I've mentioned that I've been reading Jonathan Dee's Fortune Telling Using Playing Cards. In it he describes a "Romany" method of reading that uses reversals (apparently old playing cards weren't double-ended so you could do that easily; now you have to mark them first). In his discussion of reversals he brought up a point that … Continue reading The “Undoing”
Tarot Card Meanings
Incremental Court Cards
As I continue my study and practice of playing-card divination, I'm gaining some insights into the nature and application of the court cards that can be readily integrated into my knowledge of the tarot courts. The main idea is one of the progressive or incremental unfolding of the hierarchical and numerical energy in human terms. … Continue reading Incremental Court Cards
A Further Refinement: Lunar Month Look-Ahead for July-August
All images copyright U.S. Games Systems Inc, Stamford, CT The New Moon for July, 2020 occurred on the 20th of the month, 7/20/2020. After I pulled these cards for my monthly "Lunar Month Look-Ahead," I was thinking about numerologically-derived "birth cards" and "year cards," and was struck by the idea that a monthly "New Moon" … Continue reading A Further Refinement: Lunar Month Look-Ahead for July-August
Meditation Patterns: Strength/Lust and the Leo Decans
Continuing my exploration of the "meditation patterns" for the Minor Arcana from Jim Eshelman's Liber Theta, here are the patterns for the Leo trump card, Strength (Lust in the Thoth Deck), and the three decans of Leo; I call this sequence "The Three Trials of Lust." The Minor Arcana for the Leo decans are 5 … Continue reading Meditation Patterns: Strength/Lust and the Leo Decans
Meditation Patterns: The Emperor and the Aries Decans
A Facebook friend of mine just reminded me that Liber Theta, the College of Thelema's Thoth-based rewrite of the Golden Dawn's Liber T, includes what author Jim Eshelman calls "meditation patterns" for each pair of Major Arcana that are considered "astrological counterparts" to the Minor Arcanum for the associated decan of the Chaldean zodiac. There … Continue reading Meditation Patterns: The Emperor and the Aries Decans
Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
While working on my initial dream-analysis reading, I started to say that all of the reversed Wands cards in the dream scenario represented an "incursion" of Spirit into the reverie, but then I realized that, in the dream-world, visions of profound import typically don't stand up and shout in order to draw attention to themselves, … Continue reading Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
Down with the Synonym! – Variations on a Theme
Writers who care about originality love the synonym. It lets us repeat the same idea (sometimes ad nauseum) without seeming overly redundant or hackneyed. You may have noticed that I try not to use the word "shows" to describe the import of the cards in a reading more than once in the same piece of … Continue reading Down with the Synonym! – Variations on a Theme
The Tens: A Lingering Farewell
A music critic once observed that Led Zeppelin seemed to be "emptying the vaults of every scrap of unreleased material" when they issued the Physical Graffiti album. I'm in a similar situation here; this post has been lurking in my drafts for a couple of weeks, waiting patiently as the rants of the last few … Continue reading The Tens: A Lingering Farewell
Trumps As Situational “Wallpaper”
This is a follow-up to my observation that, rather than foretelling inevitable events of a life-altering nature, the trump cards most often serve as profound "background themes" or big-picture "stage-setters" for the minor-card actors, much like a theater backdrop. They invoke a climate that is ripe for certain occurrences, but the querent must still command … Continue reading Trumps As Situational “Wallpaper”
Too Much and Not Enough?
William Wordsworth definitely had his finger on the pulse of what the World (or Universe) card used to mean before Arthur Edward Waite turned it into an icon of glorious fulfillment: "The world is too much with us; late and soon" In modern divinatory practice, it is almost invariably seen as an expression of satisfactory … Continue reading Too Much and Not Enough?
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 