We're all familiar with the "new deck interview" technique, in which questions are put to a newly-acquired deck by running it through a special spread created for that purpose. The idea is to determine how effective the deck will be to read with. But I have never seen a spread designed to compare the degree … Continue reading The “Friend or Foe” Two-Deck Comparison Spread
Tarot Techniques
“Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Saturday
The "action" card for today is the Universe reversed. All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT and M.M. Meleen The first thing that crossed my mind on seeing this card was "unfinished business" related to the Tower I pulled yesterday. The second thing was the old chestnut "waiting for the other show to … Continue reading “Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Saturday
“Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Friday
The "action" card for today is the 4 of Swords. I've been anticipating this pull all week (although dreading is probably more accurate). All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT and M.M. Meleen At first glance, the most striking thing about the pairing of this card and the Thoth Tower as "background" influence … Continue reading “Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Friday
“Companion” Decks
I create a fair number of spreads that use two or more tarot decks. (I know that some people like to do mixed readings with tarot and oracle or tarot and Lenormand decks, but I haven't gone far in that direction yet.) I have around 50 tarot decks now and am always trying to find … Continue reading “Companion” Decks
Experimental Daily Draw #2
As I continue coming up to speed with playing-card divination, I performed another expanded 3-phase daily draw using the Voyager Tarot, Caitlin Keegan's Illuminated Tarot enhanced playing cards and the Messenger Oracle. Note that the Voyager departs from the common keyword nomenclature in use today, and also in much of its interpretive content. The left-hand … Continue reading Experimental Daily Draw #2
Tarot and Dice
For a while now, I've been combining dice rolls with my tarot spreads as a way to obtain a second opinion on the outcome, especially when the question is of the yes-or-no type. (Here is my most recent effort: https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2017/08/20/the-double-whammy-yes-or-no-spread/.) I thought I was onto something until I read the very first page of the … Continue reading Tarot and Dice
“Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Wednesday
All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT and M.M. Meleen The "action" card for today is Lust. As I mentioned earlier, the Queen of Disks as "background" card is a mystery to me in human terms, and today's pull only deepens that mystery. So I decided to derive a "quintessence" card from the … Continue reading “Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Wednesday
“Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Tuesday
Here is Tuesday's pairing of background "tone" and foreground "action" cards. I realized this morning that, to be strictly correct, I need to use two decks in this exercise, so all possible combinations are available for each day. There is no logical reason why the Tower can't appear in both the background and the foreground … Continue reading “Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Tuesday
“Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Monday
As promised, here is the first installment of my "test drive" for the Weekly Situational Blueprint spread. I used the Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus deck, with reversals. All images © 2015 M.M. Meleen The weekly draw produced the 4 of Cups (Moon in Cancer) reversed for Monday, the 4 of Swords (Jupiter in Libra) for … Continue reading “Weekly Blueprint” Pull for Monday
Cheap Shots #17: Tone vs. Substance
One complaint of the tarot novice that comes up quite often on the forums is "Nothing happened the way the cards said it would." This is sometimes accompanied by a profound loss of faith that drives the discouraged neophyte away from the practice of divination entirely. Even the trite remark that "the cards weren't wrong, … Continue reading Cheap Shots #17: Tone vs. Substance
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 