AUTHOR'S NOTE: I should mention in advance that nothing you see here (or in any of my essays) is AI-generated because I believe resorting to AI "web-scraping" - when it isn't outright theft - depreciates the original contribution of creative artists and writers. (But artificial intelligence - isn't there an oxymoron in there somewhere? - … Continue reading “What is Dead May Never Die” – An Alternate Take on Death
TdM Material
“The Carrot and the Stick” – A French Cross Variation
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this spread I'm using the French Cross (tirage en croix) as the template for a tarot-based exploration of I Ching Hexagram 35 (Jin; Advancement), with its emphasis on loyalty and generosity as the keys to progress. I've tinkered with the position meanings but have left the structure largely intact. Note that all … Continue reading “The Carrot and the Stick” – A French Cross Variation
Inside the Box: Quaternary vs. Quinary Synthesis*
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been loosely using the term "quintessence" to describe the numerical conflation of any quantity of tarot cards in a spread, but traditionalists have criticized that assumption as being inconsistent with the historical meaning of the word as the symbolic fifth iteration (or "quinary essence") of a four-card "tirage on croix" (French Cross) … Continue reading Inside the Box: Quaternary vs. Quinary Synthesis*
Assembling a Puzzle or Building a Bridge: Two Modes of Tarot Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When using a tarot spread with defined position meanings, synthesizing the key points to form a single coherent narrative offers inevitable comparisons to assembling a jigsaw puzzle in which each card contributes one - and only one - irreplaceable "piece of the puzzle" as determined by its positional import. On the other hand, … Continue reading Assembling a Puzzle or Building a Bridge: Two Modes of Tarot Divination
“Dividing the Chaos” – Reconstituting the Trump Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another oddball experiment (I have a few of them queued up) in which pairs of trump cards are collated numerologically (similar to the "quintessence" calculation but with pre-selected components) to intentionally yield the numerical value of a third trump. The goal is to create a three-part dynamic with two "modifying" cards … Continue reading “Dividing the Chaos” – Reconstituting the Trump Cards
Divinatory Syncretism: Synthesizing vs. Particularizing*
*Syncretism: The union of different practices whose features may be synchronized to good effect. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before I get into my subject, I should acknowledge that I sympathize (that is, I agree in principle) with Ronald Decker's criticism of the Golden Dawn's application of "Chaldean" astrology (which I understand does not signify a geographic region … Continue reading Divinatory Syncretism: Synthesizing vs. Particularizing*
Tarot and the “Virtues”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reading Ronald Decker's occult tarot history book, The Esoteric Tarot . . . etc, has put me into "intellectual overdrive." Here I'm reflecting on his discussion of the "Virtues" - both the four Platonic originals and the three "theological" additions of Christianity - in which he explores their relationship to the Major Arcana … Continue reading Tarot and the “Virtues”
Projection and Reflection: Trump-Card Pairs and Triplets
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading The Tarot of the Bohemians by "Papus" (Gerard Encausse) I came across an interesting approach to correlating the Major Arcana that was new to me. This is the last of my essays from the book unless I read it again at some point in the future. In line with his "positive-negative-neutral-transitional" … Continue reading Projection and Reflection: Trump-Card Pairs and Triplets
The Third Principle
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In The Tarot of the Bohemians, Papus covered a minor point that I've explored in much greater detail in my own work over the last few years, although at the time I had no idea I was echoing a nearly 150-year-old numerological concept. He proposed treating the second of two cards in a non-adjacent … Continue reading The Third Principle
Papus and the Trump-Card Septenaries
AUTHOR'S NOTE: With the numbers One through Ten, Papus (Gerard Encausse) found major inspiration in the quaternary paradigm, by which he managed to turn ten "pips" into a triad of four-card arrays. (See my previous essay.) With the trump cards he adopted a septenary model instead, and strove to bring the two onto the same … Continue reading Papus and the Trump-Card Septenaries
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 