I don't know precisely why it should be so (although I have a hunch that is rooted in psychology), but somber poems seem to lend themselves really well to my project of interpreting classic poetry in terms of the tarot trump cards. Here is a vivid example, The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. The wind was … Continue reading The Highwayman and the Major Arcana
Tarot Miscellany
Swinburn and the Major Arcana
Now I'm really going to have to work! This brilliant piece of mystical poetry, extracted from Algernon Charles Swinburn's epic verse drama, Atalanta at Calydon, is rife with possibilities for metaphorical correspondences to the cards of the Major Arcana. I was able to bring all 22 trumps to bear here; not all of them are a … Continue reading Swinburn and the Major Arcana
The End of the World and the Major Arcana
This brief poem by Archibald MacLeish is also a candidate for "tarotization." It looks like a five-card trump sequence. Quite unexpectedly, as Vasserot The armless ambidextrian was lighting A match between his great and second toe This suggests the dexterous skill of the Magician. Call it "sleight-of-toe." And Ralph the lion was engaged in biting … Continue reading The End of the World and the Major Arcana
A Miscellany of Cards
I have quite a few divination decks that I never use for any purpose other than admiring them as works of art. In order to become more familiar with them over time, I decided to perform an exercise here. On a periodic basis, I will randomly choose one of my decks and draw a card … Continue reading A Miscellany of Cards
The Ideal Study Group
Esoteric study groups of the face-to-face kind are mercurial beasts. Interest tends to wax and wane, and attendance is anything but consistent as members occasionally choose to deal with more mundane matters on meeting day. When I lived in the Hartford, CT area in the '70s, there were numerous opportunities to meet regularly with kindred … Continue reading The Ideal Study Group
Cypher This!
The so-called "Cypher Manuscripts" that formed the foundation of the graduated curriculum of esoteric studies established by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn have a fascinating history (or pseudo-history, depending on whom you believe) in their own right, They consist of 60 folios hand-written in English (and in the case of the diagrams, crudely … Continue reading Cypher This!
WYSIWYG or “WYSINWYG?”
Back in the '80s, computer geeks were always talking about programming code that let a developer (and eventually a user) see the end product of their work on the monitor screen while they were in the middle of creating it. These editors were known by the acronym "WYSIWYG" ("What you see is what you get"), … Continue reading WYSIWYG or “WYSINWYG?”
Cutting-Edge Cartomancy
The Cartomancer is a glossy, elegant, high-quality and high-caliber quarterly international journal for the card-reading enthusiast, mainly focusing on Tarot, Lenormand and Oracle deck study and practice. After a distinguished turn at the helm by Jadzia deForest, the publication has now been purchased and is being published by Arwen Lynch-Poe. This is Arwen's inaugural effort, … Continue reading Cutting-Edge Cartomancy
The Solitary Path
Back when I was an active member of American Mensa, I was what was known as an "Isolated M," which meant that I lived so far out in "God's Country" (aka "the Middle of Nowhere") that I derived zero benefit from my paid membership (to add insult to injury, they refused to send me a … Continue reading The Solitary Path
Serena’s Tarot Light-bulb Joke
I haven't read this one in a while, but thought I would share it because it offers a lot of sound tarot wisdom in humorous form (© 1999 by Serena Powers). Q: How many Major Arcana does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: All of them: • The Fool has already started … Continue reading Serena’s Tarot Light-bulb Joke
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 