I've just rediscovered Alejandro Jodorowsky's unorthodox sequencing of the court cards and, although I still don't fully agree with him, I now find more sense in his thinking. I decided to compare his vision side-by-side with Waite's historical hierarchy and the Qabalistic premise of the Golden Dawn/Thoth model. All images are copyright of U.S. Games … Continue reading Court-Card Hierarchies: An Interesting Comparison
Tarot Theory
The Power of Ten in Four: The Court Cards and the Decimal Paradigm
Along with a few other tarot authors I've encountered, Alejandro Jodorowsky makes much of the fact that the court cards have no numbers on their faces and therefore shouldn't be given them for any purpose whatsoever. His specific argument is that the organic "base-10" structure of the Minor Arcana doesn't support the practice of assigning … Continue reading The Power of Ten in Four: The Court Cards and the Decimal Paradigm
The Three-Card Quintessence: A New Twist on an Old Idea
In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky points out that the second half of the Tarot de Marseille trump-card series - both in its whole numbers and in its factored integers - progresses by addition of the Roman numerals with no subtraction needed (e.g. while the Devil is 10 + 5 [or X+V] = 15, … Continue reading The Three-Card Quintessence: A New Twist on an Old Idea
The “Mandala of the Moment”
In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky envisions arranging all 78 cards of the Tarot de Marseille in a single emblematic pattern, a geometric "mandala" that can be visually absorbed at a glance, instantly embraced by the mind and easily understood in its entirely once the cards' basic meanings have been internalized. While pondering this … Continue reading The “Mandala of the Moment”
The “Parsifal’s Draw” Negotiated Situational Development Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have a number of new spreads stacked up that have taken a back seat to other projects. For the next few days I will posting them exclusively unless something else intervenes. In his book, Etteilla or the Only Way to Draw the Cards, Jean-Baptiste Alliette described what he called the "Etteilla Draw," … Continue reading The “Parsifal’s Draw” Negotiated Situational Development Spread
“AI” Graphics: Art for Art’s Sake?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Warning!!! Curmudgeon alert! Computer-generated "AI" artwork is a thing right now that has caused considerable buzz in the online tarot community. We might well ask (along with Barry Mann back in 1961) "Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp?" I would argue that the creative "bomp" is being hijacked … Continue reading “AI” Graphics: Art for Art’s Sake?
“Gravity Wells” in Tarot Reading
Subtitle: "Crunchy in the Middle" As an avid reader of science fiction in the mid-60s, I was around when the idea of "black holes" in interstellar space first entered the public consciousness; the premise is that their gravity field is so intense that not even light can escape, and they suck in all nearby matter. … Continue reading “Gravity Wells” in Tarot Reading
Reversal As “Unloading”
I recently experienced several reading situations that caused me to come up with yet another spin on the subject of reversed cards: the idea of "unloading" or being relieved of something - ideally a burden but actually a surplus of anything that has reached its "tipping point" or "critical mass," for good or ill. A … Continue reading Reversal As “Unloading”
Off-Center and Off-Balance or Completely Off-the-Page?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've begun reading the second (1773) edition of Jean-Baptise Alliette's seminal book on divination, Etteilla or The Only Way to Read the Cards. In an example reading he mentions that failure of the card representing the querent to appear in the draw meant that she was not "at the center of her affairs." … Continue reading Off-Center and Off-Balance or Completely Off-the-Page?
“Voodoo Metaphysics” or “Too Fine a Point?”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many years ago, when President Ronald Reagan was floating his "trickle-down" theory of economic prosperity, his ideas were dismissed as "voodoo economics." Here (although it's not my main point) I'm proposing that the way we read the tarot cards can sometimes resemble "voodoo metaphysics." I won't go so far as to equate tarot … Continue reading “Voodoo Metaphysics” or “Too Fine a Point?”
