AUTHOR'S NOTE: One problem with tarot spreads based on the four classical elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth is that there is often a significant qualitative mismatch between the elemental position meanings and the nature of the cards that land in those positions, requiring vigorous mental gymnastics on the part of the reader to … Continue reading Cut to Fit: Existential Advice in Four Elemental “Flavors”
Qabalistic Theory
Tension and Release in the Chaldean Counterparts for the Minor Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm constantly seeking innovative ways to extract more interpretive value from the set of esoteric correspondences devised by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for the Minor Arcana of the tarot. Here is my latest attempt. In musical composition and performance there is the concept of "tension and release" by which the … Continue reading Tension and Release in the Chaldean Counterparts for the Minor Arcana
Reversed Fours: A Stumble and A “One-Point Landing”
AUTHORS NOTE: Having finished re-reading 54 Devils, Cory Hutcheson's playing-card divination book, and not yet possessed of a new tarot book, I picked up my interrupted reassessment of Paul Fenton-Smith's Tarot Master Class (which I believe has now been renamed). In it he mentions that the 4 of Wands reversed can indicate a "lack of … Continue reading Reversed Fours: A Stumble and A “One-Point Landing”
A “Body/Mind/Soul” Positional-Bias Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a compact tableau that proposes to identify the ideal positional alignment the seeker should maintain going into a looming "showdown with circumstances." It uses a pre-established set of "situational bias" cards that facilitates adopting a "forward," "reverse" or "neutral" posture toward one's approach to a potential conflict scenario or uncertain evolution. … Continue reading A “Body/Mind/Soul” Positional-Bias Matrix
The 10 of Cups: “Pushing a String”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sometimes we can tie ourselves up in knots when trying too diligently to impose esoteric symbolism on the tarot cards. I recently came across an opinion that the 10 of Cups - which is associated with Mars in Pisces in the Golden Dawn's system of "Chaldean" astrological correspondences - must refer to the … Continue reading The 10 of Cups: “Pushing a String”
A Tarot Triptych: Catalysts, Linked Patterns and Sensitive Junctures
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I haven't considered it for quite some time because the opportunity for self-improvement is a foregone conclusion among experienced diviners, I was recently reminded by Benebell Wen in Holistic Tarot that tarot cards can serve as catalysts or motivators for seekers to act on their own behalf in ways suggested by the … Continue reading A Tarot Triptych: Catalysts, Linked Patterns and Sensitive Junctures
The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After reading further into Donald Tyson's Tarot Magic, I decided to add a couple of new features to this spread. Tyson mentions that in traditional evocation, the Triangle of Art is drawn with its apex pointing away from the Circle of Summoning. The idea is that when the aspiration identified as the focus … Continue reading The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Tarot Magic, Donald Tyson described a hierarchy of tarot trumps based on a Kabbalistic cosmology that places the Earth at the bottom as fixed and unmoving; the three "Primal Elements" (Water, Air and Fire in ascending order) as the first three increasingly-subtle "spheres" one encounters when rising from the Earth's surface; the … Continue reading Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
Portable Magic by Another Name
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just begun reading Donald Tyson's book, Tarot Magic, one that I've wanted to own for a long time under its original title, Portable Magic. Its premise is that tarot cards can stand in for the elaborate trappings of full-blown ceremonial magic, and we can just box up the deck and put it … Continue reading Portable Magic by Another Name
Kabbalah and Tarot – A Collision of Concepts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently read a fascinating essay by Mark Horn on the Tarot History Facebook page that proposed Italian nobleman and scholar Giovanni Pico della Mirandola as the forefather of the esoteric connection between the tarot and the Hebrew Kabbalah via his association with philosopher Marsillio Ficino in the court of Lorenzo de Medici … Continue reading Kabbalah and Tarot – A Collision of Concepts
