Some of my followers have encouraged me to offer online tarot lessons. While I have no interest in getting into an interactive training arrangement, I don't mind mentoring to the best of my ability. Last year I created some beginner's instructional material for a face-to-face course that never happened. I'm going to present that material here … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – An Overview
Tarot Techniques
“Head ‘Em Off At The Pass” – A Decision-Making Spread
Here is a complex. multi-input spread that is intended to be used at the "brainstorming" stage of any important initiative, either personal or professional. It takes its inspiration from the "fishbone" (or "Ishikawa") diagram used in root-cause analysis but instead focuses on developmental insights rather than forensic ones; my working title for the spread was "The Dancing Flounder," but then I … Continue reading “Head ‘Em Off At The Pass” – A Decision-Making Spread
Where Is Mollie? – A Missing-Person Reading (Final Update)
UPDATE: The body of Mollie Tibbetts was found in a cornfield in rural Poweshiek County, Iowa. She was discovered "on a farm" as suggested in the reading, but was probably not detained or murdered by a resident. In an interview this afternoon, authorities said the suspect, an illegal immigrant, had lived in the area for from four to seven years. The … Continue reading Where Is Mollie? – A Missing-Person Reading (Final Update)
The “Hidden Agenda” Developmental Insight Spread
My reserves of philosophical commentary are starting to run low, so it's time to float another new spread. This one presents a novel way to populate a three-card line. Twelve cards are dealt (and a "quintessence" card is derived), but only three cards and the pertinent quint are read. It uses the concept of an … Continue reading The “Hidden Agenda” Developmental Insight Spread
Cardboard, Ink and Magic
The forum conversations used to go something like this: Question: Do tarot cards have "personalities?" Answer: Nope, they're just tools made of cardboard and ink. The human qualities they seem to exhibit are those we project onto them. The formal word for it is "anthropomorphizing" but, put more simply, it's a type of animism with roots in … Continue reading Cardboard, Ink and Magic
Where Is “Rogue #13” (Carrie’s Killer)?
As promised, I ran the King of Swords from the previous "Whodunit" reading through my "Sundial Location Spread." I also used the RWS Centennial Edition for this layout. The Significator turned up in the South quadrant, implying a warm, sunny place. If the suspect was over 45 years old at the time of the murder, … Continue reading Where Is “Rogue #13” (Carrie’s Killer)?
The “Whodunit” Rogue’s Gallery Spread
I spend quite a bit of time examining missing-person cases - both current and "cold" - and have encountered a few alternate situations where the police have a body but they don't have a suspect, who is actually the absent person. These victims don't qualify as missing, so neither of my spreads designed for that … Continue reading The “Whodunit” Rogue’s Gallery Spread
Tarot Euphemisms: A Work-in-Progress
If you've been following my "RWS storyboard" posts and have read any of my example readings, you're already aware that I make extensive use of metaphor and analogy when interpreting the minor cards of the tarot, often bringing in shared cultural, social, historical and literary references. The Thoth tarot, my mainstay for many years, offered … Continue reading Tarot Euphemisms: A Work-in-Progress
The Sagittarian Conundrum
Sagittarius is described in the literature of astrology as a high-minded philosophical and religious sign (along with its associated 9th-House placement in the "natural" zodiac, although traditional astrologers tell us signs and houses have nothing to do with one another); it is the province of academics and clerics and the most abstract and "temperate" of … Continue reading The Sagittarian Conundrum
The “Barbarians at the Gate” RWS Storyboard
This is the second in a series of "storyboard" studies of the Minor Arcana cards of the Waite-Smith deck, this time examining the Wands. The quote in the title originated in Roman times, although modern readers will connect it more readily to the story of rapacious corporate greed portrayed in the book and movie of … Continue reading The “Barbarians at the Gate” RWS Storyboard
