AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the Taoist concept of "claiming the space" in Taiji martial-arts combat by swinging the arms in a specifically "yang" (or offensive) manner as opposed to "relinquishing the space" in strategic withdrawal via a defensive "yin" arm-movement. I decided to apply this "yang" idea to a tarot spread. Begin by … Continue reading Claiming the Space: An Elemental-Alignment Spread
Tarot Spreads
Modality and Sensitivity: A Fourfold Response Pattern
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been reading about the practice of Taiji with its yin-and-yang duality and the need to balance our psychological condition with our physical state of well-being. Two terms - modality and sensitivity - started me thinking about similar qualities in tarot reading, where there are four elemental modalities that separate naturally into two … Continue reading Modality and Sensitivity: A Fourfold Response Pattern
The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Suppose that every card in a horizontal three-card line isn't an isolated instance but rather the randomly-drawn locus of another perpendicular three-card set based on its "natural" position in the 78-card run. We would then have a nine-card tableau with "mini-storyboards" that can be read vertically and diagonally as well as in the … Continue reading The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
The Integrated Way: Moral Judgement in Tarot (A Self-Development Spread)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While I prefer to "just read the cards" and typically shy away from offering moral advice in my tarot readings, use of the cards for self-analysis and self-development invites its consideration in making value-based decisions about one's life. The cards themselves are neutral on that score, so it's a context-specific call the querent … Continue reading The Integrated Way: Moral Judgement in Tarot (A Self-Development Spread)
Mastery of Circumstances: The Triangular Pyramid Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In "The Problem of the Fourth" (Part Five of A Psychological Approach to the Trinity), Carl Gustav Jung observed "There are three, but where is the fourth?" There are numerous tarot spreads that use a tripartite motif: past/present/ future; action/reaction/resolution; thesis/antithesis/synthesis; if/then/else; etc. But here I'm projecting that planar model into three dimensions … Continue reading Mastery of Circumstances: The Triangular Pyramid Spread
Of Snakes and Swallows: A Conflict-Resolution Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've had this draft in the queue for some time and decided to finish it. The subject of the example reading was on my mind when I created the spread, but it could be used in any situation where "both ends are arrayed against the middle." As described in Benebell Wen's I Ching … Continue reading Of Snakes and Swallows: A Conflict-Resolution Spread
Calling Forth Answers: A Mixed-Media Problem Solving Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been a while since I last explored the technique of using a board-game spinner and an array of tarot cards to come up with a two-tiered approach to reading. In Benebell Wen's I Ching The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes, I've been learning about an abbreviated yarrow-stalk method … Continue reading Calling Forth Answers: A Mixed-Media Problem Solving Spread
A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not the first writer to use the term "tarotscope;" I've encountered it in various posts over the years. But here I'm applying it to a merger of horary astrology and tarot to come up with a monthly forecast that may well be unique. (I don't believe the hyphenated term in my title … Continue reading A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For my header I've truncated the book title Actions with Spirits (Christopher Whitby, Garland Publishing, 1988), itself a condensation of the much longer moniker for a scholarly 1659 analysis of the "actions with spirits" (purportedly conversations with angels) undertaken by Dr. John Dee with scryers Edward Kelley and Barnabas Saul between 1581 and … Continue reading Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been reading about ancestor worship in Asia (which is not precisely "deification" but instead a ceremonial show of respect usually accompanied by ritual offerings and a sincere plea for assistance with one's mundane affairs). I've created a couple of spreads in the past with the goal of ancestor contact, but this knowledge … Continue reading Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 