AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many years ago in Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom, I encountered the 21-card, 7x3 tableau of tarot trumps (the Fool was set aside as a "thing apart"). The arrangement ran from the Magician at the top-left to the World at the bottom-right. More recently, I came across it again in Sallie Nichols' … Continue reading Anchoring the Abstract
Tarot Theory
The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been contemplating the notion that any single, vertical sword shown in a tarot card can act as a "lightning rod" that conducts focused inspiration directly into the subject of a reading. I'm indebted to Sallie Nichols for bringing this to my attention as it relates to the raised sword of Justice that … Continue reading The Vertical Sword: “Lighting Rod of Inspiration”
A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay follows the same line-of-thought as my previous post on “mystical rationalism.” Not too long ago I read an editorial piece that presented the results of a survey in which it was reported that 37% of the adult population of the United States refers to itself as "spiritual but not religious." The … Continue reading A Man of Certainty (or “I’ll Know It When I See It”)
“Death Becomes Him” – Thoughts on Mystical Rationalism
AUTHOR'S NOTE: You may remember the old Bruce Willis-Meryl Streep-Goldie Hawn film Death Becomes Her. I'm paraphrasing the title to support my introductory premise but there is no intended plot connection. In the occult tarot lexicon, the Death card corresponds to the enigmatic and remorseless Water sign Scorpio. In a previous essay I mentioned that, … Continue reading “Death Becomes Him” – Thoughts on Mystical Rationalism
“Grow, Grow . . .”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My title is an allusion to a quote from the Talmud mentioned by Sallie Nichols in Tarot and the Archetypal Journey: "Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow!'" One of my favorite semi-truisms about the tarot is "Every time I perform a reading for another … Continue reading “Grow, Grow . . .”
The “Soft Landing”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although it still surfaces occasionally among new students, the outdated opinion that the upside-down orientation of a tarot card automatically overrules and refutes the upright meaning doesn't get much play these days. The implications of reversal are now understood to be far more subtle and nuanced, even beyond the typical assumptions of "blockage" … Continue reading The “Soft Landing”
“Guided Intuition”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before the mystics and psychics among my readers get too excited, this essay is not about the participation of "spirit guides" in tarot reading, since in my estimation such entities may be nothing more than astral phantasms of subconscious origin projected by those seeking the comfort and confidence of an external spiritual authority. … Continue reading “Guided Intuition”
The “Double-Axle” Energy Rotation Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I often contemplate the operation of "centrifugal" (externalizing) and "centripetal" (internalizing) metaphysical forces as they can be applied to the practice of tarot, something I used to good effect in working up my personal set of definitions for the Tarot de Marseille pips. Here is a spread constructed on those principles. (It is … Continue reading The “Double-Axle” Energy Rotation Spread
Negative Energies and the “Dance of Liberation”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Despite the Zen-like title, I'm not going to take this essay in a philosophical direction (at least not entirely); my objective is to "normalize" (i.e. standardize) our approach to patently inauspicious tarot cards that will offer more substance than simply insisting "There are no bad cards." In her discussion of the Hanged Man … Continue reading Negative Energies and the “Dance of Liberation”
The “Argent Helix” Second-Act Celtic Cross Variant
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my essay yesterday I introduced the concept of a 15-card spread that is basically a Celtic Cross variant. Because it resembles a double ellipse (although a somewhat lopsided one like the lemniscate in the RWS 2 of Pentacles that suggests unbalanced change), and because tarot embodies the mystical nature of the Moon … Continue reading The “Argent Helix” Second-Act Celtic Cross Variant
