Since 1972 I've generally followed Eden Gray's advice about not asking my sitters to tell me their specific question or topic of interest in advance of a reading, instead letting the cards speak their piece with no subconscious "preconditioning" due to foreknowledge on my part. Sitters silently invest the cards with their inquiry during the shuffle and cut, and their reactions to my … Continue reading The “Evolving Question” Scenario
Tarot Techniques
Mueller vs. Manafort: End Game
UPDATE: Manafort was convicted on 8 counts but the jury couldn't reach agreement on 10 others so the judge declared a mistrial. This aligns with the impression from the reading that he would be partially exonerated, although the government can still choose to retry him so it could amount to no more than a reprieve. https://www.wmur.com/article/paul-manafort/22739733 With … Continue reading Mueller vs. Manafort: End Game
The End of the World and the Major Arcana
This brief poem by Archibald MacLeish is also a candidate for "tarotization." It looks like a five-card trump sequence. Quite unexpectedly, as Vasserot The armless ambidextrian was lighting A match between his great and second toe This suggests the dexterous skill of the Magician. Call it "sleight-of-toe." And Ralph the lion was engaged in biting … Continue reading The End of the World and the Major Arcana
Kubla Khan and the Major Arcana
I've been having a lot of fun lately trying to marry popular song titles and lyrics to the images of the tarot by creating metaphorical links between them. I realized this morning that something similar should be do-able with the mystical poetry that forms part of the "Great Works" of traditional literature. I already used the "bloody but … Continue reading Kubla Khan and the Major Arcana
Tarot 101, My Way – Card Reading for Beginners
The first impression that newcomers to the tarot cards often receive, if they're serious about learning, is "These things are complicated" (and they would not be wrong). You aren't going to digest them at one sitting (or even 100, for that matter), you have to approach them as you would eating an elephant, one well-chewed … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Card Reading for Beginners
Tarot 101, My Way – The Minor Arcana
In my experience, the numbered suit cards of the tarot provide the "meat" of any reading aimed at examining the eventualities of day-to-day existence. The Waite-Smith deck and its ilk even have prosaic scenes on their Minor Arcana that suggest - for better or worse, as we shall see - ready-made narrative vignettes. One of the best ways to … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – The Minor Arcana
Who Killed Mary? – A “Whodunit” Reading
Thirty-seven-year-old Mary Critchley was murdered sometime between July 25, 1981, when she attempted to hitch a ride from Framingham, MA to Waterbury, VT, and August 9, 1981, when her body was discovered in the woods of rural Unity, NH. https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-unsolved-case-file-mary-elizabeth-critchley/22677217 I performed my "Rogue's Gallery" spread to see what it might tell me about this cold … Continue reading Who Killed Mary? – A “Whodunit” Reading
Tarot 101, My Way – The Court Cards
The court cards of the tarot can be an elusive enigma for beginners. Nineteenth-century descriptions of the courts as defining the physical characteristics of people who may appear in a situation didn't help by encouraging the "tall, dark stranger" mode of fortune-telling prediction that has since fallen out of favor. The context of a particular question may not even admit the active … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – The Court Cards
The $100,000 Question: Closing in on Excellence
There used to be a TV quiz show called "The $64,000 Question." Accounting for inflation and devaluation, let's up the ante and call this the "$100,000 Question:" What are the key qualities that make for an exceptionally competent and effective tarot reader, those that separate the best from the rest? (Hint: It's more than just "being … Continue reading The $100,000 Question: Closing in on Excellence
Tarot 101, My Way – The Major Arcana and Esoteric Symbolism
There are a couple of different ways to approach sequencing of the Major Arcana, or "trump" cards. Modern thinking is that the series begins with the Fool, numbered zero, and ends with the World, designated XXI in Roman numerals. But it wasn't always that way. Some early decks had the Fool as an unnumbered card and various writers … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – The Major Arcana and Esoteric Symbolism
