AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written in the past about the opportunity presented by the Waite-Smith (RWS) 3 of Swords to resist wallowing in the apparent misery it depicts and instead actively seek a way to remove the swords from the heart and let it heal. (This is the symbolic function of the nimble and resilient number … Continue reading Cut the Cord! – Folk Magic and the 3 of Swords
Tarot Card Meanings
The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of weeks ago I posted an essay in which I took issue with the Golden Dawn's arrangement of the Kings, Queens and Knights on the Chaldean wheel of the zodiac. Rather than the Queens being Cardinal (a dynamic and enterprising mode), I've always felt that they should be Fixed due to … Continue reading The Tarot Cosmology of Papus
“Midnight Dew and Golden Sunflakes”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In 1962, Canadian folksinger Bonnie Dobson wrote and recorded Morning Dew, an anti-war song in which the "dew" was nuclear fallout. In this essay, the analogous but hardly-as-lethal condensation is the "midnight dew" shed by the Moon in the Tarot de Marseille card of that name. In 1969, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd … Continue reading “Midnight Dew and Golden Sunflakes”
Last Waltz: The Universe and Beyond
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The World card of the tarot (aka "the Universe" in the Thoth and other esoteric decks) prompts endless questions from beginners who are not yet versed in its symbolism. Is it in fact a "good" card that portends success for the seeker because it displays a dancing woman who seems serene and utterly … Continue reading Last Waltz: The Universe and Beyond
Rolling Back the Golden Dawn’s Syllabus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've known for some time that those who prefer classical decks like the Tarot de Marseille to the esoteric reveries of the post-Occult Revival don't subscribe to the conflation of Hebrew letters and trump cards in general, and particularly not to the model proposed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rather … Continue reading Rolling Back the Golden Dawn’s Syllabus
Modern Planets on the Chaldean Zodiac
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another jolt of revisionist heresy. While some occult authorities have attempted to place the three modern planets of astrology, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, on the Tree of Life, I'm not aware that any have tried to fit them into the Chaldean zodiac (as used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden … Continue reading Modern Planets on the Chaldean Zodiac
Keyword Reliance and “Projectile Spin”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A question was recently asked online about whether it is appropriate to place keywords on the tarot cards as an aid to interpretation. While most of the responses were kind enough to advise "Do what you must to make it work," at least one person felt that this action stifles creative thought by … Continue reading Keyword Reliance and “Projectile Spin”
The Lover and the Devil: Trump-Card Bookends
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been playing around with the 7x3 array of trump cards (minus the Fool because zero adds nothing to this exercise) by running out the numerological expressions for each row and column. I used both Theosophical reduction (adding together the digits of any sum larger than 21) and "casting out nines" (subtracting increments … Continue reading The Lover and the Devil: Trump-Card Bookends
Moon Mastery: Making the Darkness Conscious
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although not alluding directly to the tarot Moon, Carl Gustav Jung wrote the following observation that has a bearing on the subject: "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." In other words, we must draw it forth and examine it, not try to hide … Continue reading Moon Mastery: Making the Darkness Conscious
Virtue and Vice in the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've placed "virtue" first in my title because, when we receive a tarot reading, we will ideally discover evidence of worthiness in ourselves and our affairs and, unless we're entirely dishonest or avoidant, we will also acknowledge any incursion of vice with an eye toward subduing it, whether it is our own or … Continue reading Virtue and Vice in the Tarot
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 