AUTHOR'S NOTE: I liken tarot reading to "peeling an onion " because what we see in the cards at a surface level isn't always what is going on in the hidden depths of the situation, and we must "drill down" to find the reality. Here I'm turning that concept inside-out by proposing that the truth … Continue reading The “Qabalistic Onion” Situational-Awareness Spread*
Historical Tarot
“Downsizing” the Major Arcana in Mundane Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: All too often, the random appearance of a trump card in a tarot reading about a commonplace subject feels like a giant rock has been tossed into the middle of a placid pond when a drop of rain or two would have been sufficient to stir the water to a depth that churns … Continue reading “Downsizing” the Major Arcana in Mundane Tarot Reading
“Shaken or Stirred” – Synthesis vs. Precision in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sure it's abundantly clear from my written work that I value the precise use of language. (Chalk it it up to being a former technical and legal writer in business.) This quest for accuracy spills over into the way I read the tarot cards, although I have to be vigilant in not … Continue reading “Shaken or Stirred” – Synthesis vs. Precision in Tarot Reading
Interrupting the Continuum: An Alternate Approach to Pulling Tarot Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The shuffle-and-cut sequence is a time-honored preliminary to pulling tarot cards for a reading, but there is another technique used by some practitioners that draws the required number of cards from a full-deck "fan" spread out in front of the querent. Here I'm pushing that idea to its logical conclusion. When a new … Continue reading Interrupting the Continuum: An Alternate Approach to Pulling Tarot Cards
A Mini-Lesson in Card Counting-and-Pairing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I first encountered the concepts of "counting round" and "mirroring" in the Lenormand Grand Tableau, I noticed a strong similarity between those 18th-Century cartomantic practices and the "counting-and-pairing" steps of the "Opening of the Key" (OotK) method for working with the tarot that was developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden … Continue reading A Mini-Lesson in Card Counting-and-Pairing
“Present” Focus in Tarot Reading: Leveraging the Moment
"I woke up in betweenA memory and a dream"- from You Don't Know How It Feels by Tom Petty When it comes to temporal bias in a tarot reading (i.e. the traditional "Past/Present/Future" sequence), it could be said that there is nothing more useless to the timing of events than a memory and nothing more … Continue reading “Present” Focus in Tarot Reading: Leveraging the Moment
“Waitin’ on Judgement Day” – Thoughts on Legacy
"It's just ol' Luke, and Luke's waitin' on the Judgement Day"- from The Weight by The Band For my 400th consecutive daily post and 2,407th entry in the last eight years, I decided to briefly ponder the subject of "legacy." I realize that in this era of "New Tarot" revisionism such considerations are felt to … Continue reading “Waitin’ on Judgement Day” – Thoughts on Legacy
A Bridge to Somewhere
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The title of this essay alludes to an episode from one of the Presidential terms of Bill Clinton during which he proposed building a bridge spanning the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Conservative critics at the time immediately panned the idea as a costly boondoggle, a "bridge to nowhere" (which would almost certainly have … Continue reading A Bridge to Somewhere
Leveraging the French Cross: An Alternative to Yes-or-No Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Conventional wisdom is that tarot is ineffective for addressing simple "yes-or-no" questions because it is more suitable for telling stories. I've always taken issue with this opinion, believing that the cards will provide an answer for any inquiry that is phrased properly. So rather than wanting to know "Will I or won't I … Continue reading Leveraging the French Cross: An Alternative to Yes-or-No Reading
Major Arcana As “Step-Change”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In manufacturing jargon, effective process control begins with the engineering of a work-station performance envelope that ensures steady-state functionality by permitting only minor, easily-adjusted shifts in operating parameters for the duration of the activity. (As a former quality-control technician, later an engineer and ultimately a manager, I know a little about the subject.) … Continue reading Major Arcana As “Step-Change”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 