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
Pips
The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of weeks ago I posted an essay in which I took issue with the Golden Dawn's arrangement of the Kings, Queens and Knights on the Chaldean wheel of the zodiac. Rather than the Queens being Cardinal (a dynamic and enterprising mode), I've always felt that they should be Fixed due to … Continue reading The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
Schrodinger and the “Fabric of Reality”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't touched on this subject recently, but my involvement in the Reddit sub r/seculartarot brought it back around. I once described divination in fanciful terms as "running my mental fingers through the warp-and-woof of the fabric of reality, trying to tease out threads of truth." More recently I encountered the ideas of … Continue reading Schrodinger and the “Fabric of Reality”
A Tarot Grand Tableau: Cross-Cutting Heresy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When Lenormand experts are confronted with the question of whether tarot cards can be paired with traditional Lenormand spreads, they sound the alarm and man the battlements. But in keeping with my current action-and-event-based approach to tarot, I can see how the Minor Arcana might be used in a manner similar to the … Continue reading A Tarot Grand Tableau: Cross-Cutting Heresy
Esoteric Baggage and the Freudian Slip*
*An unintentional error regarded as revealing subconscious feelings AUTHOR'S NOTE: I embarked on my journey with the tarot in 1972, having already begun my exploration of the Hermetic Qabalah and natal astrology a couple of years earlier. Esoteric correspondences with psychological implications were all the rage and were applied to various "New Age" forms of … Continue reading Esoteric Baggage and the Freudian Slip*
The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been contemplating the notion that any single, vertical sword shown in a tarot card can act as a "lightning rod" that conducts focused inspiration directly into the subject of a reading. I'm indebted to Sallie Nichols for bringing this to my attention as it relates to the raised sword of Justice that … Continue reading The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always felt that the purpose of working with the tarot on a regular basis is to acquire wisdom and thus to become more savvy day-by-day. Our daily experiences are often a product of our mental state, except to the extent that we're in thrall to the agenda of someone else, either individually … Continue reading The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot
Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two separate insights regarding the Lenormand playing-card insets have been gnawing at me lately. (Three if I count whether or not to even bother with them.) As a result of my cursory study of traditional cartomancy, I discovered that the divinatory meanings for the playing cards don't align all that well with those … Continue reading Playing-Card Insets: Random Thoughts on Coffee Grounds and Numerology
The Nines As “Ripening”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another outtake from Cory Hutcheson's 54 Devils, this time riffing on his observation that the 9 of Clubs implies a "ripening outcome" that is almost ready to drop its fruit. The tarot Nines have been described as representing the "fulfillment" of their suit; they have reached a state of completion that … Continue reading The Nines As “Ripening”
The “Twitch Factor”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: During a recent online conversation I mentioned the fact that, when provoked, the element of Earth in the sign of Virgo can be fidgety, rising one notch above in "twitchy" angst from Virgo's trademark anal fussiness. This got me thinking about how the elements of the Chaldean zodiac react with the Minor Arcana … Continue reading The “Twitch Factor”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 