AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently had occasion to present my view that any reversed card in a spread could be inferred as having a "Hanged-Man moment" in that it requires bringing an inverted perspective to bear on our assessment of the energy involved. Its mode of arrival is redirected along occluded channels that may be subconscious … Continue reading Percolating Insights: Reversed Cards in the Celtic Cross Reading
Tarot Readings
An “Alternate Outcome” Example Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: To test the spread I posted recently, I decided to ask what the long-term prognosis is for my general well-being (at my age it becomes increasingly relevant) without trying to be specific about health matters. I used Pat Zalewski's Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn, and did not apply reversals. I find the … Continue reading An “Alternate Outcome” Example Reading
Jumping the Gap: Multilayered Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the past I've written about the fact that every tarot card contains several layers of meaning, and reading one can resemble peeling an onion. If a practical, action-and-event-oriented approach fails to illuminate the matter, a deeper cut could reveal the psychological angle of "attitudes and behaviors" to be adopted or avoided by … Continue reading Jumping the Gap: Multilayered Tarot Reading
Anchoring the Abstract
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many years ago in Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom, I encountered the 21-card, 7x3 tableau of tarot trumps (the Fool was set aside as a "thing apart"). The arrangement ran from the Magician at the top-left to the World at the bottom-right. More recently, I came across it again in Sallie Nichols' … Continue reading Anchoring the Abstract
Flagrant Faking: Real or Imaginary?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent sub-reddit thread, someone asked whether it is possible to spot a "fake" tarot reader, and how that might be done. The person was understandably nervous about paying for a poor-quality reading by an incompetent practitioner. Many of the negative comments were aimed at YouTube readers, and I was inspired to … Continue reading Flagrant Faking: Real or Imaginary?
The “Double-Axle” Energy Rotation Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I often contemplate the operation of "centrifugal" (externalizing) and "centripetal" (internalizing) metaphysical forces as they can be applied to the practice of tarot, something I used to good effect in working up my personal set of definitions for the Tarot de Marseille pips. Here is a spread constructed on those principles. (It is … Continue reading The “Double-Axle” Energy Rotation Spread
Lunar Month Look-Ahead for November – December, 2023: A “Double Feature”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For my New Moon forecast this month I'm doing both my normal monthly reading with the tarot and a Lenormand Grand Tableau overview to get a different perspective on the next four weeks. (I need more practice with the GT.) The eight lunar sub-phases for the period are as follows; each span is … Continue reading Lunar Month Look-Ahead for November – December, 2023: A “Double Feature”
“Through A Glass Darkly” – Predicting World Events
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The art of correctly divining the course of large-scale human events (as opposed to purely natural phenomena) on the world stage is one that has intrigued fortune-tellers since Elizabethan astrologer William Lilly predicted the Great Fire of London in 1666. In my own work, these occasions are primarily sociopolitical in scope, and the … Continue reading “Through A Glass Darkly” – Predicting World Events
Lunar Month Look-Ahead for October-November 2023
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I intend to perform a New Moon reading promptly for every month in which I remember to do so, but I don't always succeed; so here is my slightly-delayed personal Lunar Month forecast for the cycle that began with the New Moon on October 14, 2023. I'm using the latest version of this … Continue reading Lunar Month Look-Ahead for October-November 2023
The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've always felt that the purpose of working with the tarot on a regular basis is to acquire wisdom and thus to become more savvy day-by-day. Our daily experiences are often a product of our mental state, except to the extent that we're in thrall to the agenda of someone else, either individually … Continue reading The Actors and the Plot: The Dramatis Personae of the Tarot