In The Grand Etteilla, a mid-19th-Century French compilation of informed opinion on Jean-Baptiste Alliette's late-18th-Century cartomantic deck of the same name, one snippet of text on the 6 of Clubs (Wands) assigns zero to "the world" (with a lower-case "w") and gives it the reversed keyword of "Expectation" (not "none" as one might reasonably assume … Continue reading A Matter of “Expectation”
Thoth, Tabula Mundi and “The Tyger”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently performed a tarot reading for a fellow student of the esoteric arts (a rare treat, I might add), the conduct of which encouraged me to relaunch my neglected experiments in linking tarot cards to classical poetry by verse and stanza. Here I'm taking on The Tyger by William Blake with its … Continue reading Thoth, Tabula Mundi and “The Tyger”
The Hazards of “Clumping”
I've written previously on the subject of shuffling tarot decks, both the purpose and the practice. But the topic still comes up regularly on the tarot pages and feeds, which has caused me to once again sharpen my perspective. The "how" doesn't concern me as much as the "why." The commonly-held belief that we shuffle … Continue reading The Hazards of “Clumping”
Knights and Streetcars: “Coming and Going”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My wife dismisses blues music as "whining man" music (as in "My baby done left me and I'm feelin' lowdown and mean." But there is a bawdy old "whining woman" blues song from the early 20th Century that complains: "Men are like streetcars/They keep coming and going." (A similar modern version would be … Continue reading Knights and Streetcars: “Coming and Going”
The “Environmental” Yes-or-No Answer
I'm mildly amused by people who say "Tarot isn't meant for yes-or-no questions." I suspect that back in the 18th and 19th Centuries (before we went "all psychological and spiritual" with it) tarot wasn't used for much else but binary questions. The cards will basically do anything we require of them as long as we … Continue reading The “Environmental” Yes-or-No Answer
The Lovers: Decisions, Commitments and A “Fork in the Road”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another random insight from The Grand Etteilla. In Jean-Baptiste Alliette's Book of Thoth tarot (aka the "Grand Etteilla") there is a card titled "Marriage" that is markedly similar to modern versions of the Lovers based on the Waite-Smith design. It shows a man and a woman attended by an officiating priest, obviously engaged … Continue reading The Lovers: Decisions, Commitments and A “Fork in the Road”
Reversed Cards and “Night-Crawler Hunting”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay presents the second epiphany I've gained from my reading of the 19th Century French tarot book, The Grand Etteilla. Whenever I encounter reversed cards in a reading and determine that they should be handled in a psychological rather than a pragmatic way, I often treat them as showing where subjective "inner … Continue reading Reversed Cards and “Night-Crawler Hunting”
That Mean Ol’ Moon
I've begun reading the English-language translation of The Grand Etteilla, a 19th Century French tarot compilation by Julia Orsini et al, with the goal of beginning to wrap my head around Alliette's "Continental" system of interpretation. I noticed three things immediately: 1) the method of pulling and arranging the cards for a reading (often using … Continue reading That Mean Ol’ Moon
A “Chaotic Complex” Random-Variable Life-Reading Spread
A couple of days ago a client asked me if I have any "chaos-based" spreads. I replied that I don't but then remembered that at an earlier time I had casually researched chaos theory, so I went back for another look. Although I have a few designs that nibble around the edges, I have none … Continue reading A “Chaotic Complex” Random-Variable Life-Reading Spread
Tarot of Mystical Moments: An Atypical Deck Interview
UPDATE: I discovered that I made a "fortuitous error" in the quintessence calculation for this reading. The trump card thus derived should have been Justice and not the Hanged Man. But this deck is emphatically non-cerebral, so I'm going to leave the essay as it stands. (Maybe the Magician was peeking out cautiously from behind … Continue reading Tarot of Mystical Moments: An Atypical Deck Interview
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 