AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written about the tarot Fives a number of times from an esoteric perspective, and also from a pragmatic point-of-view as indicating the need to "break eggs (the stagnant Fours) to make omelettes (the harmonious Sixes)." I've often called them "can-openers" and "nutcrackers." Their disruptive nature comes from their association with the sphere … Continue reading The Disruptive Fives: A Bleak But Essential Corrective
Thoth Material
Zero = Two/Two = Zero: A Null Outcome Proposition
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here I'm nibbling around the edges of Aleister Crowley's magickal formula, "0=2," which I've always assumed to be purely Qabalistic, but that I now realize is more analytically rigorous (and just a bit beyond my college-level calculus). Hermetically, I've understood zero (or "nothing") to be represented by the three "Veils of Negativity," but … Continue reading Zero = Two/Two = Zero: A Null Outcome Proposition
Sitting with Ourself: A Thoth Perspective
"If I had the chance, I'd ask the world to danceAnd I'd be dancing with myself"- from Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol AUTHOR'S NOTE: As I began reading Joe Monteleone's Tarot Mysticism: The Psycho-Spiritual Technology of the Thoth Tarot, I came upon his premise that one of the three primary uses for the tarot … Continue reading Sitting with Ourself: A Thoth Perspective
Probability Management: Divination as Agent of Destiny
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the "magical practices" section of her book, Tarot Correspondences: Ancient Secrets for Everyday Readers, T. Susan Chang offers "probability enhancement" as one definition of practical magic. It involves creative visualization (a more assertive type of creative imagination) in the form of a consciously-scripted aim to manifest what we want for the future. … Continue reading Probability Management: Divination as Agent of Destiny
2025 Year-End Recap & 2026 “Cusp of Renewal” Forecast
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the New-Year's forecast spread I created in December of 2024, and it seems like a good one to repeat this year. My current state of ill health won't let me go at it full-tilt, but I wanted to keep my streak of posts going. Thoth Tarot, copyright of US Games Systems … Continue reading 2025 Year-End Recap & 2026 “Cusp of Renewal” Forecast
“I Want My MTV” (Metaphysical Tarot Values)*
*Riffing on the song Money for Nothing by Dire Straits AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Liber T, the Order's tarot curriculum, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigned esoteric correspondences to all 78 cards of the deck, ranging from astrological associations to Qabalistic notation to scraps from the Medieval grimoire,The Picatrix. In routine practice, these sometimes-forced … Continue reading “I Want My MTV” (Metaphysical Tarot Values)*
Vetting the Significator
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Over the past 15 year I've largely eliminated the use of a "significator" card to represent the client in my public readings after recognizing that it adds little or nothing to the story shown by the rest of the spread. But I've recently experienced an epiphany regarding the subject. When performing the initial … Continue reading Vetting the Significator
The 4 of Swords Reversed: Pandora’s Box?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The reversed image of the Waite-Smith 4 of Swords offers some interesting insights. The vision of an inverted sarcophagus immediately makes me think the lid is ajar and the contents might spill out. This notion leads to a couple of satirical "Hollywood moments:" 1) after Graham Chapman died, the remaining members of Monty … Continue reading The 4 of Swords Reversed: Pandora’s Box?
“Spirits Passing By” – A Random Spirit-Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written in the past about using the tarot to approach the Astral Plane for the purpose of contacting disembodied spirits, usually deceased relatives. I mentioned that we may not get the party we're after (dear departed Uncle Joe or Aunt Mary may not be near the portal at the time) so we … Continue reading “Spirits Passing By” – A Random Spirit-Contact Spread
The Delusion of Perfection
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hate to say it, but far too many of the tarot readers I encounter online are convinced they've attained the pinnacle of tarot mastery and make sage pronouncements based on that assumption, when it's clear to this seasoned observer that they're still finding their way and may in fact be going in … Continue reading The Delusion of Perfection
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 