AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just rejoined the r/SecularTarot sub-reddit feed, and another member asked how the secular diviner reads the cards without mystical input. Lately I've been thinking of myself more as a "rational" reader than a "spiritual" or "psychological" one, so in answer to this request I decided to summarize where I've landed since I … Continue reading Logic and Imagination: The Twin Pillars of Secular Tarot Reading
Tarot Opinion
The Anecdotal Angle in Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The reliability of highly speculative forms of divination like cartomancy is an open question that is normally approached from an anecdotal angle. Did the querent experience the outcome exactly as described in the forecast? A more empirical viewpoint would seek to quantify the results based on more than just subjective perception, perhaps along … Continue reading The Anecdotal Angle in Divination
“Three Sizes Too Small:” My RWS Apostasy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've worked with the Thoth deck for over 50 years because I think it cuts much deeper than the rest. I'm also fond of the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) and the Lenormand cards, and I'm chipping away at playing-card divination, the I Ching and geomancy. The Waite-Smith (RWS) deck is far down in … Continue reading “Three Sizes Too Small:” My RWS Apostasy
Tactfulness: The Professional Diviner’s Best Friend
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A recurring topic of discussion in the online tarot community is whether a public reader who is confronted with a highly negative prediction should just dump it on the seeker with no attempt at moderating the presentation. There are some who would rather walk away in these situations than sugarcoat their statements or … Continue reading Tactfulness: The Professional Diviner’s Best Friend
Say What? “Neutral” Cards in the Tarot?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: That's a rhetorical question because every card carries an elemental "charge," whether by suit or astrological association: Fire and Air are positive; Water and Earth are negative; none are neutral. But for the sake of argument, I'm proposing that some cards are decidedly less emphatic in their normal expression than their peers. The … Continue reading Say What? “Neutral” Cards in the Tarot?
Pages and Knights: Message or Messenger?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again in the tarot literature, I've come across the old assumption that the Pages can represent "messages" for the querent when they appear in a spread. At other times I've seen the Knights described as "messengers" entering the situation. I thought it would be worthwhile to examine the differences between the two … Continue reading Pages and Knights: Message or Messenger?
The Ten of Swords: Success by a Thousand Cuts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The title is a riff on ling chi, the ancient Chinese method of torture and execution that bled the victim to death over an extended period of time using myriad small cuts (technically, the methodical removal of body parts). In English it is variously called "slow slicing," "lingering death," or "death by a … Continue reading The Ten of Swords: Success by a Thousand Cuts
The Tarot Reader and the “Sword of Truth” – The Perilous Pursuit of Speculative Divination
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”- Attributed to Mark Twain (with thanks to Dean Radin for the tip) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those tarot readers who champion freestyle improvisation and dismiss matter-of-fact appraisal of the cards have an implacable "sword of truth" … Continue reading The Tarot Reader and the “Sword of Truth” – The Perilous Pursuit of Speculative Divination
Sun and Clouds: The Variable Tarot Forecast
"May you live in interesting times."- Ancient Chinese curse AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's a common belief among tarot professionals that every prophecy must end on an encouraging note for reasons of "client empowerment." I'm not one of those since strength of character can emerge from bad tidings as readily as from good ones. It's a matter … Continue reading Sun and Clouds: The Variable Tarot Forecast
The “Knight of Wants” – Reach vs. Grasp in Tarot Terms*
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"(Robert Browning) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although the line from Browning's poem was clearly meant to be inspirational, in common usage the phrase "his reach exceeds his grasp" is intended to mean that the individual is aspiring to a lofty summit that he can't … Continue reading The “Knight of Wants” – Reach vs. Grasp in Tarot Terms*
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 