I've written in the past on the topic of "facing, gaze or regard" between two adjacent tarot cards that include human or human-like beings in their iconography, and what their juxtaposition in a spread means for the narrative when they are either facing toward or away from one another. (Simply put, one suggests "seeing eye-to-eye" … Continue reading The Further Adventures of “Gaze and Regard”
Tarot Techniques
“Not A Very Nice Man?”
Whenever I present the observation that by all accounts occultist Aleister Crowley was "not a very nice man," I pause and wonder whether I should look in the mirror. Going back over five years of almost daily posts in this blog, I realize that the "curmudgeon content" in my writing is fairly high, which can … Continue reading “Not A Very Nice Man?”
A Fish Out of Water
"The fish in the water, the bird in the sky . . ." AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I encountered the above truncated haiku (which is apparently a fragment and maybe only a loose translation of a "traditional Japanese poem"), it brought me back to contemplation of the value of Elemental Dignity in tarot reading. This time … Continue reading A Fish Out of Water
An NFL Football Forecast: New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills, January 8, 2023
UPDATE: Looks like the odds-makers were right: Bills 35 - Patriots 23. The game was deadlocked at halftime, but the Bills broke it open in the third quarter while the Patriots went flat; the win was by almost two touchdowns rather than the one TD the cards predicted (at least they got the winning team … Continue reading An NFL Football Forecast: New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills, January 8, 2023
The Art and Science of Precise Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's no secret that I'm both an esoteric theorist and a conceptual minimalist in my approach to tarot card interpretation, although as a reader I consider myself first-and-foremost a creative storyteller with a flair for inspiration, imagination and ingenuity in my narrative output. The purpose of this essay is to explore ways to … Continue reading The Art and Science of Precise Tarot Reading
The “Persona & Shadow” Two-Deck Personality Profile Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've long felt that tarot reading is principally a storytelling art built on anecdotal assumptions rather than a deductively rigorous discipline. It is therefore not ideally suited to the analytical exploration of the human mind, neither the subjective navel-gazing kind nor the psychological profiling of other people. (Natal astrology already has that pretty … Continue reading The “Persona & Shadow” Two-Deck Personality Profile Spread
An Alternate Take on the “Shadow” Card
It is a common practice among modern tarot readers to look at the bottom card of the deck after the rest of the cards have been dealt, with the purpose of discovering hidden aspects of the matter; this is variously called the "base" or "shadow" card. Personally, I want none of this in my own … Continue reading An Alternate Take on the “Shadow” Card
Swords and Wands As “Present” and “Future”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's another unusual twist from Alejandro Jodorowsky. Although I certainly don't love everything he's written since so much of it is mystically obtuse (when it isn't merely peculiar), he does come up with some thought-provoking notions. In comparing the Ace of Swords to the Ace of Wands in The Way of Tarot, Jodorowsky … Continue reading Swords and Wands As “Present” and “Future”
Tarot Taken Twice
Long before I read the chapter titled "The Tarot Two by Two" in Alejandro Jodorowsky's book The Way of Tarot (in which he examines the cards as pairs, couples and duets), I was advising beginners that - rather than trying to learn the meaning of individual cards in an interpretive vacuum - it's best to … Continue reading Tarot Taken Twice
A Two-Tiered New Year’s Forecast Spread with Monthly Updates
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's time once more for New Year's predictions. Here is a spread that offers a little more "meat on the bone." I've used this approach before (notably in my annual "Wheel of the Year" readings), but here I'm providing additional storytelling guidance for its use. The premise is that the yearly forecast is … Continue reading A Two-Tiered New Year’s Forecast Spread with Monthly Updates
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 