AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is an approach to personality profiling that uses a "prepared" deck split into trump, court and pip card sub-packs. The design employs three layers of significance: the outer rectangle of four "pip" cards displays a tableau of daily experience in four elemental attitudes or postures; the middle diamond of four court cards … Continue reading “Who Am I Right Now?” – A Three-Part Personality Profile
Tarot Spreads
Breaking Into Spreads: A Beginner’s Syllabus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another essay prompted by a "frequently asked question" from the online tarot community. Tarot beginners who follow the conventional wisdom of learning the cards one-at-a-time, both in a sequential "card-a-day" manner and via single-card pulls, are often unsure how they can break out of that narrow box and into more complex … Continue reading Breaking Into Spreads: A Beginner’s Syllabus
Lines, Circles and T-Squares: The Three-Card Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dreams have a way of bringing things to your attention that would have never crossed your mind. This one sharpened my view of the three-card spread. A few days ago I dreamed I was having a conversation with a former subordinate (someone I haven't supervised in over twenty years) about the nature of … Continue reading Lines, Circles and T-Squares: The Three-Card Reading
Percolating Insights: Reversed Cards in the Celtic Cross Reading
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
Revisiting the Tirage en Croix: “Hold the Woo!”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The excellent tirage en croix (aka "French Cross") spread originated in Continental Europe and it offers an ideal alternative to the modern three-card and five-card line. It is a straightforward predictive layout that I understand was developed by Swiss occultist Oswald Wirth. I recently came across a description of it on the r/tarot … Continue reading Revisiting the Tirage en Croix: “Hold the Woo!”
“Alternate Outcome” Developmental Timeline Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another mixed-media spread that uses cards and dice. It is intended as a longer-range alternative to the Celtic Cross that offers a similar event timeline and "advice" mode while providing for two alternate "end of the matter" cards. I've been having an online conversation regarding the premise that "now" is the … Continue reading “Alternate Outcome” Developmental Timeline Spread
2024 Celtic Wheel of the Year Layout
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the next solar cycle, I chose not to pull random cards to represent the Celtic year, but rather to use the tarot trump cards associated with the eight Celtic holidays and the four zodiacal ingress dates for the Sun, thus creating a universal layout with slightly more irregular sequencing than the typical … Continue reading 2024 Celtic Wheel of the Year Layout
A Tarot Grand Tableau: Cross-Cutting Heresy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When Lenormand experts are confronted with the question of whether tarot cards can be paired with traditional Lenormand spreads, they sound the alarm and man the battlements. But in keeping with my current action-and-event-based approach to tarot, I can see how the Minor Arcana might be used in a manner similar to the … Continue reading A Tarot Grand Tableau: Cross-Cutting Heresy
Turbatus Somnus* – A Sleep-Cycle Disruption Spread
*Disturbed sleep (I know very little Latin, blame Google Translate) AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's common to ask the tarot "How will my day go?" Here I'm asking "How will my night go?" Insomnia is a subject I haven't tackled before in a tarot spread. I have a mild form of it and the cause is seldom … Continue reading Turbatus Somnus* – A Sleep-Cycle Disruption Spread
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
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 