AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been using a combination of Pythagorean and Qabalistic number theory with the minor (or "pip") cards over the entire span of my five-decade tarot journey, but more recently I came across a new model (which is not all that different from my old one) in playing-card divination. I thought it would be … Continue reading A Multi-Path Progression: Occult, Cartomantic and Numerological Number Theory
Occult Number Theory
A Drama of Threes
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Recently I was digging through my old posts looking for a specific piece of information and came across this amusing and instructive bit of whimsy that first appeared in a slightly different form. (I've linked the original post below, but be aware that it gets deep!) The essay involved numerological correspondences between pairs … Continue reading A Drama of Threes
Say What? “Neutral” Cards in the Tarot?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: That's a rhetorical question because every card carries an elemental "charge," whether by suit or astrological association: Fire and Air are positive; Water and Earth are negative; none are neutral. But for the sake of argument, I'm proposing that some cards are decidedly less emphatic in their normal expression than their peers. The … Continue reading Say What? “Neutral” Cards in the Tarot?
The Eight of Swords as “Interference”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Anyone who grew up in the 1950s with a tiny black-and-white CRT (cathode ray tube) television and a "rabbit-ear" antenna knows what video "snow" is: the grainy, flickering gray haze that all but obscured the transmitted images due to poor reception. Although the main culprits were distance from the transmitter and occasional electrical … Continue reading The Eight of Swords as “Interference”
Over the Hill: The “Post-Crisis Downslope” in a Five-Card Tarot Reading
"So you know, that you're over the hillWhen your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill."- from Old Folk's Boogie by Little Feat AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Little Feat quote was a late pick as I began thinking about a title for this post. The first inspiration was a quip I came across online: … Continue reading Over the Hill: The “Post-Crisis Downslope” in a Five-Card Tarot Reading
The Twos: “Walking a Knife’s Edge”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As the root of the binary series 2, 4 and 8, the number Two was described by French author Joseph Maxwell as representing "harmony and equilibrium;" however, compromise may also be required, and compensatory or reciprocal action that "plays both ends against the middle," enabling a poised stance that would do a tightrope-walker … Continue reading The Twos: “Walking a Knife’s Edge”
The Emperor’s Deputies: Kings as “14” and “4”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As promised, here is the second iteration of the court cards as numerological counterparts to the trump cards according to "transcendence" of the second digit in their numeration, this time covering the Kings (Thoth Knights). "Transcendence" is Jame's Ricklef's word for Alejandro Jodorowsky's "decimal equivalency" that is also used by James Wanless in … Continue reading The Emperor’s Deputies: Kings as “14” and “4”
The Fives and Sevens as “Discord”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written in the past about the relationship between the tarot Fives, Sixes and Sevens (linked below), but my recent introduction to the art of playing-card divination brought a fresh perspective to my take on the subject. In standard cartomancy, the Fives and Sevens are eight of the most dissonant "pip" cards in … Continue reading The Fives and Sevens as “Discord”
Two Sides of the Tarot Queens: “13” and “3”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My recent post on the numerical "transcendence" of the second number in the two-digit trump and court cards inspired a few thoughts on the nature of the tarot Queens (with the rest of the court cards to follow). This essay and those in progress build on the observations of a previous post that … Continue reading Two Sides of the Tarot Queens: “13” and “3”
Transcendence in Two-Digit Tarot Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few years ago while reading the companion book for the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless, I encountered the concept of the second number in a two-digit tarot trump creating a kind of "numerological counterpart" between that card and the single-digit trump of the same number (for example, the Hanged Man as 12 … Continue reading Transcendence in Two-Digit Tarot Cards
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 