AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I delve into more complex subjects, my backlog of minor posts awaiting publication has become ten-deep. I decided to clear out the cache by presenting these three recent experimental spreads in one post. Tarot Holdem: A Self-Made Destiny Spread AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread that will put your intuition to the … Continue reading Three New Spreads: Catching Up on the Queue
Tarot Techniques
The “Mandala of Revealing” Decision-Making Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is another "mixed-media" spread that uses tarot cards and a single six-sided die as a "pointer." Instead of just posting the spread and following up with an example reading tomorrow, I combined the two in this post. (The images are from the Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn by Pat Zelewski and … Continue reading The “Mandala of Revealing” Decision-Making Spread
The “Actor Out On Loan” Life-Purpose Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I sometimes see online requests for "life-purpose" spreads. (For example, "What should I do with my life at this particular moment in time?") Here is my latest attempt to answer the call. (In retrospect, because the Lenormand deck includes cards that are distinctly positive, negative and neutral, it may be worthwhile to work … Continue reading The “Actor Out On Loan” Life-Purpose Spread
Reversed Cards as “Sticking Point”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent discussion about reversed cards on one of the online tarot pages, it was frequently asserted that "upside-down" orientation can be ignored because all 78 cards exhibit both positive and negative meanings when in their normal aspect, and whether to emphasize one over the other depends on the context of the … Continue reading Reversed Cards as “Sticking Point”
Cutting to the Chase: A “Thinks or Feels” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a philosophical type with a utilitarian streak, I'm tired of seeing the glut of hopeful "What does "X" think or feel about me?" questions on every cartomancy site I frequent, often put to spreads that are ill-suited to answer them. I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a … Continue reading Cutting to the Chase: A “Thinks or Feels” Spread
The Tarot Reading As “Mind-Map”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been juggling so many interesting essay topics lately that I had to look at the planets transiting my natal horoscope to see what's going on. As I might have guessed, it turns out that just as the Sun makes its ingress into dramatic Leo, transiting Mercury is also in Leo in the … Continue reading The Tarot Reading As “Mind-Map”
The Unseen Map: “Here Be Dragons”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just came across the idea that an unpopulated tarot spread (prior to laying the cards) represents an "unseen map of the question" (this coming once again from Vincent Pitisci's Genius of the Tarot, my current "morning-treadmill" read). This squares well with my own premise that the spread positions represent "signposts" or "way-points" … Continue reading The Unseen Map: “Here Be Dragons”
“New Position” Gap-Analysis Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of the questions I encounter quite often on the web is whether anyone has a job-search or career-change spread to offer or recommend. I have several, but here I've created one that will be useful for any scenario where a current position must be compared to a proposed or potential new one. … Continue reading “New Position” Gap-Analysis Spread
Rethinking the “Four Winds” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've come across examples of the "Four Winds" spread in more than one publication. Its premise is that the classical "winds" that blow from the four quarters of the Earth can be equated to the four aspects of the human psyche, Spiritual, Intellectual, Emotional and Physical. (The inspiration for "rethinking" this spread came … Continue reading Rethinking the “Four Winds” Spread
Context as “Master Key”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I picked another random thought out of Vincent Pistisci's Genius of the Tarot that is worth contemplating. For most of us, the suit symbolism of the minor and court cards is the essential factor in determining their general "theme" (the specific images on the cards confer more precise anecdotal import). The "cameo" version … Continue reading Context as “Master Key”
