There is a strong sentiment among experienced diviners that "fortune-telling" of the flatly predictive variety - while it is not exactly denounced - is an impractical and unreliable pursuit, for a couple of reasons: 1) the future is a moving target and can change regularly based on intervening circumstances not always of our own making … Continue reading Predicting the Future: Prescience or Self-Projection?
Tarot Techniques
The Man Behind the Curtain
In The Wizard of Oz, Frank Morgan as the Wizard thundered at Dorothy and her companions, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" If memory serves (it's been a few years since I read the book), in his "master class" material Paul Fenton-Smith mentions that he treats a reversed card in a tarot … Continue reading The Man Behind the Curtain
A “Breaking the Chain” Example Reading
This turned out to be a provocative and entertaining spread in actual use. For the topic I chose to examine the causal chain for my admitted "sweet tooth," especially around the holiday season. I purposely selected the Empress as the "Root Card" for my dietary indiscretion: "It's not nice to say 'No' to Mother Nature!"). … Continue reading A “Breaking the Chain” Example Reading
“Breaking the Chain” Cause-and-Effect Spread
This is the spread I promised yesterday; it is built on the assumption that the sitter can best decide (based on the subconscious "hunches" that most of us harbor) which time-frame should be explored first in determining why present circumstances are the way they are and what might be done about them. Since our behavior … Continue reading “Breaking the Chain” Cause-and-Effect Spread
Spread Fatigue
I've been thinking lately that, in the creation of new layouts, I seem to have exhausted the range of geometric spread patterns commonly used in the performance of tarot readings. So far - and often more than once - I've tried circles, squares both small and large, rectangles, crosses, "X"-es, spirals, horizontal lines, vertical lines, … Continue reading Spread Fatigue
An “Envelope of the Year” Example Reading
This is a practice reading using my new "Envelope of the Year" Life-Reading Spread; the querent here is an imaginary male sitter and the full-year layout was used with the Waite-Smith Centennial Pocket Edition, including reversals. In doing this for myself I will probably go month-by-month and do a series of weekly readings for each … Continue reading An “Envelope of the Year” Example Reading
The “Envelope of the Year” Life-Reading Spread
The new year is almost upon us, so I created another "annual look-ahead" spread that can be taken in 3-card monthly bites or in one giant 36-card, 12-month gulp. The spread uses an "envelope" concept in which each monthly three-card column has a "steady-state" card and two transitory scenarios, one "best-case" and the other "worst-case." … Continue reading The “Envelope of the Year” Life-Reading Spread
Chord Changes
File this one under "How Stuff Works." I'm a firm believer in the assumption that very little that is truly definitive in life happens by sheer coincidence, or in complete isolation; formative impulses and nascent events crowd the background of our personal drama, waiting to be propelled into prominence by invitation (ours or others) or … Continue reading Chord Changes
Trump’s “Mamushka”
I can tell by the resounding silence whenever I post one that few people here like my political readings (I'm a "small-government" New England Libertarian at heart, not a Liberal or Socialist) but that doesn't stop me and, to be honest, I do my best to "just read the cards" and not inject personal bias … Continue reading Trump’s “Mamushka”
A “Tetractys” Example Reading
I decided to test the "Tetractys" spread with my Fournier Tarot de Marseille deck, without reversals. Two weeks ago I received a tentative offer to perform tarot readings at upcoming metaphysical events sponsored by a spiritual medium in the area. There is apparently a shortage of male readers and I would apparently be a welcome … Continue reading A “Tetractys” Example Reading
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 