AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a non-tarot-related Medium post I came across the word "interstitial" (a term that describes the transitional space connecting two related objects or ideas, much like a short hallway linking adjacent rooms). It brought to mind my previous comments about having to rely too heavily on intuitive guesswork in order to bridge the … Continue reading Interstitial Tarot Reading: “Piercing the Veil”
Numerology
The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his occult tarot history, The Esoteric Tarot . . . etc. (I get tired of typing the whole title), Ronald Decker theorizes that when the primordial tarot-as-we-know-it was developing in Renaissance Italy, there were only 14 numbered trump cards ending with Temperance (the unnumbered Fool was a thing apart) and they were … Continue reading The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
The “Glorified Pip Cards” of the Thoth Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Today I'm embarking on my promised "deep dive" into the Thoth tarot, beginning with the Minor Arcana. Note, however, that I'm not going to present an exhaustive card-by-card analysis of divinatory content; I've already done that in my posted "Tarot 101" course material, which is primarily Thoth-based, and in a more general way … Continue reading The “Glorified Pip Cards” of the Thoth Tarot
The Third Principle
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In The Tarot of the Bohemians, Papus covered a minor point that I've explored in much greater detail in my own work over the last few years, although at the time I had no idea I was echoing a nearly 150-year-old numerological concept. He proposed treating the second of two cards in a non-adjacent … Continue reading The Third Principle
Creative Potential and “Two-ness”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The current social antipathy toward "binary thinking" is a puzzler for the life-long student of occult number theory. Just because some college professor or Hollywood influencer decided that "binary is bad" in terms of self-identity doesn't make it a functionally sound or rational premise. We might have asked the last scion of the … Continue reading Creative Potential and “Two-ness”
Further Thoughts on the “Trump-Card Diamond”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Following up on my previous comments about inscribing an equilateral diamond (essentially a "tipped square") within the circumference of a circle, I decided to do just that with the double-triangle arrangement of trump cards from my earlier essay. Refer to the photograph below. (I did something similar with the pip and court cards … Continue reading Further Thoughts on the “Trump-Card Diamond”
Numerological Oddities
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently encountered a mathematical term that is new to me (not something that happens every day), although the concept isn't: that of numerical aliquots, as in "the sum of the aliquot parts of an integer." I came across this in a discussion of the number Six as being an "aliquot sum" in … Continue reading Numerological Oddities
“The Lover’s Escape” – Thoughts on the Chariot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading an interesting observation that the Chariot symbolizes the "escape" of the bemused Lover from the moral dilemma confronting him in the sixth arcanum. He was standing at a crossroads between two women who sought his favor, hemmed in on both sides (with Eros hovering above) and needing to find … Continue reading “The Lover’s Escape” – Thoughts on the Chariot
The “Crucible of Becoming” Self-Mastery Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: . . . and now back to our regular programming! As I learned them in the early 1970s, the Cardinal signs in natal astrology are considered to be "action-oriented," the Fixed signs are "security-oriented" and the Mutable signs are "people-oriented." When developing their set of astrological correspondences for the tarot, the Hermetic Order … Continue reading The “Crucible of Becoming” Self-Mastery Spread
The “Triangle of Intention” Self-Realization Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the statement that Pythagoras considered Three to be the first "true" number because it creates the triangle, which is the initial geometric shape and first planar figure that is comprehensible to human intelligence (the philosophical derivation of the Circle seems more mystical than mathematical, or maybe an accidental product … Continue reading The “Triangle of Intention” Self-Realization Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 