AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was recently accused by someone in the online tarot community of being an elitist gatekeeper when I voiced my doubts about the mystical drivel that too often passes for professional guidance in the social-media marketplace. I'm too thick-skinned to feel the urge to wage war against those who take it upon themselves … Continue reading A Skeptic’s View of Mystical Pretenders
Professional Tarot
Point/Counterpoint: The Interplay of Cards in a Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whenever the meaning of the "outcome" card in an online spread analysis is unclear, I expect to encounter advice from the community to "look at the rest of the cards in the reading for the answer." This is wise counsel since no single card operates in a vacuum when accompanied by one or … Continue reading Point/Counterpoint: The Interplay of Cards in a Reading
The Blame Game: A “Weaponized” Relationship Spread, Rev. 1
UPDATE: In practice, the original spread did not lend itself to a clean judgment regarding the forces at work, so I created an alternate version. Each "Upper Hand" card has been changed to a "Defense Mode" indicator for the partner on that side of the layout, with the idea that it will counter the other … Continue reading The Blame Game: A “Weaponized” Relationship Spread, Rev. 1
Noise Pollution: Unpacking the Ambiguous Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lately I've been using the analogy of "white noise" when discussing the lack of a cohesive (it doesn't hang together) and coherent (it isn't intelligible) message in the cards of a tarot reading. All too often, when diviners are confronted with such ambiguity in a spread, the sound coming out of them (myself … Continue reading Noise Pollution: Unpacking the Ambiguous Reading
The AI Assault on the Art of Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I can't quite fathom why anyone would think that the intrusion of AI (artificial intelligence) technology into the art of divination is desirable. Regarding the entire phenomenon, we might well substitute "AI" for "America" in the old Funkadelic album title "America Eats Its Young." I'm disturbed (although I can't say shocked) by the … Continue reading The AI Assault on the Art of Divination
“Tell Me What’s Going to Happen, Percy!”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading an online comment that stated in part "Tarot isn't meant to give you answers (about the future) per se . . . " I looked up the current definition of that phrase, which is "by or in itself; intrinsically." For the purpose of this essay I decided to transmute … Continue reading “Tell Me What’s Going to Happen, Percy!”
The Importance of Validation: Framing the Past in a Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In recent years I have moved away from the "Past/Present/Future" format in three-card tarot readings because there is little point in dwelling on "what has been" in such a brief snapshot. Instead I cut to the chase by focusing on "Present/Near Future/Longer-Range Outcome." However, in larger spreads like the ten-card Celtic Cross, there … Continue reading The Importance of Validation: Framing the Past in a Reading
Digging Deeper: Creative Consulting vs. Counseling
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While all tarot reading for other people is advisory in nature, some professional diviners possess the psychoanalytical qualifications and credentials to counsel their clients in a therapeutic way, while those who don't should be careful to remain within the bounds of informal "consulting." I may bring decades of life experience, philosophical study and … Continue reading Digging Deeper: Creative Consulting vs. Counseling
Mischief Afoot: External Meddling in the Lovers’ Affairs
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although morality has lost much of its grip on modern romance, I still prefer the older definition of the Lovers card as being presented with a decision that has ethical implications. The Tarot de Marseille "Lover" makes this abundantly clear. I almost always read the Lovers as a "crossroads" from which the seeker … Continue reading Mischief Afoot: External Meddling in the Lovers’ Affairs
“Plateauing” – The Nature of the Fours
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In esoteric number theory, Four is the number of the Square that prefigures the six-sided cube it becomes when projected into three-dimensional space, and many people relate it directly to that polyhedron. But, although it is the fourth geometric expression after the Point, the Line and the Triangle, no volume is implied since … Continue reading “Plateauing” – The Nature of the Fours
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 