AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a third adaptation of Benebell Wen's Lo Shu Square, this time applied loosely to her feng shui tarot model. I've created my own theme and position meanings for this purpose and did not adopt her spread design. (See her book Holistic Tarot for background details.) Another inspiration was the Lenormand 9-card … Continue reading Tapping the Power: A Self-Realization Matrix
Tarot and Psychology
Personality, Adaptive Behavior and Character in Three Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Not long ago I read a psychological article that described personality as being innate or instinctual, while character develops gradually over time through repetitive experiences that eventually solidify into a Pavlovian "conditioned response." In astrological terms, personality is the purview of the natal horoscope while the emergence of character can be shown by … Continue reading Personality, Adaptive Behavior and Character in Three Cards
A “Topical Impingement” Life-Reading Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: From her book Holistic Tarot I picked up another idea from Benebell Wen's discussion of Chinese divination (this time the application of the Lo Shu Square to feng shui): a matrix that has a general life-topic card at the center (for example, "Health"), with influences feeding into it from all sides. I expanded … Continue reading A “Topical Impingement” Life-Reading Matrix
A Four-Function General Well-Being Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread based on the First Operation of the Golden Dawn's "Opening of the Key" method, but with no Significator and without the formal counting of cards to populate it. The four sub-packs from right-to-left are the same - Fire, Water, Air and Earth, but I've retitled them to suit my … Continue reading A Four-Function General Well-Being Spread
A Three-Factor “Mind/Body/Spirit” Well-Being Assessment
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This spread uses the location in one of three sub-packs of a pre-identified Significator card representing the querent or the issue itself. The structure is based on the three aspects of the Celtic "mind-body-spirit" triskelion. It is intended to be applied when a client feels uneasy about the matter at hand but can't … Continue reading A Three-Factor “Mind/Body/Spirit” Well-Being Assessment
“Peace, Power and Openness:” A Tarot-Reading Mantra
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whenever I consider silently chanting an intention-and-protection spell prior to beginning a tarot reading, I'm reminded of the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movie Hot Fuzz, in which Timothy Dalton played the leader of a creepy cabal of local activists whose members kept muttering in unison and in a morbid monotone "The greater good, the … Continue reading “Peace, Power and Openness:” A Tarot-Reading Mantra
“Another Cup of ‘Why Bother’ . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been following an increasingly rancorous argument in one of the online occult forums over why the esoteric community seems so toothless of late (hey, I was going to use one of the darlings of AI writing, "pusillanimous") compared to its previous vigor. Where is the bracing "bite" of old? There is certainly … Continue reading “Another Cup of ‘Why Bother’ . . .”
Tarot Cards as a “Hall of Mirrors”
"One explanation for (human sentience) is that consciousness emerges as a result of the complexity and self-reflective recursion that is built into the circuits of the brain, like a hall of mirrors."- Dean Radin in Supernormal AUTHOR'S NOTE: A commonly-help opinion among tarot practitioners is that the random cards pulled for a reading "mirror" the … Continue reading Tarot Cards as a “Hall of Mirrors”
“Eyes That Are the Windows, Eyes That Are the View” – Tarot and Quantum Mechanics*
*Lyrics quoted are from the Dave Mason song Sad and Deep as You. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Quantum theory in modern physics holds that until an elementary quantum object is observed (by direct measurement according to mainstream scientists and in response to conscious attention in paranormal circles), it is in an "indeterminate state" and has "no definite … Continue reading “Eyes That Are the Windows, Eyes That Are the View” – Tarot and Quantum Mechanics*
Seizing the Power of “Empowerment”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Empowerment" is one of the most common personal-growth buzzwords enlisted in the performance of divination. Nobody dares offer a prediction without at least mentioning it for fear of being branded a "fortune-teller." We nearly do back-flips trying to erase any hint of predestination from our readings (you know the shtick: the future isn't … Continue reading Seizing the Power of “Empowerment”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 