AUTHOR'S NOTE: The adventure of the title began in 2017 when I started this blog and reached a zenith with post #2,000 at the conclusion of my "tarot alchemy" series two days ago. Yesterday, post #2,001 - although little different from the 242 consecutive daily essays that preceded it - opened what I intend to … Continue reading 2,001: A Tarot Odyssey
Professional Tarot
Words and Pictures
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I believe I've found the perfect aphorism to describe the art of tarot reading. It was in a 1989 short story by science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling, of all places. According to a quote in the story, "underground" (an old cultural buzzword) cartoonist R. Crumb (he of Fritz the Cat fame although you may … Continue reading Words and Pictures
Harbingers of Change
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Every tarot card, no matter how static-seeming, is a harbinger of some kind of change, good or bad and great or small. In combination, the cards convey a "state of becoming" in the form of tendencies and trends rather than one of merely "being." Otherwise there would be no reason to include all … Continue reading Harbingers of Change
Hope-Based Questions: “Be Careful What You Wish For”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just read an old blog post by Bjorn Meuris that struck a chord with me. In his advice for asking a proper question of the Lenormand cards (or any cards for that matter) he said "Don't ask for what you do not hope for to be confirmed" by casting your question in … Continue reading Hope-Based Questions: “Be Careful What You Wish For”
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”
The “Ex-Partner” Dilemma: Abandonment and Avoidance
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm currently following an interesting sub-reddit thread in which the conversation centers on ex-partner reconciliation and the broader issue of "soulmate/twin-flame" connections, two areas of concern that are frequently brought to a diviner's attention. Then it broaches the subject of "attachment style," which I didn't realize has become an area of formal study … Continue reading The “Ex-Partner” Dilemma: Abandonment and Avoidance
Affirmation Bias and “Participation Mystique”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently came across an extremely useful concept in Sallie Nichols' Tarot and the Archetypal Journey, that of "participation mystique." The premise is that, until they can begin to fashion words into coherent ideas that define their individuality, infants have no sense of personal ego and instead reside in a limitless, amorphous ocean … Continue reading Affirmation Bias and “Participation Mystique”
“. . . By Any Other Name . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Current divination culture shuns as unethical any attempt to forecast the death of an individual, even when it is clearly imminent due to a terminal illness. (After all, it doesn't make sense for amateurs to overstep the legal and professional bounds of a medical diagnosis.) The final "moment of truth" is usually the … Continue reading “. . . By Any Other Name . . .”
The “So What?” Moment
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm indebted to a fellow r/tarot contributor for expanding my vocabulary of exclamatory responses to the surprising things I encounter in tarot readings (although this one may be more routine than exceptional and will understandably evoke a dismissive "Ehh"). We've all heard of the "Aha!" moment, the instant during a reading when an … Continue reading The “So What?” Moment
Obliquity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I woke up this morning with the oddest thought and figured I had better sit right down and capture it before it escapes. What if there were no "right angles" in the world and instead only oblique transitions? (I think my contemplation of reversed cards may have given me nightmares). In astrology, only … Continue reading Obliquity
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 