UPDATE #2: OK, let's try this again. All of the tags have been turned into formal categories and the search function seems to be finding what it should. The "Categories" drop-down is the way to access them. Let me know if you find glitches when using it. UPDATE: Unfortunately, the WordPress search engine isn't robust … Continue reading Binning My Spreads
Tarot Resources
A Maxwell Primer
I frequently speak of British-born French tarot writer Joseph Maxwell in admiring terms, mainly for his numerological exploration of the Minor Arcana (despite the fact that my forum friends in France assure me that Ivor Powell's translation of Maxwell's book, The Tarot, is an inadequate one and the book is a difficult read even in … Continue reading A Maxwell Primer
Jodo’s Hermit: Walk this Way
I've been slowly and patiently working my way through Alejandro Jodorowsky's Tarot de Marseille book, The Way of Tarot (a full analysis of which will have to wait for another time, assuming I get to the end of it). I came to it prepared to be disappointed, convinced by previous reviews that it veers too … Continue reading Jodo’s Hermit: Walk this Way
A Little Ingenuity
A while back I spent a few hours pasting together a Lenormand Grand Tableau layout sheet, and was keeping it in a cardboard portfolio under the bed. Last week-end I crumpled it slightly while pulling out my guitar case (to be honest, I forgot it was there since I've been working mostly with tarot lately). … Continue reading A Little Ingenuity
The Stairway from Heaven
Much has been said about the lack of a coherent traditional system for interpreting the minor - or "pip" - cards of historical tarot decks (which, after all, were never intended for divination). The scenic minor cards of the Waite-Smith deck are basically an imaginative "work-around" designed to squeeze meaning out of these inscrutable icons … Continue reading The Stairway from Heaven
Useful Patterns: Trump Card Overseers
I'm always looking for useful patterns among the cards of the tarot to augment my spread interpretation. Lately I've been playing around with numerical convergence between the cards of the Major and Minor Arcana. But I like to go beyond the obvious into more oblique territory. For example, when the values of all of the … Continue reading Useful Patterns: Trump Card Overseers
The Pentagram of Fire Spread
Here is the second product of my exploration of the Golden Dawn's Invoking Pentagrams as a source of insight from an elemental perspective. The goal of this one is to examine the developmental potential arising from one's enterprise and initiative, whether in starting a business, finding a new job or embarking on any creative endeavor. … Continue reading The Pentagram of Fire Spread
Elemental Pentagram Spreads
The 5-card Pentagram Spread is a time-honored layout that is almost as prevalent as the line spread. But I have always felt that something is lacking in its construction, principally in the sequencing of the cards as commonly practiced. Many readers start with Card #1 at the upper point of the diagram, others work from … Continue reading Elemental Pentagram Spreads
More Thoth Musings
Since there is some interest in my view of the Thoth as an alkahest, or "universal solvent" in the world of tarot divination, I thought I would strike while the iron is hot. The best place to chase down this notion is with Frieda Harris's wonderfully evocative Minor Arcana (aka "pip") cards, and one of … Continue reading More Thoth Musings
Thoth As Universal Solvent
I'm feeling a bit mystical this morning and got thinking that, with enough dedicated study and contemplation, Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot is well-positioned to be "all things to all people" in the world of tarot divination. It has one foot in the New Age (and often strides nimbly past that metaphysical sink-hole, which is why … Continue reading Thoth As Universal Solvent
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 