"We're all here just to have a little fun Fred'll play the fiddle, now we'll begun" (from "The Corn Won't Grow So Rock-and-Roll" by Goose Creek Symphony) Most face-to-face tarot readers have certain protocols and courtesies they go through between the time a sitter "sits" and the moment the diviner "starts the clock" on the … Continue reading First Things First: Preliminary Courtesies
Tarot Techniques
The “Friends & Enemies” Situational Awareness and Response Spread
Multi-person conflicts can be tricky because the querent doesn't always know going into the situation exactly who is a staunch friend and who an undeclared enemy, and how the involvement of each will affect the outcome; in addition there may be veiled factions in both camps that could act as "wild cards," radically changing the … Continue reading The “Friends & Enemies” Situational Awareness and Response Spread
Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
While working on my initial dream-analysis reading, I started to say that all of the reversed Wands cards in the dream scenario represented an "incursion" of Spirit into the reverie, but then I realized that, in the dream-world, visions of profound import typically don't stand up and shout in order to draw attention to themselves, … Continue reading Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
Down with the Synonym! – Variations on a Theme
Writers who care about originality love the synonym. It lets us repeat the same idea (sometimes ad nauseum) without seeming overly redundant or hackneyed. You may have noticed that I try not to use the word "shows" to describe the import of the cards in a reading more than once in the same piece of … Continue reading Down with the Synonym! – Variations on a Theme
The “Morpheus Effect” Dream Message Example Reading
I took the opportunity to use the fascinating dream I posted recently to test the subject spread; most of my dreams have been too inconsequential to serve that purpose. The deck here is Ciro Marchetti's Tarot of Dreams, an ideal vehicle for this subject. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/07/11/a-curious-contact/ A images copyright U.S Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT … Continue reading The “Morpheus Effect” Dream Message Example Reading
Card-Learning Tricks: “Sensory Complexion”
The title is a misnomer. There are no "tricks" or reliable shortcuts for instantly absorbing and retaining the gist of the 78 cards of the tarot, but there are some convenient alternatives to memorizing reams of keyword text. This fanciful method was brought to my attention yesterday, and I thought I would elaborate on the … Continue reading Card-Learning Tricks: “Sensory Complexion”
“You Do You”
I was looking up the phrase "You do you" for this post on self-reading and found that its origin may be older than we think, although I believe the emphasis here was on the "do" and not the "you" in this antique usage; "Do enjoy yourself" was the intent and the comma was only to … Continue reading “You Do You”
Reversals and “Chaldean Mirrors”
I've been considering a different way to handle reversed cards that I call "Chaldean mirrors." The concept may not be new, but I haven't encountered it before. Most of the cards were associated with the “decans” of the Chaldean zodiac by the Golden Dawn's Macgregor Mathers, bringing the nature of the card together with the … Continue reading Reversals and “Chaldean Mirrors”
Friends, Enemies and Accomplices
A couple of years ago, while preparing a presentation on the subject of Elemental Dignities, I had a small epiphany. In the Golden Dawn system designed by Macgregor Mathers, Fire and Air are considered mutually friendly because one works hand-in-hand with the other in the act of combustion, just as Water and Earth are entirely … Continue reading Friends, Enemies and Accomplices
Carpe Momentum!
Recently, on the Tarot Professionals Facebook page, Marcus Katz mentioned the aphorism "The oracular moment is sacrosanct." This got me thinking about the instant in time when each tarot card is randomly drawn from the deck to populate a spread. These linked cards are imprinted with the subtle influences inherent in that temporal interval, whether … Continue reading Carpe Momentum!
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 