It can probably be said with some confidence that a good many people, when finding themselves in difficulty, first cast about for some other person on whom to fix the blame. Human nature seems to crave a salve for the troubled conscience, and woe to anyone who is careless enough to look even marginally culpable. … Continue reading Court Cards as Scapegoats
Tarot Opinion
Trump Card Elemental Assignments
Among writers on the Golden Dawn's version of the esoteric tarot, there is general agreement that each of the twelve so-called "zodiacal" trump cards can be assigned one of four classical elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth) according to the quality of the sign to which they correspond. The three trump cards associated with three … Continue reading Trump Card Elemental Assignments
The Mystical Tarot Deck Interview
Few decks in recent memory have been the subject of such intense on-line debate. It is undeniably beautiful and also quirky, with ornate borders that some love and others loathe. It's a Sola-Busca-meets-RWS extravaganza that toes the interpretive line while also seeming simultaneously fresh and antique. I happen to like the blend, although I haven't … Continue reading The Mystical Tarot Deck Interview
Cheap Shots #20: Sliding Scale or Slippery Slope?
This topic has reared it's hoary old head once again on the tarot forums: why are the Lenormand cards considered to be totally literal (as opposed to more psychological) in their focus on events, and when did that start? Since it was aimed at Lenormand reading, my reply was slanted that way, but it really … Continue reading Cheap Shots #20: Sliding Scale or Slippery Slope?
An Iconoclastic View of Systems
I'm an iconoclast when it comes to cartomantic systems (except for the traditional Lenormand method because it works so well, at least as far as I choose to take it). I tend to cherry-pick what works for me and ignore what doesn't. The RWS tarot deck is a good example. When reading with it, I … Continue reading An Iconoclastic View of Systems
The PoMo Tarot Deck Interview
If Brian Williams' Post-Modern Tarot deck from 1994 had a motto, it would be "Nobody likes a smart-ass." Williams managed to put his finger squarely on the pulse of bored, self-indulgent, late-20th-century American culture, and then tweaked its collective nose hard. I've had it since 1994 but seldom used it until recently, when I had a … Continue reading The PoMo Tarot Deck Interview
Cheap Shots #19: Dr. Doolittle on Rulerships
While putting together my table of active and passive affinities, I got to thinking about the sometimes schizophrenic relationship between the seven traditional planets and the sign(s) of their rulership. Not that there isn't an internal logic to all of the correspondences (as we shall see), but some apparent anomalies do crop up. For the … Continue reading Cheap Shots #19: Dr. Doolittle on Rulerships
Cheap Shots #18: Justice Restored
No, this isn't about the impeachment of Donald Trump. It alludes to the fact that Aleister Crowley returned the trump cards Justice and Strength (aka Fortitude) to the positions they held in the historical decks of Italy and France: Justice as the eighth in the series and Strength as the eleventh. For his part, A. … Continue reading Cheap Shots #18: Justice Restored
Cheap Shots #17: Tone vs. Substance
One complaint of the tarot novice that comes up quite often on the forums is "Nothing happened the way the cards said it would." This is sometimes accompanied by a profound loss of faith that drives the discouraged neophyte away from the practice of divination entirely. Even the trite remark that "the cards weren't wrong, … Continue reading Cheap Shots #17: Tone vs. Substance
Confessions of an Incurable Thothie
By all reliable accounts, Aleister Crowley was not a nice man. Yet he fathered one of the enduring icons of modern tarot - the Thoth deck - along with its remarkable companion volume, The Book of Thoth or BoT. A revisionist attempt is afoot to give the lion's share of the credit for the excellence of … Continue reading Confessions of an Incurable Thothie
