’s Child: A “Tarotscape”
Temporal Landmarks: The Problem of Timing
"Temporal Landmarks are significant points in time that promote a break from the past and a sense of renewal moving forward. As a result, they encourage a ‘fresh start’ and increased motivation towards aspirational behaviours and goals." (quoted by Michal Shum at modelthinkers.com) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Accurate "tarot timing" consists of precisely forecasting the date of occurrence … Continue reading Temporal Landmarks: The Problem of Timing
“Impaled on Words”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading Tarot and the Archetypal Journey, Sallie Nichol's remarkable Jungian treatise on the tarot, I came across the vivid phrase "impaled on words" to denote the inability of prose to capture the elusive nature of the Fool, a failing that might be ascribed less urgently to the rest of the allegorical images. … Continue reading “Impaled on Words”
“. . . By Any Other Name . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Current divination culture shuns as unethical any attempt to forecast the death of an individual, even when it is clearly imminent due to a terminal illness. (After all, it doesn't make sense for amateurs to overstep the legal and professional bounds of a medical diagnosis.) The final "moment of truth" is usually the … Continue reading “. . . By Any Other Name . . .”
“Name Your Poison”
(For lovers of useless minutiae, June 8 is "Name Your Poison Day.") AUTHOR'S NOTE: Among modern tarot enthusiasts there exists a fundamental dispute regarding proper use of the cards that has been smoldering since the Jung-besotted 1970s. It typically surfaces in the divide between those who believe that a tarot deck should be employed solely … Continue reading “Name Your Poison”
The Symbols Behind the Curtain
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Question of the Day - What do you feed a starving archetype? I pulled another quote from Sallie Nichol's Tarot and the Archetypal Journey that inspired this essay. In discussing the Empress and the Emperor, she observes that we can become like "puppets in an archetypal drama, manipulated by giant figures operating above … Continue reading The Symbols Behind the Curtain
Narrative or Descriptive Reading: A Cartomantic Divide
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During my studies I occasionally see a distinction being made between a narrative "storytelling" approach to explaining the cards in a reading, in which a series of scenes is presented much like the panels of a comic strip, and a less-anecdotal descriptive style that defines the broader relationship among the cards, often in … Continue reading Narrative or Descriptive Reading: A Cartomantic Divide
