AUTHOR'S NOTE: Process-control technicians often face a dilemma known as an "upset condition," an off-normal deviation that must be corrected to return the system to a state of balance. There are similar challenges in tarot reading, where the reader must flush out any discordant anomalies so they can be examined and dealt with constructively by … Continue reading The “Upset Condition” – Getting at the Bad
Reversed Cards
A “Shots on Goal” Advancement Spread: Elemental Alignment and Orientation as Success Factors
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The phrase "shots on goal" describes a statistic used in sporting events such as international football and hockey to quantify how many legitimate attempts to score a team was able to make during a game (which is usually a function of offensive-line ability to breach the opponent's defense). There are situations in daily … Continue reading A “Shots on Goal” Advancement Spread: Elemental Alignment and Orientation as Success Factors
2024 Presidential Election: A Political Showdown Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Now that Kamala Harris has been confirmed as the Democratic nominee for US President, I figured it's time to do my usual "Enemy at the Gates" political showdown reading to see what the tarot has to say about a probable winner. (See the link to the spread at the end of this essay.) … Continue reading 2024 Presidential Election: A Political Showdown Reading
Reversal As Lack of Trust: A “Reliability Routing” Tableau
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've created a similar tableau in the past, but this time I'm linking it to a determination of just how much reliance a reader should place on the accuracy of the cards pulled for a reading. We all know the cards are "always right," but on occasion they may be subversive in the … Continue reading Reversal As Lack of Trust: A “Reliability Routing” Tableau
“A Hole in the Bucket” – An I Ching-Inspired Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In contemplating the nature of the "broken" (that is, interrupted) yin lines of an I Ching hexagram, it strikes me that the gap between to the two segments opens both upward and downward: one direction offers a channel through which insight can ascend to illumination if we pursue the "middle way," and the … Continue reading “A Hole in the Bucket” – An I Ching-Inspired Tarot Spread
The “Fog Cutter” – A Tarot Disambiguation Technique
"Now when the day goes to sleep and the full moon looks/ And the night is so black that the darkness cooks" - from The Green Manalishi by Peter Green AUTHOR'S NOTE: My allusion in the title is to the potent, three-liquor "Tiki" cocktail that, in sufficient volume, will do anything but "cut the fog" … Continue reading The “Fog Cutter” – A Tarot Disambiguation Technique
Reversal As Misapprehension: Blind to the Obvious
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The oracular commentary for Hexagram 20 (Observation) of the I Ching includes the advice "Sometimes it is not the judgement that needs observation, but the judge." I occasionally find that, rather than obliquely illuminating the matter itself, a reversed card in a reading will throw the spotlight back on the querent's mistaken view … Continue reading Reversal As Misapprehension: Blind to the Obvious
The “Go With The Flow” Decision-Making Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my ongoing I Ching studies I'm reading about enlisting the qi (life-force) of water to effect a reversal of misfortune. In nature, water flows where it will, surrounding and over-topping all obstacles in its relentless advance. It fills "potholes" in the road, which can give the illusion of firmness even though water … Continue reading The “Go With The Flow” Decision-Making Spread
The “Inner Question” Spread: Darkness at the Center
"When the day goes to sleep and the full moon looks/ The night is so black that the darkness cooks" - from The Green Manalishi by Peter Green AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my ongoing study of I Ching divination (a lifetime pursuit similar to astrology and tarot but much more scholarly), I discovered the premise that … Continue reading The “Inner Question” Spread: Darkness at the Center
The Wall and the Keyhole: A Way Through
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While studying the text for Hexagram 20 (Guan; Observation) in Benebell Wen's book I Ching the Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes, I encountered a description of the lower trigram (Kun, or Earth) with its three yin lines forming a "keyhole" (suggestive of an unobstructed line-of-sight) through which a glimpse … Continue reading The Wall and the Keyhole: A Way Through
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 