Being an "action-and-event-oriented" tarot reader reminds me of the "Fair Witnesses" in Robert Heinlein's novel, Stranger in a Strange Land: they were absolutely incorruptible observers who could be called on to help assess the truth or falsehood of any situation. If you pointed to a white house and asked "What color is that house?" they … Continue reading “White On This Side”
General Tarot
Suit Dynamics: Rising and Falling Energies
Apart from the symbolic orientation typically used in tarot reading (left refers to "the past," right shows "the future," up reveals matters and down conceals them), there are directional suit dynamics to consider. When you think of it in those terms, the assignment of the function of Spirit alternately to the tarot suits of Fire … Continue reading Suit Dynamics: Rising and Falling Energies
What’s Up Next?
Having spent countless hours formatting my five e-books for publication. I'm at a loss where to take my daily posts next. Over the last five years I've said everything I want to say about the tarot (sometimes more than once, as I found out when compiling my essays). I'm thinking I will get back into … Continue reading What’s Up Next?
My Tarot Trajectory: Wondering, Wandering, Writing, Reading
Lately I've been examining my current relationship with the tarot as a subject of serious study and practice. During the nearly four decades that I lived in the woods of New Hampshire, I did a lot of thinking about the Thoth deck and working with Crowley's premises in a theoretical way (wondering about and wandering … Continue reading My Tarot Trajectory: Wondering, Wandering, Writing, Reading
Tarot Principles & Practices: A Deep Dive into the Tarot Reader’s Art
This is the final book in my series of blog compilations (at least until I write some more stuff). It's a book of divination principles and practices (including basic and advanced techniques, tactics, strategies and resources) for the tarot reader who intends to work publicly with the Waite-Smith deck or one of its numerous “clones.” … Continue reading Tarot Principles & Practices: A Deep Dive into the Tarot Reader’s Art
“My Publications” Listing
I just added a new page to the sidebar on my home page showing the tarot e-books I've published on the Lulu self-publishing platform, along with links to the Lulu Bookstore if you're interested in purchasing any of them. They include a Tarot de Marseille book; a large book of full-color spreads and guidance for … Continue reading “My Publications” Listing
Tarot Hermetica – Basics and Beyond
I finally completed compiling all of my blog posts on the subject of divination with the esoteric tarot. It's 265 pages, published as an e-book in PDF format, and available on the Lulu bookstore.
Tarot and the Nature of Desire
The tarot reader is often tasked with divining "what someone wants" in a situation. In natal astrology the answer is much simpler: Venus and Mars rule the realm of basic human appetites and their interaction goes to the heart of the matter. Boston astrologer Isabel Hickey once said "Mars goes out and gets what Venus … Continue reading Tarot and the Nature of Desire
Cups and Pentacles: Even More Subtle Distinctions
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Completist that I am, I figured I had better finish my thoughts on the nuances of interpretation that separate the elementally "friendly" minor suits of the tarot. The suits of Cups and Pentacles (or, in different systems, Coins or Disks) are entirely sympathetic to one another; one represents the element of Water and … Continue reading Cups and Pentacles: Even More Subtle Distinctions
Wands and Swords: Subtle Distinctions
In my recent thinking about the minor-card suits of the tarot, I recognized that there is some functional convergence (if not quite overlap) between the characteristic energies of the Wands and the Swords: as Fire and Air, both are elementally masculine, active and positive, and both strive for self-expression in a direct and unsentimental way. … Continue reading Wands and Swords: Subtle Distinctions
