AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Leveraging" is the act of pressing one's advantage in ways that optimize the benefit in practical terms; it's the concept behind the Biblical proverb of "moving mountains" with simple conviction and affirmation (aka "faith" but I don't subscribe to that concept, preferring to say that I'm a "man of certainty"). Here I will … Continue reading Force Over Form: Leveraging the Elements
Tarot Techniques
Transformative Tarot Reading: From “Soft in the Middle” to “Fire in the Belly”
"A man walks down the streetHe says, 'Why am I soft in the middle now?Why am I soft in the middle?The rest of my life is so hard.'"from You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've reached the unsurprising conclusion that many (if not most) serious seekers who consult me for a … Continue reading Transformative Tarot Reading: From “Soft in the Middle” to “Fire in the Belly”
An Elemental Career-Path Alignment Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While answering a career-related question in one of the online tarot communities, I was inspired to develop a spread that is based on "matching" between one of four elemental "career-path" cards and the querent's significator. It's not exactly a process of elimination; call it a "process of affiliation." I spent some time trying … Continue reading An Elemental Career-Path Alignment Spread
Ominous Predictions: Cautionary or Constructive?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The threat of a "bad" outcome card showing up in a reading is one of the most challenging scenarios facing professional tarot readers and their clients. Experienced diviners are normally able to take this unpleasant development in stride, but for the rest it generates an anxious moment of dread. In my own coaching … Continue reading Ominous Predictions: Cautionary or Constructive?
Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of years ago I performed a careful analysis of the Waite-Smith tarot to determine which cards express some kind of active movement. In the end I came up with five Major Arcana, six court cards and ten Minor Arcana as indicators of either acceleration or deceleration in a querent's affairs. (All … Continue reading Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
The “Spiritual Tribunal” Astral Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: All of the spirit-contact methods I'm aware of assume that we're going to encounter precisely the entity we're seeking (ancestor, god-form, elemental figure, spirit guide, etc.) whenever we ask. But I've never been convinced that disembodied beings are lurking at the threshold of the Astral Plane, just waiting for us to reach out, … Continue reading The “Spiritual Tribunal” Astral Contact Spread
Why Bother? The Case for Tarot Timing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When it comes to divination, I have little interest in modern philosophical or scientific theories about the elastic nature of time. My aim is to help my clients understand (and therefore withstand) their circumstances; such academic hypotheses add nothing to the outlook and only serve to complicate it. Events occur in "real time," … Continue reading Why Bother? The Case for Tarot Timing
Situational Precision in General Readings
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know there is an oxymoron in there somewhere (almost-but-not-quite Pink Floyd's "random precision"), but bear with me. General readings are not usually noted for their situational exactness, so I'm taking this "outside the box." When clients come to me for a reading they are usually experiencing some kind of distress, so I … Continue reading Situational Precision in General Readings
Tarot Timing By Number and Rank
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a unique timing method that uses reasonably expected and objectively determined target dates to zero in on the most likely span of time from the date of the reading to the proposed time of completion. The aim is to partially offset some of the exaggeration that can occur with most methods … Continue reading Tarot Timing By Number and Rank
Cards of Finality: The Stigma of “Endings”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading about cards that convey "endings" of various kinds: the 3 and 5 of Swords (sorrowful and acrimonious, respectively); 10 of Swords (demoralizing); Death (inevitable); the Tower (sudden); and the 5 of Cups (miserable), among others of less-potent stringency. To that group I would add Judgement because there is no … Continue reading Cards of Finality: The Stigma of “Endings”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 