AUTHOR'S NOTE: Judging from the amount of dialogue about it on the internet tarot sites, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the consequences of receiving multiple cards of the same type (number, suit, rank, etc) in a spread. Many of the key historical figures in the tarot world (Waite, Crowley, Mathers and others) … Continue reading Abundance or Absence by Card Type: Feast or Famine in Tarot Reading
Tarot Theory
Reversed Court Cards: Perverse or Preoccupied?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently came across an opinion in the tarot literature that a reversed court card in a spread will typically highlight the negative character traits of an individual when that card stands for another person who is involved in the situation and not a psychological or universal/spiritual concept. Given my nuanced approach to … Continue reading Reversed Court Cards: Perverse or Preoccupied?
“Transparent Luminosity” in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Last night I dreamed that I was discussing with someone the unforgiving nature of watercolor painting, and when I awoke I drew parallels between that and the conduct of a tarot reading. I've had some formal training in the art of watercolor, and one thing that stuck with me is that, unlike tempera … Continue reading “Transparent Luminosity” in Tarot Reading
The Fives and the Inverted Pentagram: The Abrogation of Spirit
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another of my random, intermittent forays into the Minor Arcana of the Thoth deck, which has been my steadfast companion in the study and practice of tarot for over five decades. (See my Tarot 101 series of posts for a more systematic overview.) Think what you will of Crowley, his deck … Continue reading The Fives and the Inverted Pentagram: The Abrogation of Spirit
Structured Intuition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Buried in the strident chorus of "Just go with what you feel!" and "You don't have to read books!" emitted in self-righteous certitude by a significant percentage of 21st-Century tarot "influencers," an occasional quiet voice is raised in defense of developing a method of reading the cards that is both rational and instinctual. … Continue reading Structured Intuition
The “Scattershot” Spread: Shotgunning the Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I sometimes encounter people online who will only read a random cluster of cards with no formal spread positions. I've created a few layouts that embrace that kind of neutrality and here is the latest one, although it goes from scattered to structured in three operations. It owes its premise to two-thirds of … Continue reading The “Scattershot” Spread: Shotgunning the Tarot Reading
A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading Michael Snuffin's The Thoth Companion, I encountered one of the most lucid explanations of the goals and methods as well as the advantages of performing divination with the tarot cards that I have ever seen in print. I'm summarizing it here since so much of it agrees with my own beliefs. … Continue reading A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading an interview with Robert de Niro in which the actor observed that every dramatic character has a "rhythm" that must be internalized in order to convincingly master the role. It struck me that a competent tarot reading exhibits a similar rhythm that is often a function of the spread … Continue reading The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
The 3 of Swords: Where’s the Blood?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm endlessly annoyed by the popular opinion that the 3 of Swords is a card of devastating emotional suffering and heartbreak. C'mon, people, it's a low-numbered Air card; any pain will most likely be short-and-sharp, more a flesh wound than a disemboweling gash, and more commonly mind-centered than heart-centered. I've even seen it … Continue reading The 3 of Swords: Where’s the Blood?
The 8 of Swords: Solving the Dilemma
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written frequently in the past about the fact that the insurmountable obstacles to an agreeable outcome shown in the Waite-Smith 8 of Swords can be circumvented by the compromised woman - whose feet are unbound - "feeling her way" along the watercourse to escape off the lower-right corner of the card. (When … Continue reading The 8 of Swords: Solving the Dilemma
