A widely-held conviction among modern tarot readers is that there are no categorically "good" or "bad" cards in the deck, therefore no single card can give a "yes" or "no" answer via a one-card pull. I often quote James Wanless, who said "There are no negative cards, only opportunities." As a working hypothesis, this seems … Continue reading Yes, No and Maybe Cards
Tarot Resources
Thoth Court Cards “By the Book”
A while back, as a service to the on-line Thoth community, I went through every paragraph of the Court Card section of the Book of Thoth, trawling Crowley's "moral characteristics" for words and phrases that could be compiled into a robust keyword list derived from his own words. After tabulating that, I created a second, … Continue reading Thoth Court Cards “By the Book”
Fortitude and the TdM Master Layout
Before anyone flees for the exit, this 78-card extravaganza is NOT a spread for divination, it's a systematic way to assign interpretive meaning to the suit cards of the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) by “borrowing” it from the “trump” cards of the same number (up to a point). Finding meaning in the numbered small (or … Continue reading Fortitude and the TdM Master Layout
The Crosstown Traffic Series
Here is something that will be of absolutely no practical use to anybody except those of us who think deep, convoluted thoughts about tarot as a "system" (and maybe not even then). It falls off the far edge of theoretical thinking even for me, but I do like the visuals. (And I always did admire … Continue reading The Crosstown Traffic Series
Elemental Modifiers as Natural Phenomena
In Part Three of the Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley briefly examines the elemental qualities of the Knight cards as natural phenomena: the “swift and violent, but transient” Knights correspond to the Lightning Flash in Wands; to Rain and Springs in Cups; to Wind in Swords; and to Mountains in Disks. Then he neatly extricates … Continue reading Elemental Modifiers as Natural Phenomena
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 