In preparing material for a presentation handout on Elemental Dignities, I amassed quite a bit of detail on the background of the subject. Following the presentation, I had further thoughts on application of the Golden Dawn rules provided in Liber T and the amplification given by Jim Eshelman in Liber Theta. Demystifying Elemental Dignities
Tarot Resources
The Art of Spread Creation
In the last six years I've created over sixty complex tarot spreads and a few for the Lenormand system that I posted for community use on the Aeclectic Tarot forum (and over a dozen since). What set my spreads apart from the usual forum contribution was the full-color graphic presentation for each layout (rather than … Continue reading The Art of Spread Creation
The Tree in the Oval
In her 1970 book The Complete Guide to the Tarot, Eden Gray teamed up with astrologer Mary Beckwith Cohen to attempt a redistribution of the Major Arcana to the Qabalistic Tree of Life by disregarding the paths between the sephiroth and instead placing the zodiacal trumps in an oval around the Tree. She called her … Continue reading The Tree in the Oval
Court and Minor Cards as Allies to the Major Arcana
The appeal of systematically aligning the cards of the Minor Arcana with the Major Arcana has engaged many thinkers on the tarot, and a number of schemes have been proposed, most with a numerical or hierarchical root. Attempts along these lines have been made by James Wanless (Voyager Tarot) and Elizabeth Hazel (The Tarot Decoded). … Continue reading Court and Minor Cards as Allies to the Major Arcana
Aces as Significators
Since I'm luke-warm about the usefulness of court-card Significators, I came up with an approach that uses the elemental nature of the different Aces instead. I created the attached information sheet, which I show to my sitters before a reading and have them pick which of the descriptions most accurately fits their circumstances. Since I … Continue reading Aces as Significators
The “Aha!” Card
Ever wonder why most tarot decks at one time contained 80 cards and not 78? Modern printing practices seem to have changed, but not so long ago tarot decks were printed on sheets of card stock that produced 40 cards per sheet. So the deck creator - or more often the publisher - had two … Continue reading The “Aha!” Card
Astro-Tarot Decanate Tableau and Spread
It's probably obvious that I'm a tireless tinkerer. In the present case, I took the round zodiacal presentation of the Chaldean decans aligned with the cards of the tarot and turned it into a tabular structure. This arranges all of the decan cards, the court cards and the Major Arcana in an easy-to-read format that … Continue reading Astro-Tarot Decanate Tableau and Spread
Yes, No and Maybe Cards
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
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
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 