AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay is not about a Betty Crocker bake-off; it discusses certain event-timing techniques used in divination. But I couldn't resist the analogy! Modern bakers who use "fail-safe" pre-mixed aggregates (you know the hype: "just add water") won't have a clue what my subtitle is about and will only shoot me a blank … Continue reading A Recipe for Timing (or “Why Did My Cake Fall?”)
General Tarot
Don’t Accept “Maybe . . .”
. . . when "Yes" or "No" will do. AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a strong bias in the cartomantic community against putting simple "yes-or-no" questions to the cards. Such efforts are seen as no better than a coin-flip, an odd-or-even roll of the dice or any other 50/50 divination method, and when they do invoke … Continue reading Don’t Accept “Maybe . . .”
“Exclamation-Point” Cards (!)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the notion that some cards in a reading can add an exclamation point or "Aha!" emphasis to whatever message the rest of the cards are trying to convey, in effect imparting some certainty to the forecast. (Thank you Lisa Young-Sutton for the inspiration!) In Lenormand readings this honor falls … Continue reading “Exclamation-Point” Cards (!)
The Nature of Truth (As We Know It)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "What is the truth?" (at least in the matter at hand) is one of the "big questions" along with "What is the meaning of life?" (usually "my life" when asked by a querent) that are often put to the tarot and other modes of divination. (Of course, both questions are aimed at discovering … Continue reading The Nature of Truth (As We Know It)
Filling the Cup
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First a disclaimer. Although I'm unmoved by most pop-culture forms of psychological navel-gazing masquerading as spiritual enlightenment, I firmly believe that all legitimate attempts at fortune-telling embody an element of psychic sensitivity based on my own assumptions about "how divination works" (discussed ad nauseum in other posts). So I'm not an arch-enemy of … Continue reading Filling the Cup
“Answer Me This If You Can . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a persistent myth among diviners who haven't carefully thought it through that tarot can't be used to answer "yes-or-no" questions with any degree of accuracy, and that such use is a miscarriage of its narrative prowess. To which I reply "Nonsense!" Like any form of inquiry, binary or otherwise, tarot can … Continue reading “Answer Me This If You Can . . .”
“It Just Happened . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Cynics and nihilists are fond of saying (with studied indifference) "Shit happens." Here I'm going to take a hard look at that assumption. In a rational Universe, it can be argued that things don't "just happen;" even if we unwittingly place ourselves in the path of a developing train-wreck (the "wrong place, wrong … Continue reading “It Just Happened . . .”
“Beer & Pretzels” Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of the reading venues that professional readers often mention is parties. While I haven't done one since the early days of my practice almost 50 years ago, I honed my chops on 15-minute reading sessions during more recent psychic fairs, so I know the bare-bones drill. The kind of parties I usually … Continue reading “Beer & Pretzels” Tarot
A “90/10” Proposition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always maintained that my tarot reading style is roughly 60% analytical and 40% - or at least 30% - intuitive. But I just came across the opinion that effective divination is 90% common sense (which I personally arrive at by using deductive reasoning from a "gestalt" view of the whole spread), and … Continue reading A “90/10” Proposition
Mindset and the Quest for Control
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Aleister Crowley once wrote in his commentary on the Wheel of Fortune (which at one time meant "a turn of one's luck for the better" but now seems to promise only "change, good or bad"): "(It) generally means good fortune because the fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent." (In more colloquial terms, … Continue reading Mindset and the Quest for Control
