AUTHOR'S NOTE: When upright, the 7 of Wands represents "Valour" or extraordinary courage in the face of daunting odds. This is clearly reflected in the Waite-Smith version, which shows a harried warrior being set upon by six adversaries who have crowded him into a corner. At that moment in time he has yet to give … Continue reading The Reversed Seven of Wands: “Kneecapping the Enemy”
RWS Material
Unresolved Tension in the Waite-Smith Two of Wands
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My daily tarot reading (literature, not cards) recently presented the idea that the reversed 2 of Wands in the Waite-Smith deck conveys "tension." I've never thought of the reversal of this card as elevating the stress that is already there, only making it more insidious. In my "Tarot 101" lesson material on the … Continue reading Unresolved Tension in the Waite-Smith Two of Wands
Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of years ago I performed a careful analysis of the Waite-Smith tarot to determine which cards express some kind of active movement. In the end I came up with five Major Arcana, six court cards and ten Minor Arcana as indicators of either acceleration or deceleration in a querent's affairs. (All … Continue reading Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
The High Priestess: Secrets Waiting to Pounce
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I began reading Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot a while ago but soon gave up because I found that it departed too drastically from my long-standing Hermetic approach to the Major Arcana. But I recently realized that the passages I objected to were inspired by Chinese cosmology and not by the tenets of Western … Continue reading The High Priestess: Secrets Waiting to Pounce
Functional Spread Design
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a previous essay I described topical readings aimed at exploring "department-of-life" conditions (romance, career, finances, health, education, etc.) as often involving a "functional" dimension that presents the seeker an opportunity to pursue; a situation to understand; an agenda to advance; a decision to make; a problem to solve; a crisis or conflict … Continue reading Functional Spread Design
Strength and the Sun: Solar Traveling Companions
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Golden Dawn's astrological correspondences for the tarot cards often reveal interesting parallels and tangents between the Major Arcana. Here is one example. Both the Sun and Strength (originally titled "Fortitude" and later called "Lust" by Aleister Crowley) are associated with the potent solar light that radiates with uniform intensity throughout the firmament, … Continue reading Strength and the Sun: Solar Traveling Companions
The Colors of Compromise
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Along with pictorial iconography and suit-and-number theory, color symbolism plays a major role in our interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards, and some TdM authors have gone on at length about the significance of the different pigments used by 17th Century printers. I decided to stick my oar in the water. The … Continue reading The Colors of Compromise
Gender Parallels and Partitions in the Court Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the fourfold elemental world of the occult tarot that is symbolized by Fire, Water, Air and Earth, there is a fundamental separation of the elements into two divisions of two elements each that share the same polarity (positive or negative), the same mode of operation (active or passive) and the same key … Continue reading Gender Parallels and Partitions in the Court Cards
Small Steps: The Wise Man’s Journey Through the Minor Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Since the rise of the Jungian approach to tarot during the early days of the "New Age" era, a sea of literary ink (both physical and digital) has been spent on explanation of the "Fool's Journey" as it applies to the Major Arcana. Here I'm proposing a similar concept for the Minor Arcana. … Continue reading Small Steps: The Wise Man’s Journey Through the Minor Arcana
One Oar in the Water: Reversal as “Rowing in Circles”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In common slang, failing to have "both oars in the water" carries a meaning similar to "not playing with a full deck," but in tarot terms this nautical metaphor could imply rowing in circles, unable to find a direct route to one's destination. Here I'm applying it to the conundrum of reversed cards … Continue reading One Oar in the Water: Reversal as “Rowing in Circles”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 