As it frequently does, the subject of defending oneself against negative influences while reading the cards for other people came up again on one of the Facebook tarot pages. I usually approach this perceived vulnerability as Astral Plane intrusion (think "Ouija board") but it is even more likely to come from the person across the … Continue reading Tarot Reading and “Psychic Vampirism”
Tarot Theory
The Major Arcana and the “Box of Chocolates”
In previous posts I've presented the observation that, in my own experience, Major Arcana (or trump) cards appearing in a spread seldom indicate the actual arrival of significant events in everyday terms, and serve more to show the overriding tone, theme or scenic backdrop for the period covered by the reading. They may still create … Continue reading The Major Arcana and the “Box of Chocolates”
For What It’s Worth
In my book Tarot Hermetica, I made the following observation about the use of esoteric principles and practices in tarot reading: "Recent years have seen a groundswell of resistance to the theories of esoteric interpretation formulated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its chief architect, Samuel Liddell “MacGregor” Mathers, at the end … Continue reading For What It’s Worth
Pleasure and Fun, On The Double
This morning I was thinking abut the old Doublemint gum jingle and how it might be applied to the elemental dignities between the Minor Arcana in two-card sets. "Double your pleasure, double your fun!" But I switched it up a bit to create four "opportunities:" "Double your pleasure, double your pain;Double your money, double your … Continue reading Pleasure and Fun, On The Double
A Matter of Style and Substance
I enjoyed a long, productive career as a technical and legal writer, generating text to be read by a range of intelligent and talented people, from technicians to engineers to managers to government functionaries. Cultivating precision, clarity and economy in writing style was uppermost in importance. But my first love, derived from many hours spent … Continue reading A Matter of Style and Substance
The Can-Opener and the Nutcracker
For a long time now I've considered the number Five in the numerical sequence to be a figurative can-opener or nutcracker that releases the stale atmosphere of the Four, the idea being that it represents reactionary change in response to a stalled state of affairs. But today I was thinking that this "can-opener" function is … Continue reading The Can-Opener and the Nutcracker
“The Kettle’s On Boil!”
I've written in the past with curmudgeonly intent about the practice of adding "clarifers" (extra cards) to a positional spread when the meaning of the original cards is unclear, as if that is going to brighten the waters instead of muddy them further. In my opinion, an artist with too many colors on the palette … Continue reading “The Kettle’s On Boil!”
Tarot and the Nature of Desire
The tarot reader is often tasked with divining "what someone wants" in a situation. In natal astrology the answer is much simpler: Venus and Mars rule the realm of basic human appetites and their interaction goes to the heart of the matter. Boston astrologer Isabel Hickey once said "Mars goes out and gets what Venus … Continue reading Tarot and the Nature of Desire
Numerological Counterparts by Multiplication
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay duplicates a few of the details that appeared in my post on the planetary and elemental trump cards, but I started this one first. It addresses the idea of "correspondence by multiplication" more specifically. The idea of Major Arcana cards as "numerological counterparts" of one another has been floated in the … Continue reading Numerological Counterparts by Multiplication
Cups and Pentacles: Even More Subtle Distinctions
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Completist that I am, I figured I had better finish my thoughts on the nuances of interpretation that separate the elementally "friendly" minor suits of the tarot. The suits of Cups and Pentacles (or, in different systems, Coins or Disks) are entirely sympathetic to one another; one represents the element of Water and … Continue reading Cups and Pentacles: Even More Subtle Distinctions
