AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently came across the opinion that fear as expressed in a tarot reading is not necessarily a bad thing because it keeps us sharply focused on our challenges while galvanizing us into action. In addition, fear in the form of anxiety is often the driver that brings a sitter to the reader's … Continue reading Applied Tarot: From Anxiety to Empowerment
Practical Mysticism
The Colors of Compromise
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Along with pictorial iconography and suit-and-number theory, color symbolism plays a major role in our interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards, and some TdM authors have gone on at length about the significance of the different pigments used by 17th Century printers. I decided to stick my oar in the water. The … Continue reading The Colors of Compromise
The Trump-Card “Playbook” – An In-Depth Look at Counterparts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A number of tarot writers have explored the concept of "numerological counterparts" for the Major Arcana. Here I will examine their ideas and expand them to include the Minor Arcana and the court cards in instances where a direct numerical correlation exists or where arithmetic manipulation reveals similarities. Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm did … Continue reading The Trump-Card “Playbook” – An In-Depth Look at Counterparts
The Separation of Church and Fate: Taking Religion Out of Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry about the clumsy malapropism, it was the best I could come up with as a riff on the "separation of Church and State" in tarot terms. As everyone knows if they have even a smattering of knowledge about tarot history (or just the eyes to see), the traditional cards have a strong … Continue reading The Separation of Church and Fate: Taking Religion Out of Tarot
Mistaking the “Medium” for the “Message”
AUTHOR'S NOTE. In his 1967 study The Medium Is The Message: An Inventory of Effects, Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan proposed that the medium by which knowledge is transmitted can have an impact in shaping our understanding of the world that goes far beyond the information it conveys. A good case in point is the … Continue reading Mistaking the “Medium” for the “Message”
Taking Time Off from Tarot – A Cure for Stale Readings?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First a confession: I'm probably not the best person to recommend taking time off from the tarot since today's essay completes a 75-day streak of daily posts on this blog, and I previously had an unbroken 450-day run to my credit. Compulsive and occasionally addictive behavior dogs my family, and my personal vice … Continue reading Taking Time Off from Tarot – A Cure for Stale Readings?
“Do As I Say, Not As I Do” – Authoritarian Posturing in Spiritual Practice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Having recognized (and suffered from) the glaring inadequacies of the second-rate teachers and administrators hired by my small rural high school back in the 1960s, I've never had much patience with authority figures. (With that attitude, just imagine how I fared in the US Army!) In the realm of spirituality, the recent documentary … Continue reading “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” – Authoritarian Posturing in Spiritual Practice
A Diviner’s Life: From the Mystical to the Meaningful
"Sold my soul to the callingSold my soul to the sweet melodyNow I'm gone, now I'm gone, now I'm gone"- from Fire by Barnes Courtney AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is another installment in my lifelong divination saga that I've puckishly subtitled "I'm a student of human nature, so of course I'm a cynic." Here I'm waxing … Continue reading A Diviner’s Life: From the Mystical to the Meaningful
Lurking Spirits and Subtle Modes of Divination
"Gideon is knocking in your hotel while you slumber"- from Prophets of Doom by Clutch AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a more thorough examination of a subject I've touched on several times in past essays, one that keeps coming up in conversations within the online tarot community due to an entrenched belief in reliable psychic disclosure … Continue reading Lurking Spirits and Subtle Modes of Divination
The Mirror of Identity: An Astro-Tarot Self-Appraisal Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here I'm merging astrological principles (natal planets and rising sign) with tarot cards and insights from the casebook of psycho-spiritual mind/body awareness to create a self-appraisal tool that is intended to identify any strengths and weaknesses in one's personality that may not stand out clearly from horoscopic delineation or cartomantic examination alone. While … Continue reading The Mirror of Identity: An Astro-Tarot Self-Appraisal Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 