According to author Richard Cavendish, the Roman philosopher Cicero considered the virtue of prudence to be comprised of three characteristics: memory, intelligence and foresight. When applied to the art of divination, these qualities refer to 1) fastidious contemplation of the past, 2) avid engagement with the present and 3) canny speculation about the future, all … Continue reading The “Prudence of Prognostication”
Tarot Theory
Cosmobiology and the Chaldean Decans in Tarot
The German cosmobiologists of the mid-20th Century held that the "soft" aspects between planets (the sextiles and trines along with the less prominent quintiles and bi-quintiles) were largely a waste of time in that they seldom show anything "visible" happening. These astrologers focused on the "hard" aspects - squares, semi-squares, sesquiquadrates and oppositions - when … Continue reading Cosmobiology and the Chaldean Decans in Tarot
A “Wish, Will and Way” Example Reading
I decided to test my 5-card approach to this method by asking the same question I've been chasing for the last few years: "As a professional diviner, how can I become more publicly successful and sought-after?" I chose for my inspiration the time-honored assumption that a skilled cartomancer is both sensitive and intuitive (Queen of … Continue reading A “Wish, Will and Way” Example Reading
The Wish, The Will and the Way
In tarot divination, there is a tendency to look at the Major Arcana (aka "trump") cards that turn up in a reading and say "That's all well and good as a philosophical abstraction, but what does it really mean for this particular person or situation at this point in time?" Their archetypal aim can be … Continue reading The Wish, The Will and the Way
The Ringmaster Speaks
While digging through on-line interview material looking for videos by Enrique Enriquez, I came across a quote of his that put something into perspective for me. "The first metaphor in tarot happens when we shuffle the tarot. There is a carnivalesque stance in this debasement of hierarchies. I associate this with sabotaging reality. Shuffling the … Continue reading The Ringmaster Speaks
Poetry in Motion
I've been thinking about Enrique Enriquez' imaginative approach to the Tarot de Marseille that aims to turn the cards into "visual poetry," apparently without the intervention of inductive reasoning. (I believe it's intended to be more inventive and inspiring than ordinary free-association, which works rather poorly with the TdM anyway.) It seems to me that, … Continue reading Poetry in Motion
The Skinny End
We've all seen the Hollywood version of the investigative psychic: the brow furrowed in concentration, the eyes squeezed shut, the hands to the temples, proclaiming "I think I see the letter 'B' . . ." One thing I've learned during my pursuit of missing-person situations is that the number of unsolved homicides far outweighs incidents … Continue reading The Skinny End
The Quick, the Dead and the In-Between: A “State of Undoing” Table
The fundamental quandary in any missing-person reading is whether the cards describe the absent party as alive, deceased or somewhere in-between (injured, ill, captive, physically abused, etc.) Most tarot professionals consider the very idea of contemplating physical death to be borderline unethical, but any extended missing-person scenario must inevitably confront the possibility, if only in … Continue reading The Quick, the Dead and the In-Between: A “State of Undoing” Table
A “Rorschach Tarot” Example Reading
The "test throw" I included in my original post on this subject was in fact based on a legitimate question so I decided to use it to illustrate this method of reading. The situation centers on an upcoming gathering of a large group of people at the home of one of the parties, and the … Continue reading A “Rorschach Tarot” Example Reading
“Stick-tuitiveness”
Because tarot-card interpretation is such a fluid form of expression in which we sometimes "throw everything against the wall to see what sticks" (hint: it ain't that simple, kids), the common advice is to pick one method of working and stay with it through thick-and-thin. The thought is that consistency of approach will keep our … Continue reading “Stick-tuitiveness”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 