Here is a kind of "trial balloon" floating some of the ideas I've been talking about in my most recent posts. The image in the Conver 7 of Coins suggests a trellis bearing ripe fruit, some of which have fallen (or are in the act of falling) to the ground. It shows the harvest at … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Thumbnail: 7 of Coins
Pips
Stone Soup
I think it's time I start getting serious about bringing cartomantic (that is, playing-card) meanings into my approach to the numbered - or "pip" - cards when reading. The RWS minor cards with their built-in narrative vignettes are like "canned soup," the semi-scenic small cards of the Thoth deck are closer to "home-made soup" that you start with store-bought … Continue reading Stone Soup
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Tens
Plato considered Ten to be a perfect number when viewed from a philosophical rather than a mathematical perspective (in the second case, the term has an entirely different derivation attributed to Euclid). In the qabalistic model of the Universe, Ten delivers the "last gasp" of an elemental energy in its increasingly encumbered progress down the Tree of Life. The original, largely spiritual, force … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Tens
The “Just Folks” Personality Profile Spread
I don't do much personality profiling with the tarot because I think it works best as an action-and-event-oriented approach to divination (the "situational awareness and developmental insight" thing I'm always on about). But when I do it, I tend to be comprehensive. Here is a spread that is aimed at examining the multiple personae that an … Continue reading The “Just Folks” Personality Profile Spread
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Nines
The number Nine marks the end of the series of simple numbers; the Ten is more of a postscript, the "jumping-off place" for a return to Unity (Ten reduces numerologically to One: 1+0 = 1). As such it is considered the completion and fulfillment of the promise of the Ace of each suit. Zoroaster said it … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Nines
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Eights
I've said almost everything I have to say about the Eights in two previous posts, "The Eights and Anxiety" and "The Sevens and Eights" (links below). The one thing that bears repeating is Joseph Maxwell's idea that the simple even numbers Four and Eight are characteristically balanced owing to their roots in the binary Two, although the … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Eights
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Sevens
My favorite all-purpose definition for the Sevens comes from Elizabeth Hazel's The Tarot Decoded. Where Aleister Crowley considered them entirely negative ("The four Sevens are not capable of bringing any comfort; each one represents the degeneration of the element"), Hazel views the Sevens as showing an irresistible urge to take a step in a new direction, away from the idle complacency … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Sevens
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Sixes
According to Wikipedia, "(Greek) mathematicians, including the mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras, proposed as a perfect number, the number 6, (which) was believed perfect for being divisible in a special way: a sixth part of that number constitutes unity; a third is two; a half — three; two-thirds is four; five-sixths is five; six is the perfect whole." It … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Sixes
Where Is Dewey? – A Missing Person Reading
An 84 (or 82, depending on which part of this article you believe) year-old man with dementia has gone missing in Tamworth, NH. https://www.wmur.com/article/search-for-missing-tamworth-man-is-suspended/23164418 I performed my "World of Hurt" missing-person spread to see if I can learn anything about his status; the deck is the Golden Universal. The first King to appear in the … Continue reading Where Is Dewey? – A Missing Person Reading
Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Fives
Five is a number of necessary change, usually experienced as chaotic, coming hard on the heels of the complacent Four. I like to call it a "can-opener" or "nut-cracker" that liberates the stale atmosphere of its predecessor and re-establishes momentum; however, its benefit is often recognized only in hindsight. In action it can feel thoroughly disruptive. I also … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Minor Arcana: The Fives
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 