AUTHOR'S NOTE: In previous essays I've described the Temperance card as representing "the 'fine Art of Right Action' (neither too much force nor too little) when a discriminating finesse is called for." This has served me well as a practical definition over the years, but I just came across two ideas in Benebell Wen's Holistic … Continue reading Fusion and Reconciliation: Temperance as the “Ultimate Smoothie”
Ominous Predictions: Cautionary or Constructive?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The threat of a "bad" outcome card showing up in a reading is one of the most challenging scenarios facing professional tarot readers and their clients. Experienced diviners are normally able to take this unpleasant development in stride, but for the rest it generates an anxious moment of dread. In my own coaching … Continue reading Ominous Predictions: Cautionary or Constructive?
Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A couple of years ago I performed a careful analysis of the Waite-Smith tarot to determine which cards express some kind of active movement. In the end I came up with five Major Arcana, six court cards and ten Minor Arcana as indicators of either acceleration or deceleration in a querent's affairs. (All … Continue reading Range of Motion: An Action-Driven Reading Matrix
The “Third-Party” Reading and the Boomerang Effect
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Arguably the most common question put to the tarot after "Does my ex want to come back to me?" is "What does Joe or Mary think or feel about me?" (A bit of wry humor there: inquiries about the mental state of a prospective love interest far exceed those exploring possible reconciliation with … Continue reading The “Third-Party” Reading and the Boomerang Effect
The High Priestess: Secrets Waiting to Pounce
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I began reading Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot a while ago but soon gave up because I found that it departed too drastically from my long-standing Hermetic approach to the Major Arcana. But I recently realized that the passages I objected to were inspired by Chinese cosmology and not by the tenets of Western … Continue reading The High Priestess: Secrets Waiting to Pounce
The “Spiritual Tribunal” Astral Contact Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: All of the spirit-contact methods I'm aware of assume that we're going to encounter precisely the entity we're seeking (ancestor, god-form, elemental figure, spirit guide, etc.) whenever we ask. But I've never been convinced that disembodied beings are lurking at the threshold of the Astral Plane, just waiting for us to reach out, … Continue reading The “Spiritual Tribunal” Astral Contact Spread
Why Bother? The Case for Tarot Timing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When it comes to divination, I have little interest in modern philosophical or scientific theories about the elastic nature of time. My aim is to help my clients understand (and therefore withstand) their circumstances; such academic hypotheses add nothing to the outlook and only serve to complicate it. Events occur in "real time," … Continue reading Why Bother? The Case for Tarot Timing
Dysfunctional Brinkmanship On Display
UPDATE: There has been conjecture in the "court of public opinion" that Donald Trump's "calling out" of the unconscionable profits being reaped by health insurance companies from the Affordable Card Act had a net positive effect in breaking the Senate's shutdown "logjam." I'm not convinced that it wasn't just the mounting stress on the public … Continue reading Dysfunctional Brinkmanship On Display
“Squishy” Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Not long ago I came across a post on one of the Facebook pages that railed against the current "state of the art" (if I may dignify it as such) in on-line tarot reading. The relevant part of the rant is worth quoting here: "I know intuition and the client's question/situation will influence … Continue reading “Squishy” Tarot Reading
Situational Precision in General Readings
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know there is an oxymoron in there somewhere (almost-but-not-quite Pink Floyd's "random precision"), but bear with me. General readings are not usually noted for their situational exactness, so I'm taking this "outside the box." When clients come to me for a reading they are usually experiencing some kind of distress, so I … Continue reading Situational Precision in General Readings
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 