AUTHOR'S NOTE: I like working with "prepared" decks that let me create discrete layers of significance in a single reading. This typically involves splitting the deck into trump, court and minor-card sub-packs and dealing them separately. I'm also not a fan of the vague, single-card daily draw: "Today it's going to be wall-to-wall 10 of … Continue reading Waking Hours: A Daily Draw in Three Acts
Life-reading Spreads
Full-Moon Finale: The “Cold” Moon
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I prefer to do a New Moon reading each month, the Full Moon on December 15th of this year is special. Not only is it the last Full Moon of the year, it is reaching its northernmost declination (distance from the equator), achieving a "major lunar standstill" in the sky after which … Continue reading Full-Moon Finale: The “Cold” Moon
A Seven-Day Mixed Media Card Selection Method
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a card-selection technique that uses a large, randomly-pulled template from which to select seven cards for a weekly reading by throwing a single "token" or "pointer" seven times (I used alphabet beads as described below). My "casting surface" was a repurposed pizza box, but any rectangular container with sides will suffice. … Continue reading A Seven-Day Mixed Media Card Selection Method
The “Power Grab” Spread: A Personal Power Profile
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As inquisitive beings we are always looking for insights that will aid us in understanding our inherent strengths and weaknesses. Although I don't use the "Tree of Life" spread often, here is a version that employs tarot cards to create a "power profile" showing the relative potency of eleven different aspects of our … Continue reading The “Power Grab” Spread: A Personal Power Profile
A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not the first writer to use the term "tarotscope;" I've encountered it in various posts over the years. But here I'm applying it to a merger of horary astrology and tarot to come up with a monthly forecast that may well be unique. (I don't believe the hyphenated term in my title … Continue reading A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
The Awakening: A Spiritual Transformation Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a tarot spread that uses the concepts of entrenched inertia (pip cards), personal make-over (court cards) and mystical transformation in the form of both transcendent opportunities and spiritual pitfalls (trump cards). It is one of my "mixed-media" spreads that employs both tarot cards and dice in its execution. Begin by separating … Continue reading The Awakening: A Spiritual Transformation Spread
Thoughts, Feelings and Desires as Inputs to a Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been grappling with the subject of "confirmation bias" in divination ever since I encountered the term a couple of years ago. As I understand it, the cynical assumption is that seekers invest (some might say "infect") the reading with their subjective hopes and fears, then don "rose-colored glasses" and see in the … Continue reading Thoughts, Feelings and Desires as Inputs to a Tarot Reading
“Pulling the Trigger” – An Allocated-Action Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the First Operation of the Golden Dawn's "Opening of the Key" method there is a step by which the diviner attempts to "intuit" (aka "guess") the reasons behind the querent's request for a reading based on which of four elemental sub-packs the Significator card appears in after the shuffle and cut. The … Continue reading “Pulling the Trigger” – An Allocated-Action Spread
An Emotional “Hopes and Fears” Spread: Rising and Falling Trends
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In almost any single-chain tarot reading there will be a mix of nominally fortunate and unfortunate cards; the reader's task is to sort them out and come up with as constructive an interpretation as possible while giving each its due. The reading frequently involves confronting the "good card/bad position" conundrum and its opposite. … Continue reading An Emotional “Hopes and Fears” Spread: Rising and Falling Trends
Sharpening the Focus: A Three-Card Daily Profile Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a simple spread that captures my personal view of the "daily draw." As my regular readers know, I don't have much use for the single-card daily draw because it is entirely too static. Even a three-card pull can be overly generic due to being scattered across a full deck of 78 … Continue reading Sharpening the Focus: A Three-Card Daily Profile Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 