I performed this spread to project my own circumstances over the next six months, using the Waite-Smith Centennial Pocket Edition with reversals. I deliberately chose a scenic deck for its "facing" possibilities, but the spread can be used with non-scenic decks like the Tarot de Marseille by using the odd-or-even directional model mentioned in the … Continue reading A “Triple-Decker” Mind/Body/ Spirit Example Reading
Tarot Techniques
The “Triple-Decker” Mind/Body/ Spirit Six-Month Life Reading Spread
I have a strong interest in tarot spreads that function on multiple levels, particularly of the "mind/body/spirit" type. This is my second three-tiered spread to explore that territory, this time using "facing" and dispensing with the astrological correspondences. This one is developmental in nature, offering a six-month forecast, rather than a real-time "snapshot." Here is … Continue reading The “Triple-Decker” Mind/Body/ Spirit Six-Month Life Reading Spread
A Small-Spread Overview
In my own practice, I consider any spread of five cards or fewer to be "small." I find anything in that range to be of little use in complex scenarios with numerous variables that often have their most telling influence from behind-the-scenes. A small layout leaves a lot unsaid "between the lines" (that is, in … Continue reading A Small-Spread Overview
An American Football Prediction: Super Bowl LIV*
UPDATE: Since the 49ers won the coin toss but chose to defer possession to the 2nd Half, the Chiefs took first possession of the football and therefore got the top row of the spread as Team "A." As predicted, Team "A" did in fact blow the game open with three touchdowns in the 4th quarter, … Continue reading An American Football Prediction: Super Bowl LIV*
“It Is Known”
C.S. Lewis observed that history books written during the Middle Ages differed far less from the historical fiction of that time than modern histories differ from present-day historical novels (or, even more so, screenplays). He pointed out that the proper role of the Medieval historian was to accurately perpetuate the "knowledge" received from earlier authorities … Continue reading “It Is Known”
A “Moving Finger” Example Reading
This example reading involves a couple I used to know whose relationship can best be described as more than a little dysfunctional. The question was "What is going to become of them?" I performed the spread in two ways, first considering reversals, and then turning all of the reversed cards upright and applying Elemental Dignities. … Continue reading A “Moving Finger” Example Reading
The “Moving Finger” Situational Development Spread
"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line" (Omar Khayyam, from The Rubaiyat) Here is a spread built around the rather whimsical notion I had yesterday that upright cards in a reading can be considered "solar" (plainspoken and reliable) … Continue reading The “Moving Finger” Situational Development Spread
Like Night and Day
It's probably evident that I'm getting a lot of intellectual stimulation and pleasure (not to mention expository mileage) out of reading The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis, a thoughtful, scholarly study of Medieval cosmology that has intriguing implications for the Renaissance tarot. Here is another instance. At one point Lewis mentions that "night" in our … Continue reading Like Night and Day
The “Two-Trump Tango” Example Reading: A Study in Determination
In this example pull for my new life-reading spread, I used the Spanish Tarot TdM deck without reversals. The question I asked was "Where will my guitar-playing initiative take me in the next six months?" Last week, completely out of the blue, I decided to resume the guitar-playing ambitions that I dropped shortly after buying … Continue reading The “Two-Trump Tango” Example Reading: A Study in Determination
The “Two-Trump Tango” Life-Reading Spread*
*(So named for no other reason than that it has a pleasing alliteration to it.) I've long held that, when they appear in a prediction, the tarot trump cards usually presage "matters of greater import" emerging in a person's life, while the rest of the cards are more about routine experiences and attitudes arising within … Continue reading The “Two-Trump Tango” Life-Reading Spread*
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 