The third array of trump-card counterparts involves Strength and Temperance on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Eight, Fourteen and Five. I decided to insert the Fool in all of these tableaux, even without an obvious numerological derivation. because the Fool represents the "jumping-off place" for all of … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Strength and Temperance
Trumps
Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
The second array of trump-card counterparts involves the Hermit and Death on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Nine and Four. The interplay of numbers across this one is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if it repeats with the remaining eight tableaux. The Hermit, numbered … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
This post brings together a few ideas I've floated in past essays: "playing both ends against the middle" when approaching the trump-card sequence; the concept of "numerological counterparts" among the trumps; the trumps as "archetypal expressions" of the "pip" cards; and the linking of certain trumps through means other than immediate proximity. I've recently been … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
A Horse of a Different Color
To my knowledge, other than the small dog in Le Mat, the lion in La Force, the two canines in La Lune and the two horses in Le Chariot, there have been few attempts to rope the Tarot de Marseille animals into the narrative of a reading and give them a starring role. I was … Continue reading A Horse of a Different Color
A Tarot de Marseille Process Analysis
As I gain experience with it, I find that divination with the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) is best suited for providing a literal perspective (as with the Lenormand cards) rather than for the more symbolic, impressionistic approach used with most modern tarot decks. This is due primarily to their spare presentation that doesn't encourage much … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Process Analysis
Temperance, the Star and the Water of Spirit
The thing that is most obvious when examining the two cards of the title is that the figure on each is manipulating a fluid that has been symbolically linked to the ethereal elixir of Spirit. Temperance is sloshing it back-and-forth between two chalices (and much has been made of the fact that, in the Waite-Smith … Continue reading Temperance, the Star and the Water of Spirit
Odd Couples
I'm still plowing my way through Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot and have reached the section where he proposes a few obvious (and more than a few off-beat) "duets" between the cards of the tarot. Anyone with a shred of card sense can clearly see the logical ties between the Emperor and Empress, the … Continue reading Odd Couples
The “Mystic Chalice” Trump Card Layout
I sometimes amuse myself by creating study tools for analyzing the interrelationship between the cards of the tarot, both in two dimensions and stacked in a three-dimensional overlay. This one uses an imaginative arrangement of the trump cards as its basis. I call it the "Mystic Chalice," but have to admit it does look a … Continue reading The “Mystic Chalice” Trump Card Layout
Unto the Breach
As promised, I erected a mundane horoscope to examine the implications of Mars being singularly bright in the evening sky at the time of the Congressional mid-term elections in the United States. The title of this post alludes to the famous lines from Act III, Scene I of Shakespeare's play Henry V, which conclude with: … Continue reading Unto the Breach
“Adam Cardman”
There is a qabalastic tradition that places an image of the male human body within the structure of the Tree of Life, such that the ten spheres (or sephiroth) of the Tree relate to different parts of the anatomy. This image is known as "Adam Kadmon," or the Primordial Man. The most common version of … Continue reading “Adam Cardman”
