AUTHOR'S NOTE: I struggled to find a polite way to say "arrogance" without actually saying it, but that would be an extreme example of my point. Also, there is an idea here regarding the reversed court cards and their Golden Dawn assignment to the Chaldean zodiac that warrants further exploration in another essay. In astrology … Continue reading The Unevolved Fire Signs: A Study in Vanity
Tarot Card Meanings
Tarot Symbolism in Divination: Fabulism or Impressionism?
I'll clarify my terms before starting. "Fabulism" denotes the placement of fantastical elements into an everyday setting; "impressionism" refers to allusions based on subjective reactions, often loosely-stated. As an example, this distinction aptly displays the difference between the Waite-Smith 7 of Cups, which could best be described as moodily phantasmagorical, and the same card in … Continue reading Tarot Symbolism in Divination: Fabulism or Impressionism?
Contemplate the Edges
Here is an ancient adage that we all know well: "There are two sides to every coin." But in my ongoing reading of The Tao of Thoth I was intrigued by the notion that it might be more fruitful to contemplate the edge of the coin that simultaneously divides and unites the obverse and reverse … Continue reading Contemplate the Edges
The Tens as “Disengagement”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This meditation on the nature of Ten is an extension of my previous thoughts on the subject. I've written in the past that, esoterically speaking, the Tens of the tarot suits represent the exhaustion of the original elemental force that first appeared as pure, untrammeled spiritual energy in the Aces. This is based … Continue reading The Tens as “Disengagement”
Health Readings: A Psychosomatic View
Psychosomatic: (literally, mind [psyche] and body [soma] "willing to perform" [matos]); an adjective describing a physical illness or other condition caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress. In tarot circles it's generally acknowledged that attempting to divine someone's future medical condition in a diagnostic way is professionally and personally … Continue reading Health Readings: A Psychosomatic View
The Suit of Wands As “Arrows”
I'm currently reading Alain Bougearel's book, The Language of the Cards: An Initiation into French Cartomancy (OUROBOROS Editions, August 16, 2020), in which he equates the tarot suit of Batons (modern Wands) to the playing-card suit of Diamonds, and associates the arrowhead-shaped suit emblem with the military arrow as a weapon of ranged combat. He … Continue reading The Suit of Wands As “Arrows”
“The Wall Was Too High” – A 9 of Swords Comparison
I've been reading Barbara Walker's excellent 1984 book, The Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History and Symbolism, and have been gaining some valuable insights and inspiration from her brief essays on the Minor Arcana. In it she applies the Thoth title of "Cruelty" to the 9 of Swords while discussing it mainly in terms of … Continue reading “The Wall Was Too High” – A 9 of Swords Comparison
Barbara Walker and the RWS Suit of Pentacles
Although it's a bit overstuffed with mythology and "armchair" anthropology (think "Golden Bough Lite"), I've been reading Barbara Walker's fascinating and frequently enlightening 1984 book Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History and Symbolism. Despite the meticulous academic tone of much of her writing and its overarching themes of matriarchal culture and Goddess worship in antiquity, … Continue reading Barbara Walker and the RWS Suit of Pentacles
Lurkers on the Threshold
There is an old cliche that "a bad penny always turns up." This aphorism perfectly describes the barely civil dispute about the practice of reading reversed cards that is currently simmering on one of my more advanced tarot forums. The weary consensus is to just "pick your poison" (I'm full of platitudes today) and move … Continue reading Lurkers on the Threshold
The Fertilizing Flash
I've now gleaned a number of fresh impressions from my study and practice that support writing a bit more about the Tower, the 16th trump card of the present-day tarot (titled "the House of God" or the "Lightning-Struck Tower" in older packs). One of my favorite interpretations comes from Alejandro Jodorowsky's book The Way of … Continue reading The Fertilizing Flash
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 