Lately I've been examining my current relationship with the tarot as a subject of serious study and practice. During the nearly four decades that I lived in the woods of New Hampshire, I did a lot of thinking about the Thoth deck and working with Crowley's premises in a theoretical way (wondering about and wandering … Continue reading My Tarot Trajectory: Wondering, Wandering, Writing, Reading
Tarot Miscellany
A Matter of Style and Substance
I enjoyed a long, productive career as a technical and legal writer, generating text to be read by a range of intelligent and talented people, from technicians to engineers to managers to government functionaries. Cultivating precision, clarity and economy in writing style was uppermost in importance. But my first love, derived from many hours spent … Continue reading A Matter of Style and Substance
A Tale of Two Wanderers
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always believed that - apart from their customary role in the "Fool's Journey" pageant - there is more to be said about the visual similarities between the Waite-Smith Hermit and the Fool than I've come across in the literature. Here I explore one version of it in "storytelling" guise. I've been bemused … Continue reading A Tale of Two Wanderers
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”
“Set the Table, Doug”
As my revisionist thinking on the significance of the Major Arcana in a tarot reading continues to churn up fresh ideas, I entertained the notion that the functional relationship between the minor cards, court cards and trump cards might be likened to the experience of dining out. The minor cards provide the "meat-and-potatoes" of the … Continue reading “Set the Table, Doug”
Tarot As “Wave-Form”
A wave is described as "a traveling disturbance that carries energy from one place to another." We might consider the flow of cards from one place (the first position) to another place (the last position) in a linear tarot spread to be a "wave-form," with observable peaks and troughs along the way (a mix of … Continue reading Tarot As “Wave-Form”
The Arrow and the Song
All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT I haven't done one of these in a while, but recently I was performing a decision-making spread and the 8 of Wands came up as the "resolution" card in one of the decision chains; I judged it as reflecting an open-ended (inconclusive) outcome and was strongly … Continue reading The Arrow and the Song
The Fortune Teller Speaks
UPDATE: I've received comments that $50 is way under-priced for a reading. It reminds me of the Austin Powers scene where Dr. Evil tries to extort the world's leaders for "One MILLION dollars!" and everyone present laughs. Here is another short scrap of doggerel for today. The Fortune Teller Speaks The cards fall Impaling … Continue reading The Fortune Teller Speaks
Musings on Another Year
I just renewed my WordPress subscription (or, more accurately, I allowed it be renewed) for another year. Thus begins my fourth year of running this blog, and I thought it would be a good time for a quick review. I've covered a lot of ground over the past 36 months, in 1,170 posts. Some of … Continue reading Musings on Another Year
Cartomantic Snobbery?
The snooty elitism of wine snobs is well-known. Much of their recondite vocabulary speaks of properties that apply to anything but fermented grapes. To be fair, I have come to the conclusion that some red wines do present the fanciful and not-entirely-agreeable sensory impression of "raisins" or the slightly more desirable "black currants" in both … Continue reading Cartomantic Snobbery?
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 