AUTHOR'S NOTE: As my thinking on the Major Arcana continues to evolve, I occasionally experience an epiphany during my online tarot conversations. I was explaining my opinions about the most effective uses for the cards on the r/tarot forum, and was asked a question that sent me down an unexplored path. Having worked with tarot … Continue reading “Warring Archetypes”
Tarot Opinion
Partly Dark with a Chance of Rain
Even as a naive young novice I was leery of making glib predictions with the tarot; my early work in astrology had taught me that there are few metaphysical absolutes and the Prime Directive was to offer the seeker an intricate synthesis of possibilities. There are a number of good reasons to avoid the practice … Continue reading Partly Dark with a Chance of Rain
Cosmic “Drop-Outs”*
*Alternate Titles: "Yet Another Screed on 'How Tarot Works' or 'The Things You Come Up With at 4:00 AM" Taking their cue from advances in astrophysics, science fiction writers at one time loved to talk about the "space-time continuum," mainly as a backdrop for their noodling over ideas like "curved space" and "worm-holes" as a … Continue reading Cosmic “Drop-Outs”*
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
“Nothing Is Sacred”
There, I said it. I can't think of a single thing when it comes to the tarot that should be considered immutable and inviolable, except maybe its 78-card structure since I don't cotton to extra cards; no "Happy Squirrel" card for me since such "augmented" decks act more as oracle than tarot. The same is … Continue reading “Nothing Is Sacred”
RWS in the Cross-Hairs: A Critique
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not enamored of the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot deck. I think it comes in a distant second to the Thoth Tarot's "masterful/magical/mystical/ mythical/metaphorical mojo;" after all, how could it compete with Aleister Crowley's enormous erudition and Frieda Harris's brilliant rendering. Don't hate me, but I'm afraid it's true. I do use it in … Continue reading RWS in the Cross-Hairs: A Critique
“Inner Navigation” with the Thoth Tarot
The purpose of this essay is to inquire "At what point does (or should) a serious tarot scholar become a diviner?" The best answer to that comes from Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth, at the beginning of Appendix A, "The Behaviour of the Tarot: Its Use in the Art of Divination," which I will quote … Continue reading “Inner Navigation” with the Thoth Tarot
The “One-and-Done” Single Use Dilemma
There are at least four instances (and one related case) I can think of where a card in the tarot deck is limited to a single appearance in a reading when it might be reasonable (and in some cases necessary) to assume that it warrants more than one iteration. One of these is the 12-card … Continue reading The “One-and-Done” Single Use Dilemma
“Who’s Got the Ball?” – Court Cards As “Agency”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The ideas and practices described here are updated from those presented in at least one earlier post on the subject. It has always struck me that the court cards of a tarot deck have a fairly narrow range of usefulness in a reading (not to mention that they are often a source of … Continue reading “Who’s Got the Ball?” – Court Cards As “Agency”
The Astropsychology of the Tree of Life, Part 2: General Notes
Since the philosophical and hierarchical bases (beyond my First Principle that "Nothing is sacred") may not be perfectly clear for my comprehensive redistribution of the planets, signs and tarot trumps on the paths of the Hermetic Tree of Life , I decided to post my notes. My goals in reallocating the seven traditional planets to … Continue reading The Astropsychology of the Tree of Life, Part 2: General Notes
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 