It seems to be popular in Europe to read with only the 22 trump cards and leave the pip and court cards aside. This is surely a pre-20th-Century form of cartomancy that antedates the lofty assumptions of Jungian thought and its psychological archetypes. I'm not familiar enough with Joseph Campbell to say so conclusively, but … Continue reading TURN OFF THE CAPS! (Majors-Only Tarot Reading)
Tarot Theory
Spiritual Realism and Fuzzy Logic
In keeping with my life-long aversion to the "father-knows-best" model of authoritarian determinism, I tend to avoid "isms" of any kind. But in contemplating my approach to spiritual matters in general, I was casting around for a definition that does the same thing for me that "scientific materialism" does for the pure rationalist. I consider … Continue reading Spiritual Realism and Fuzzy Logic
Jungian Typology and the Four Elements
Twentieth Century psychologist Carl Gustav Jung subdivided the discriminating faculties of the human personality into four general "types:" sensation (encounters with the physical world that trigger our five bodily receptors); thinking (the intellectual function by which we process the evidence of our senses); feeling (the emotional ways in which we do the same thing); and … Continue reading Jungian Typology and the Four Elements
A Force Too Short (or Is It Too Long?)
Another curious phrase used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn describes the 8 of Swords as the "Lord of Shortened Force." To me, "shortened" implies too little of something, but in Liber T Macgregor Mathers had this to say: “Too much force applied to small things." I just can't see it in that … Continue reading A Force Too Short (or Is It Too Long?)
“Pleasure with Pain for Leaven:” Blended Satisfaction
I've often pondered what Macgregor Mathers intended by the description "blended pleasure" as a pejorative for the emotional state shown in the 4 of Cups. I had to stop and think "Blended with what, and to what end?" The purpose of blending two things is usually to improve the quality of one or both of … Continue reading “Pleasure with Pain for Leaven:” Blended Satisfaction
Think Once, Then Stop Thinking
There seems to be endless online debate over the proper methodology for laying out the cards. It ranges from "Just do it!" with no planned sequence to carefully orchestrating the pull for maximum coherence. To those who profess to using no prescribed technique, I would ask "Not even self-prescribed?" I would argue that "no method" … Continue reading Think Once, Then Stop Thinking
Medicine Man or Wizard?
Why do people seek out a tarot reader? Arguably, a minority are those who are merely curious about something they may have heard from friends and who have the time and money to spend on indulging themselves; or they might happen upon a street reader and impulsively decide to "take the plunge." Among them are … Continue reading Medicine Man or Wizard?
“Will the Real Page of Wands Please Stand Up?”
The methods by which human personality, age and gender have been assigned to the court cards of the tarot have never resembled an exact science. The old ways of using physical traits as the basis for qualitative "thumbnails" are almost entirely unsatisfactory: Wands people are assumed to be fair-haired, light-skinned and blue-eyed, those at the … Continue reading “Will the Real Page of Wands Please Stand Up?”
Trimming the Sails
One of the best quotes I've ever seen describing the nature and purpose of tarot reading comes from respected occultist Dion Fortune in her description of the "intuitive compass:" "A divination should be regarded as a weather vane which shows which way the winds of the invisible forces are blowing, but it should always be … Continue reading Trimming the Sails
Temperance/Art and the Sagittarius Decans
Continuing with my exploration of the "meditation patterns" for the Minor Arcana from Jim Eshelman's Liber Theta, here are the patterns for the Sagittarius trump card, Temperance (Art in the Thoth deck), and the three decans of Sagittarius; I call this sequence "Art for Art's Sake." The Minor Arcana for Sagittarius are the 8 of … Continue reading Temperance/Art and the Sagittarius Decans
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 