AUTHOR'S NOTE: I occasionally encounter questions about ways to contact the spirits of the departed and other disembodied entities using the tarot cards. Through my esoteric studies and practice over the last fifty years I've become familiar with the principles of "astral pathworking" using the Major Arcana, but that is a more disciplined - and … Continue reading “Finding the Path” – Opening A Spirit Contact Channel
Spirituality
Higher Octaves: The Outer Planet Conundrum
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading Aleister Crowley's Eight Lectures on Yoga, I came across his brief analysis of the ten planets of astrology, the seven "classical" orbs of the ancients and (at least in part) the three modern planets. Back in the 1970s, esoteric astrologers considered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to represent the "higher octaves" of … Continue reading Higher Octaves: The Outer Planet Conundrum
“How Far Is Heaven?”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Last night I had a vivid dream in which I was a neophyte "ghost whisperer" tasked with assisting a community of stranded spirits. I entered a small garden with a rather glum male guide who promptly disappeared and left me on my own. The garden was furnished with low stone tables and benches … Continue reading “How Far Is Heaven?”
The “Aperture of Awareness”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: More musings inspired by Sallie Nichols' Tarot and the Archetypal Journey. The Collective Unconscious has been characterized as uniting (at least in theory) all conceivable human potential in a comprehensive "architecture of becoming" composed of archetypal symbolism that exists apart from exterior reality. It intrudes upon our waking world only to the extent … Continue reading The “Aperture of Awareness”
Above, Below and In-Between
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "As above, so below" is a cornerstone of esoteric thought in the Hermetic tradition. According to this theory, life on Earth is a mirror or "microcosm" of the spiritual realm, or "macrocosm." Humans could therefore be viewed as approximate (and perhaps distorted) replicas of the perfect beings who inhabit the more numinous levels … Continue reading Above, Below and In-Between
Flights of Vanity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This rant certainly won't endear me to the few video-content creators of my acquaintance, so I won't be sharing it widely. While there are a handful I respect for their professionalism, I imagine they could become expert at anything they attempt; the rest seem to subscribe to the notion that "It's so simple … Continue reading Flights of Vanity
Four Worlds: Clothing the Abstract
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Qabalistic Tree of Life (which takes its inspiration from the orthodox Hebrew Kabbalah) presents an ontological model of four levels (olams or "worlds") of increasing density as one descends the Tree: the Archetypal or Spiritual World (Atziluth) at the top is entirely numinous; the Creative or Intellectual World (Briah or Beriah) immediately … Continue reading Four Worlds: Clothing the Abstract
“A Cynic, a Skeptic and a Mystic Walk into a Bar . . .”
Who walks out? Me, most likely! Seriously, though, setting aside cynicism (which helps nobody) is there a place for rational skepticism in mystical practice? I'm a living example of that questioning mindset, believing implicitly in the esoteric wisdom that rewards serious metaphysical inquiry while holding a less charitable opinion of some of its modern proponents. … Continue reading “A Cynic, a Skeptic and a Mystic Walk into a Bar . . .”
The Birth Card: A Matrixed Approach
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The subject of birth cards sometimes comes up in online discussions. Many people use a numerological approach, adding together the numerals for the day, month and year, reducing "Theosophically," and coming up with a Major Arcanum as a symbolic avatar that can be used as a "significator" in tarot readings. Here I'm looking … Continue reading The Birth Card: A Matrixed Approach
Left or Right? Polarity in Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Moving on from my recent essay about the observer's proper orientation to the left and right pillars of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, I set out to explore the significance of the left and right sides in divination. In Western mystical circles, the passive left side is often referred to as the receptive, … Continue reading Left or Right? Polarity in Divination
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 