AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rather than relying on a single career-specific "topic" card in a Grand Tableau spread, I decided to create a 36-card alternative house system that breaks the career path down into a wide range of sub-factors, from presenting oneself as an applicant to deciding whether to accept or reject the opportunity. Those positions without … Continue reading A Lenormand “Career-Path” Alternative House System
The “Bridge or Tunnel” Situational Outlook Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my second spread based on the "troll under the bridge" symbolism of Scandinavian folklore. (The first one was aimed at readings for children; this one is for adults and the "troll" - here we could call it a "cave troll" - is implied rather than explicit.) The roll of a single … Continue reading The “Bridge or Tunnel” Situational Outlook Spread
Harmony’s Disappearance: A Reboot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The recent unsealing of the affidavit of Kayla Montgomery in the case of the alleged 2019 murder of then-5-year-old Harmony Montgomery by her father, Adam Montgomery, has pumped fresh life into the investigation. I've been following and performing tarot and horary astrology readings on this case since early January of 2022. I went … Continue reading Harmony’s Disappearance: A Reboot
A French Cross Experiment: The Summer Solstice and the Birthday Boy
Since the Summer Solstice is also my birthday, I decided to experiment with the French Cross spread (tirage en croix) that I just learned a few things about. Because both of these events are kind of a "big deal" (one globally - or at least in the Northern Hemisphere - and the other personally) I … Continue reading A French Cross Experiment: The Summer Solstice and the Birthday Boy
Question Quibbles
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just begun reading Vincent Pitisci's first book, Genius of the Tarot: A Guide to Divination with the Tarot, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that his thinking agrees on almost all points with similar opinions I've formed over 50 years of study and practice. At the time he wrote it (2013) he … Continue reading Question Quibbles
TdM Divination, Approximately
Several years ago I was informed by someone with good credentials that there is no centuries-old tradition for performing divination with the Tarot de Marseille cards and their Italian Renaissance predecessors, all of which were originally used only for the playing of card games. The popular "French Cross" or tirage en croix spread has little … Continue reading TdM Divination, Approximately
Wherefore Intuition?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many (if not most) tarot writers who discuss the cards in psychological terms relate the element of Fire and the suit of Wands to Carl Gustav Jung's function of "Intuition." Here is my rebuttal. After a good deal of reading and contemplation on the subject, I've come to the conclusion that the metaphysical … Continue reading Wherefore Intuition?
Flights of Vanity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This rant certainly won't endear me to the few video-content creators of my acquaintance, so I won't be sharing it widely. While there are a handful I respect for their professionalism, I imagine they could become expert at anything they attempt; the rest seem to subscribe to the notion that "It's so simple … Continue reading Flights of Vanity
Justice By Extension
GRATUITOUS UPDATE: I just came across a "Kabbalistic" definition of "good vision" that I wanted to amend for this post: "20/20 vision is not the ability to see far but the ability to see clearly and accurately that which is right under your nose," a cautionary message for the 2 and 8 of Swords. We … Continue reading Justice By Extension
A “Method to the Madness” Multiple-Midpoint Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a natal astrologer I've always been fascinated by the mathematical midpoints between factors (typically the planets and angles of the horoscope) that represent sensitive locations in a birth chart that will eventually be "triggered" by predictive transits and progressions. The concept (which implies "hidden symmetry" in an apparently irrational Universe) can just … Continue reading A “Method to the Madness” Multiple-Midpoint Spread
