AUTHOR'S NOTE: In "The Problem of the Fourth" (Part Five of A Psychological Approach to the Trinity), Carl Gustav Jung observed "There are three, but where is the fourth?" There are numerous tarot spreads that use a tripartite motif: past/present/ future; action/reaction/resolution; thesis/antithesis/synthesis; if/then/else; etc. But here I'm projecting that planar model into three dimensions … Continue reading Mastery of Circumstances: The Triangular Pyramid Spread
Tarot Techniques
Of Snakes and Swallows: A Conflict-Resolution Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've had this draft in the queue for some time and decided to finish it. The subject of the example reading was on my mind when I created the spread, but it could be used in any situation where "both ends are arrayed against the middle." As described in Benebell Wen's I Ching … Continue reading Of Snakes and Swallows: A Conflict-Resolution Spread
Calling Forth Answers: A Mixed-Media Problem Solving Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been a while since I last explored the technique of using a board-game spinner and an array of tarot cards to come up with a two-tiered approach to reading. In Benebell Wen's I Ching The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes, I've been learning about an abbreviated yarrow-stalk method … Continue reading Calling Forth Answers: A Mixed-Media Problem Solving Spread
Where Is Carol? – A Missing-Person Case Study
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Carol Gemmiti, a 66-year-old Florida woman with dementia, went missing from Ossipee, New Hampshire on Friday, October 27, 2024. Numerous searches were performed over the week-end but nothing was found so further efforts were temporarily suspended on Monday, October 30. I decided to tackle this case by performing a horary astrology analysis and … Continue reading Where Is Carol? – A Missing-Person Case Study
A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not the first writer to use the term "tarotscope;" I've encountered it in various posts over the years. But here I'm applying it to a merger of horary astrology and tarot to come up with a monthly forecast that may well be unique. (I don't believe the hyphenated term in my title … Continue reading A Monthly “Astro-Tarotscope” – Harnessing Horary Astrology and Tarot Insights
Reverse-Engineering an Alternate Outcome
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another novel application of the Golden Dawn's system of astrological correspondences for the tarot cards as presented in the annotated figures of the "Chaldean" zodiac. (See the diagrams below.) In this model, each card has a complementary opposite across the wheel that is of the same polarity (positive or negative) and … Continue reading Reverse-Engineering an Alternate Outcome
The Onus of Elemental Discord: Earth/Air and Fire/Water
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While helping a friend with a relationship reading, I was visited by an epiphany regarding the elemental incompatibility of Earth and Air cards. The reading was a series of twelve monthly projections for the year beginning on the Spring Equinox. The spread logic I used was that each month holds a two-tiered arrangement … Continue reading The Onus of Elemental Discord: Earth/Air and Fire/Water
Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For my header I've truncated the book title Actions with Spirits (Christopher Whitby, Garland Publishing, 1988), itself a condensation of the much longer moniker for a scholarly 1659 analysis of the "actions with spirits" (purportedly conversations with angels) undertaken by Dr. John Dee with scryers Edward Kelley and Barnabas Saul between 1581 and … Continue reading Actions with Spirit: A Different Take on the “Cross” Spread
Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been reading about ancestor worship in Asia (which is not precisely "deification" but instead a ceremonial show of respect usually accompanied by ritual offerings and a sincere plea for assistance with one's mundane affairs). I've created a couple of spreads in the past with the goal of ancestor contact, but this knowledge … Continue reading Ancestors on Call: A Spiritual Contact Spread
The View from Shore: A Directional “Put-in” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First, a brief word of explanation: the title does not contain a misprint of "input." In this spread the action begins with the "putting," not the "receiving." The underlying concept takes some effort (and more than a few glib nautical metaphors) to spell out but the spread itself is of a simple alternate-path … Continue reading The View from Shore: A Directional “Put-in” Spread