Let's try this again. It turns out that the WordPress search function only targets the header and body text, and doesn't find category or tag entries, so text search is useless for what I want to do. I will have to create new categories to be able to find posts that are related only to … Continue reading A Bit of Housekeeping
Tarot Resources
Coming or Going?
In the Golden Dawn tarot papers, MacGregor Mathers made an observation regarding the facing or directionality of the Kings and Pages when placed in a spread: "The Kings, if looking against the direction of the reading, or if meeting it, represent the coming of a person or event, or phase of an event, but if … Continue reading Coming or Going?
Professional Ethics
The assurance of ethical conduct during tarot readings is a persistent source of anxiety for readers just starting out in professional practice. Government jurisdictions that have anti-fortune-telling laws on the books make it that much more stressful. When I began reading publicly in a professional setting, I crafted a set of ground-rules for myself that … Continue reading Professional Ethics
Numerological Fun with the Trumps
I was thinking today about the ways that the Major Arcana cards tie together numerologically. Except for the Fool, all of them have what Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm call "numerological counterparts:" trump cards whose numbers when subject to mathematical reduction result in a lower-numbered card with which the original card can be seen as having … Continue reading Numerological Fun with the Trumps
The Full Monty: Comparing Tarot Deck Styles
For those of you aren't British, this is the source of my title: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_full_monty_(phrase) A question was recently raised on one of the tarot forums as to whether there is a comprehensive table providing a side-by-side comparison of card meanings across all the major deck styles: Tarot de Marseille (TdM), Etteilla, Wirth, Golden Dawn, RWS … Continue reading The Full Monty: Comparing Tarot Deck Styles
Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
A couple of years ago one of my Aeclectic Tarot forum mates conducted an exercise to explore how the Minor Arcana, or "pip" cards, of the Thoth deck might be categorized as a range of emotional expressions: Joy, Anger, Love, Grief, Surprise, Fear, Trust and Anxiety. Because the Thoth pips have titles on them as … Continue reading Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
An Opening of the Key First Operation Template
Those who are interested in the Golden Dawn and Thoth methods of divination have the complex and lengthy Opening of the Key (OotK) series of "operations" to entertain them. This includes a relatively straightforward initial operation that provides an overview of the querent's situation at the time of the reading. It is followed by three … Continue reading An Opening of the Key First Operation Template
Table of Affinities and Correspondences
One technique often used by tarot readers when analyzing a spread is that of preponderance - determining whether there is an abundance (or conversely, an absence) of any fundamental aspect of interpretation. This approach can show where too much (or not enough) attention is being paid to certain particulars of the matter, possibly to the … Continue reading Table of Affinities and Correspondences
The Golden Dawn Factor
The contribution of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to our modern understanding and use of the tarot cannot be overestimated. Here is a link to a brief article on Biddy Tarot by Richard L. Palmer that lays out the fundamentals. https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-astrology-golden-dawn/ The esoteric concepts and structures devised by the Golden Dawn and its … Continue reading The Golden Dawn Factor
My Tarot and Lenormand Decks
Since I'm offering personal on-line readings here, I thought it would be prudent to list all of the tarot and Lenormand decks I have available. The first six are those I use regularly in face-to-face public readings, the rest are more for private use and study but I will read with any you choose. That … Continue reading My Tarot and Lenormand Decks