UPDATE: It looks like the Seahawks found the pulse of all those reversed trump cards after all. The only thing I can say about this reading - other than that I'm getting better at "hedging" - is that the final point spread was within range of the predicted single touchdown, although on the wrong side. … Continue reading NFL Football: Patriots at Seahawks, September 9, 2026
Tarot Techniques
A National Football League Game Prediction Template
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's that time of year again, at least for US sports fans. Since 2018 I've been using my "Enemy at the Gate" conflict-resolution spread to predict the outcome of National Football League games. Over the years I've occasionally tinkered with the original design for that specific purpose, so I decided to formalize the … Continue reading A National Football League Game Prediction Template
A Tarot Card-Counting Tableau
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After a long spell pursuing other divination-related interests, I've returned to reading Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot and was just examining her card-counting approach to populating spreads. She uses the Golden Dawn technique from the "Opening of the Key" method, but I find it counterintuitive so I decided to create my own based loosely … Continue reading A Tarot Card-Counting Tableau
Tarot-Card Rank as a Measure of “Reach”
Author's Note: In her book Tarot and the Tree of Life, Isabel Kliegman spent some time describing the implications of accidental ennoblement as symbolized by common suit, element, number, polarity or rank displayed by several cards in a reading. This commonality (known as "dignity") gave the affected cards an edge in effectiveness over their unaffiliated … Continue reading Tarot-Card Rank as a Measure of “Reach”
A Four-Function General Well-Being Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread based on the First Operation of the Golden Dawn's "Opening of the Key" method, but with no Significator and without the formal counting of cards to populate it. The four sub-packs from right-to-left are the same - Fire, Water, Air and Earth, but I've retitled them to suit my … Continue reading A Four-Function General Well-Being Spread
Parsing the Past in a Celtic Cross Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before the Jungian tinkerers got hold of it, the original Celtic Cross spread had two positions that reflected the querent's prior circumstances, and these are still in use by many traditional readers. There is a popular belief that there is no point in having a "past" position in a tarot reading because the … Continue reading Parsing the Past in a Celtic Cross Reading
A Three-Card “Yes-or-No” Spread with Extra Detail (à la Eden Gray)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In her 1971 book, Mastering the Tarot, Eden Gray presented a three-card "yes-or-no" predictive model that had the four Aces as its key feature. (Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot pointed me at it and I do in fact own a copy.) I've adapted Gray's approach in developing this spread, but I won't offer a … Continue reading A Three-Card “Yes-or-No” Spread with Extra Detail (à la Eden Gray)
The Numerical Essence Card as “Force Majeure”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: An assumption that goes all the way back to my first exposure to tarot literature in Eden Gray's 1960 book, The Tarot Revealed, is that the Major Arcana normally identify significant external events that are beyond the querent's control. At one time my own definition was that they describe consequential influences that the … Continue reading The Numerical Essence Card as “Force Majeure”
“Rising on the Planes” – A Three-Tier Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rising on the planes is an act of ceremonial magic performed on the Middle Pillar of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Here I'm using it as the inspiration for a tarot spread that looks at practical/physical, mental/emotional and spiritual/philosophical approaches to decision-making and problem-solving, with an eye toward optimizing one of them. Begin … Continue reading “Rising on the Planes” – A Three-Tier Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Spread
The “Crossing Card” – An Alternate View
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It has been common knowledge when working with the Celtic Cross spread that the horizontal card sitting atop the first vertical one - "crossing" it - always indicates an obstacle to the flow of events or circumstances, but that premise falls apart when a positive card is pulled for the crossing position. This … Continue reading The “Crossing Card” – An Alternate View
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 