AUTHOR'S NOTE: I won't regale you with where I got the raw material for this essay; suffice it to say that it's "of a piece" with my last dozen "sourced" ideas. The Tens of the Minor Arcana have been described as representing a "cessation of effort" while awaiting new information or a fresh impulse to … Continue reading The Tens: A “Holding Pattern”
Qabalistic Theory
The “Active Witness” and the Minor Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another interesting observation from Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot. In it he notes that, when a "pip" card of the Tarot de Marseille exhibits a red dot or figurative "eye," the symbol represents an "active (that is, actively involved) witness" to the action signified by the card. This idea inspired … Continue reading The “Active Witness” and the Minor Arcana
The Sixes as “Solar Centerpiece”
I recently reconnected with an idea I had forgotten about from my previous studies: adding together the integers of certain sets of three consecutive numbers from One to Nine (and, if necessary, refining the sum through "Theosophical reduction") will always yield the number Six. The same is true of the double-digit trump cards, and actually … Continue reading The Sixes as “Solar Centerpiece”
Tarot: Three Gods in One?
Yesterday I came across a brief discussion of the Qabalistic numerology of the tarot. It involved an analysis of the Hebrew four-lettered "name of God," Jehovah, and the fact that its letters, Yod, He, Vau, He (written right to left) enumerate to 26. The premise was that since the number of cards in a tarot … Continue reading Tarot: Three Gods in One?
The Tree of Life in the Abstract
As I understand it after many years of study, there are two ways to look at the Qabalistic Tree of Life. There is the traditional viewpoint of Hebraic mysticism involving what I term the "rabbinical" Tree, perhaps best exemplified by the work of Rabbi Isaac Luria (which I admit to not having studied in depth … Continue reading The Tree of Life in the Abstract
A “Deep Dive” Card Selection Method and Multipurpose Spread
Here's another "new-to-me" idea, courtesy of The Grand Etteilla. In the book there is a five-card spread in which the reader creates the layout by initially pulling the fifth card from the top (Card #5), then the card five tiers below that one (Card #10), followed by the card five tiers below the tenth card … Continue reading A “Deep Dive” Card Selection Method and Multipurpose Spread
The Wheel and the Case for Cancer
One of my favorite academic pastimes is tinkering with the cherished set of esoteric correspondences that was handed down to us by the Hermetic Order of the Golden. Its chief architect, Samuel Liddell "MacGregor" Mathers, was by all accounts an accomplished scholar, occultist and metaphysical innovator but I don't think he was infallible, and some … Continue reading The Wheel and the Case for Cancer
Left or Right? A Matter of Orientation
There is a tradition in tarot reading that visually scanning from the left to the right in a linear spread presents a past-to-future panorama of circumstances signifying an urge to move forward, while looking from right to left suggests a need to first deal with past events in the situation that may still be unresolved … Continue reading Left or Right? A Matter of Orientation
The Fives and Sevens: Transition and Improvement
In modern tarot practice, the Fives and Sevens are generally interpreted as difficult cards. But Paul Marteau, writing about the Tarot de Marseille in 1949, gave me a different perspective. It became apparent as I read his book that Marteau was heavily influenced by the numerological thinking of fellow Frenchman Joseph Maxwell in the latter's … Continue reading The Fives and Sevens: Transition and Improvement
Daily “Hermetic Meditation” #1
Casting around for something new to post, I decided to do a series of daily "Hermetic Meditations" using the various Golden-Dawn and Thoth-based decks I own. I have around a dozen of them now and will be rotating them in and out of the six-card pull regularly. The layout is the graphic for my "Pentagram … Continue reading Daily “Hermetic Meditation” #1
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 