AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across a fascinating observation in Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising that could revolutionize my "gestalt" approach to analyzing a tarot spread. (I contemplate this stuff a lot, and it can take me to some strange places.) "Intuition 'is a way of thinking between and around data-points on the perceptual screen … Continue reading Intuition Steps Into the Gap
Tarot Techniques
“Step Lively”- A General Health Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just created this new health-related spread and decided to test it on my own status. (It would work just as well for any other situational-awareness scenario.) None of the cards came up inverted, although I didn't intentionally suppress reversed orientation. The court cards in the suit of Wands suggest a sprightly constitution, … Continue reading “Step Lively”- A General Health Reading
The “New Tarot” – Losing the Signal?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson presents semanticist Alfred Korzybski's principle of "time-binding" by which the passing of signals from one generation to the next assures that informational coherence is maintained in perpetuity (or at least until a major paradigm-shift disrupts the order of things, which used to happen once a century but … Continue reading The “New Tarot” – Losing the Signal?
The Past/Present/Future Tarot Reading in Euclidean Space
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his book Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson discusses three-dimensional "Euclidean space," observing that every human experience displays not only a perceived* temporal shift from the Past to the Future (conventionally graphed as left-to-right) and a non-temporal "chaotic-to-concrete" organizing principle that devolves from top-to-bottom (my Qabalistic take, not his), but also a psychological … Continue reading The Past/Present/Future Tarot Reading in Euclidean Space
Tarot Profiling: “Don’t Need No Gypsy to Tell You Why”
- from Ain't Wastin' Time No More by the Allman Brothers Band. AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a classical astrologer I don't agree with the elemental assignments for the four "humours" (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic) presented in a slightly different form by Robert Anton Wilson in Prometheus Rising, but his fourfold model of human sociopolitical behavior … Continue reading Tarot Profiling: “Don’t Need No Gypsy to Tell You Why”
Room with a View: Sublimating the Major Arcana*
*Sublimate: to refine or purify; to elevate AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been saying for several years that the Major Arcana (aka trump cards) are more about background themes than significant events. In my own practice over the last five decades I just haven't seen them amount to much when they appear in a routine fortune-telling scenario. … Continue reading Room with a View: Sublimating the Major Arcana*
The “Elastic” Tarot Reading: Stretching the Narrative
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This innovation is a real "stretch" (and perhaps even a dead-end) but I'm always seeking unique approaches to spread use. This one is just more "out there" than most, although the goal of overcoming an insurmountable roadblock is legitimate. Tarot readers who prefer to use positional spreads (for the record, I'm one of … Continue reading The “Elastic” Tarot Reading: Stretching the Narrative
Jumping Hurdles: A “Race to the Finish” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This spread was inspired by my reading of Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot and her "Six Controversies" (aka "Six Points") spread that examines "points of contention or strife in the seeker's situation." In my own model I'm using the idea of "hurdles" as represented by figurative potholes or boulders that place obstacles in the … Continue reading Jumping Hurdles: A “Race to the Finish” Spread
Learning to Read the Tarot Cards: A Non-Mystical Guide
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Short of sitting in a classroom with them, I may not be the best person to teach beginners how to read the tarot cards because supervised "learning by doing" is far more effective than anything "canned" in the way of self-study (including YouTube presentations, which I don't do anyway). I developed my own … Continue reading Learning to Read the Tarot Cards: A Non-Mystical Guide
The Primary/Secondary “Tarot Ledger” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A comment on one of my Medium posts led me to the idea that it would be productive to bin the cards pulled for a spread into "Primary Scope/Direct Answer" and "Secondary Scope/Rest of the Story" sub-categories, resembling a double-entry financial ledger. So here goes! I began by shuffling the deck to allow … Continue reading The Primary/Secondary “Tarot Ledger” Spread
