AUTHOR'S NOTE: I occasionally encounter complaints in the online community from people who are distressed that their tarot readings are only reflecting their feelings back at them and are not providing actionable advice. Although I haven't done so yet, I'm tempted to tell them that the cards are only a mirror of the subconscious mind, … Continue reading “It’s What They Do”
Tarot Theory
To Funnel or Forage: Delivered vs. Discovered Wisdom
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are many people who have the natural psychic ability to penetrate the Veil that separates the mundane world from the spiritual realm, returning with insights that may be unattainable in any other way. (My Spiritualist cousin was brilliant at it, and my maternal grandmother was no slouch.) To them I tip my … Continue reading To Funnel or Forage: Delivered vs. Discovered Wisdom
Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm aware that some diviners read the tarot as partaking of five elements: the four of Empedocles (and Zoroaster before him, apparently, although I haven't researched it) - Fire, Water, Air and Earth - with the Major Arcana as the fifth element of Spirit. As an astrologer for a couple of years before … Continue reading Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
Reading the Signs: An Astro-Tarot Topical Forecasting Method
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This technique requires a natal horoscope for the querent; an astrological ephemeris for the year in question; and the Golden Dawn's Chaldean wheel of tarot-card correspondences. (See the graphic below). Due to the necessary preparation, it will not be suitable for most walk-in clients. More than one deck will be needed for this … Continue reading Reading the Signs: An Astro-Tarot Topical Forecasting Method
Book, No Book . . . or Pure “Glorp”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is endless debate in the online tarot community over whether studying tarot literature is of any value when reading the cards from an entirely intuitive or psychic perspective, or whether it merely impedes fluency. It has come up again on one of the Facebook pages I frequent and, although I've covered it … Continue reading Book, No Book . . . or Pure “Glorp”
Look But Don’t Touch!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As an old-school tarot reader who expects face-to-face clients to shuffle and cut the deck, I find it amusing that so much fretful angst exists in the online tarot community over the prospect of someone other than ourselves laying hands on our precious cards. The source of this aversion seems to lie in … Continue reading Look But Don’t Touch!
“Future Uncertain, But Certainly Slight”
"Here come the world with the look in its eyeFuture uncertain, but certainly slight"(from Devil Inside by INXS) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Three years ago, when I passed the five-decade mark in the study and practice of divination, I had a major epiphany. I realized that predictive techniques poke their collective nose into the future and bring … Continue reading “Future Uncertain, But Certainly Slight”
Leveraging Reversals
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Over the past few weeks I've offered a handful of spreads that include a fixed series of reversed cards in contradistinction to an equal number of upright cards. The idea is to identify an alternate path to the same objective that is less obvious in nature, symbolic of a detour into an unfamiliar … Continue reading Leveraging Reversals
Dexter and Sinister: The Straight and Crooked Paths
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In classical astrology, planetary motion was tracked in two directions: dexter (toward the right or counterclockwise through the signs) and sinister (toward the left or clockwise through the houses). On a monthly, annual or multi-year basis depending on their orbital speed, the planets traverse the signs in sequential order from Aries at the … Continue reading Dexter and Sinister: The Straight and Crooked Paths
The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After reading further into Donald Tyson's Tarot Magic, I decided to add a couple of new features to this spread. Tyson mentions that in traditional evocation, the Triangle of Art is drawn with its apex pointing away from the Circle of Summoning. The idea is that when the aspiration identified as the focus … Continue reading The “Tarot Magic” Invocation Spread: Second Cut
