AUTHOR'S NOTE: The next major milestone on the road to mastery for the neophyte tarot reader after internalizing the card meanings (as opposed to merely memorizing or looking them up) is to begin synthesizing the interpretation of all the cards in a spread to form a seamless narrative. (I often describe early efforts in this … Continue reading Active and Passive Dynamics
Pips
Cups Redux – A Valentine’s Day Reboot
Although I think it's just another "Hallmark holiday" now, I've begun a tradition of informally bumping my "Cups in Love" post every Valentine's Day. https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/got-love-if-you-want-it-or-love-in-its-cups/
“Six-ness” and the Sextile
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently came across two online questions that I've merged into a single essay. The first involved the blending of astrology with tarot, and the second inquired whether the 6 of Swords is a favorable card. In thinking about this topic, it struck me that in astrology the sextile aspect (60 degrees of … Continue reading “Six-ness” and the Sextile
The Importance of “Focus”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While ordering my thoughts for this essay, I toyed with the idea of talking about "landscape" and "distance" (near, middle and far) as displayed in the scenic cards of the tarot, since both imply "action in the world" (Alejandro Jodorowsky's supple phrase) that can be explored during the interpretation. But then I realized … Continue reading The Importance of “Focus”
The Tens: A “Holding Pattern”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I won't regale you with where I got the raw material for this essay; suffice it to say that it's "of a piece" with my last dozen "sourced" ideas. The Tens of the Minor Arcana have been described as representing a "cessation of effort" while awaiting new information or a fresh impulse to … Continue reading The Tens: A “Holding Pattern”
The “Active Witness” and the Minor Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another interesting observation from Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot. In it he notes that, when a "pip" card of the Tarot de Marseille exhibits a red dot or figurative "eye," the symbol represents an "active (that is, actively involved) witness" to the action signified by the card. This idea inspired … Continue reading The “Active Witness” and the Minor Arcana
The Sixes as “Solar Centerpiece”
I recently reconnected with an idea I had forgotten about from my previous studies: adding together the integers of certain sets of three consecutive numbers from One to Nine (and, if necessary, refining the sum through "Theosophical reduction") will always yield the number Six. The same is true of the double-digit trump cards, and actually … Continue reading The Sixes as “Solar Centerpiece”
“Heavenly Fourth”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Nothing profound today, just a bit of whimsy from the Monty Python - Mel Brooks collaboration Yellowbeard that I find amusing from a tarot perspective. There has been much conjecture about the intentions of the angelic hand emerging from the cloud in the Waite-Smith 4 of Cups as it offers a fourth chalice … Continue reading “Heavenly Fourth”
The Overturned Cups: Half Full or Half Empty?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a wonderful metaphor that speaks directly to our attitude about life's occasional downturns and hints at whether we are naturally optimistic or pessimistic in our outlook: "Is the glass half full or half empty?" As a lifelong skeptic, my first thought when confronted with this conundrum is "What's in the glass?" … Continue reading The Overturned Cups: Half Full or Half Empty?
Aces As “Regressive” Outcome
I recently came across mention on one of the tarot web sites that some readers consider an Ace in the "outcome" or "end of the matter" position of a reading as meaning that the situation will not progress and will instead remain stuck in an early stage of its development. I can see how this … Continue reading Aces As “Regressive” Outcome
