AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently came upon an alleged "ancient Egyptian proverb" that I decided to tweak for use in this essay. Here I'm revisiting a topic I previously covered in 2020 because I have so many new followers who may not have caught up to it. Original: "True teaching is not an accumulation of knowledge; … Continue reading Learning the Tarot Cards: Assimilate, Don’t Aggregate!
Tarot Techniques
Going Off-Script: Reversed Cards as “Gradients”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been involved in another online discussion about the use of reversed (upside-down) cards in tarot reading. The comment I offered was my standard response reflecting over fifty years of working with reversals, but the dialogue provided some fresh insights that I will explore here. I've been reading reversals since I started practicing … Continue reading Going Off-Script: Reversed Cards as “Gradients”
Getting Out of Our Own Way: More Thoughts on Attunement
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the chapter on "Rhythm" in his book The Tao of Thoth, Ethan Indigo Smith describes being obstructed by the routine "rhythms of the world" and, in order to advance, learning to "move out of our own way, physically at first, and as we progress mentally and emotionally as well. An example of … Continue reading Getting Out of Our Own Way: More Thoughts on Attunement
Rhythmic Attunement: Harmony and Discord in Tarot Reading
"Proper rhythm forms and flows with the situation . . . "- Ethan Indigo Smith, from The Tao of Thoth AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those tarot readers who work with esoteric correspondences know that the elemental alignment of Fire, Water, Air and Earth cards in a spread has a lot to say about the natural rhythm of … Continue reading Rhythmic Attunement: Harmony and Discord in Tarot Reading
Claiming the Space: An Elemental-Alignment Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the Taoist concept of "claiming the space" in Taiji martial-arts combat by swinging the arms in a specifically "yang" (or offensive) manner as opposed to "relinquishing the space" in strategic withdrawal via a defensive "yin" arm-movement. I decided to apply this "yang" idea to a tarot spread. Begin by … Continue reading Claiming the Space: An Elemental-Alignment Spread
No Flatfooting Allowed: Transcending Inertia and Leveraging Imbalance
"The fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent."- Aleister Crowley in The Book of Thoth AUTHOR'S NOTE: The inspiration for this essay comes from an observation in Ethan Indigo Smith's book The Tao of Thoth about the martial-arts aspect of Taoist philosophy and the risk of standing flatfooted in the middle of the ring like … Continue reading No Flatfooting Allowed: Transcending Inertia and Leveraging Imbalance
Modality and Sensitivity: A Fourfold Response Pattern
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been reading about the practice of Taiji with its yin-and-yang duality and the need to balance our psychological condition with our physical state of well-being. Two terms - modality and sensitivity - started me thinking about similar qualities in tarot reading, where there are four elemental modalities that separate naturally into two … Continue reading Modality and Sensitivity: A Fourfold Response Pattern
Now Is Not The Time: Demonstrating “Care in the Right Moment”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my never-ending quest to simplify and clarify my understanding of reversed cards* in a tarot reading, I'm always seeking fresh insights even when it has the unnerving side-effect of creating yet another iteration in my expanding repertoire. At the moment I'm re-reading The Tao of Thoth by Ethan Indigo Smith, and I've … Continue reading Now Is Not The Time: Demonstrating “Care in the Right Moment”
The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Suppose that every card in a horizontal three-card line isn't an isolated instance but rather the randomly-drawn locus of another perpendicular three-card set based on its "natural" position in the 78-card run. We would then have a nine-card tableau with "mini-storyboards" that can be read vertically and diagonally as well as in the … Continue reading The Three-Card Matrix: Arriving, Indwelling and Departing
Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A large percentage of everything that goes on in our environment is cyclical rather than linear in nature (although some cycles like the 25,800 year "wobble" of the Earth's axis are so long that it's difficult to observe their periodicity). The alternation of day and night and the turning of the seasons are … Continue reading Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
