"I done called up a Gypsy woman on the telephoneGonna send out a worldwide hoodooThat'll be the very thing that'll suit youI'm going to see that you be back home in thirty days"- from Thirty Days by Chuck Berry AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been said that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. To … Continue reading “A Worldwide Hoodoo” – Tarot and Romance
Tarot Theory
The Message for the Querent: A “Quick-Read” Technique
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been re-reading 54 Devils by Cory Hutcheson, which is a brief treatise on playing-card cartomancy. (The standard deck of playing cards has 52 pip and court cards and two "jokers" for a total of 54). In it he describes a "quick-read" method by which the querent cuts the shuffled deck from right-to-left … Continue reading The Message for the Querent: A “Quick-Read” Technique
Missing in Plain Sight? – A Local-Area “Search Envelope”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: What's to be done when one wakes up at 2:00 AM and can't get back to sleep? I don't know about you, but I think about tarot. Here's my latest insomnia-fueled spread. I normally use horary astrology when I'm helping someone look for a lost item, or when I'm examining a missing-person case, … Continue reading Missing in Plain Sight? – A Local-Area “Search Envelope”
The Turning Away: Reversal as the “Other Fork”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The title of this essay was inspired by the Pink Floyd song "On the Turning Away," although my use of the idea isn't identical. It can be said with some confidence that every tarot card has a preferred path for expression of its influence and that route is usually indicated by its upright … Continue reading The Turning Away: Reversal as the “Other Fork”
Major Arcana As “Step-Change”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In manufacturing jargon, effective process control begins with the engineering of a work-station performance envelope that ensures steady-state functionality by permitting only minor, easily-adjusted shifts in operating parameters for the duration of the activity. (As a former quality-control technician, later an engineer and ultimately a manager, I know a little about the subject.) … Continue reading Major Arcana As “Step-Change”
Grooming the Significator
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The classic Celtic Cross spread requires the use of a court card to represent the person for whom the reading is being done (the querent, seeker or sitter) or any other card that is appropriate to the subject of the inquiry. This is the first card placed on the table, and all of … Continue reading Grooming the Significator
“No Place Like Home” – Domestic Cards in Lenormand Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a series of posts discussing my experimental alignment of the 36 Lenormand cards with the 12 signs and 36 decanates of astrology. This time I'm examining the sign of Cancer and its "native" 4th House as it relates to the "home-and-family" cards of Lenormand. For this group I've … Continue reading “No Place Like Home” – Domestic Cards in Lenormand Reading
The 10 of Cups: “Pushing a String”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sometimes we can tie ourselves up in knots when trying too diligently to impose esoteric symbolism on the tarot cards. I recently came across an opinion that the 10 of Cups - which is associated with Mars in Pisces in the Golden Dawn's system of "Chaldean" astrological correspondences - must refer to the … Continue reading The 10 of Cups: “Pushing a String”
The Science of Tarot: Fact or Fantasy?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the armchair scientists among my followers, my knowledge of quantum mechanics derives from nothing more academic than my reading of the rather quirky Robert Anton Wilson (who was not much of a believer in occult reasoning). Just so you know before you correct me. One of the theories about "how tarot works" … Continue reading The Science of Tarot: Fact or Fantasy?
Kicked Upstairs: A Numerical Displacement Method and Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The assumption behind this spread is that the top tier of cards is more likely to be "fast-tracked" to closure, the middle tier will play out more gradually and the bottom tier will be substantially delayed. The table at the end of the essay offers a tool to determine which tier a card … Continue reading Kicked Upstairs: A Numerical Displacement Method and Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 