AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Reading style" is a consideration that is always at the forefront of my thinking on the most effective ways to wield the tarot when divining for other people. I was just nudged a little further along the path by my study of traditional Chinese philosophy. I recently finished a thought-provoking book, The Tao … Continue reading The Crane and The Snake: “Hard” and “Soft” Tarot Reading
The “Gang of Ten”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After reading Paul Marteau's peculiar statement that the Fool doesn't necessarily belong at either end of the Major Arcana sequence as 0 or 22, but would more properly be found after any multiple of 7 (e.g. the Chariot or Temperance), I felt I had to drive the notion from my head by tackling … Continue reading The “Gang of Ten”
The “Power of Four” Decision-Making Series
Here's a decision-making spread (or rather a series of mini-spreads) that - depending on where the Significator lands - will point to one of four typical courses of action in dealing with a decision-making scenario: do nothing and see what happens; side-step the issue before it can get any worse; "take the bull by the … Continue reading The “Power of Four” Decision-Making Series
Islands in the Sea: The “Gateless” Suit of Pentacles
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is one of the more intriguing and challenging mental tasks I've undertaken in a while: rethinking the numbered cards of Pentacles in line with Barbara Walker's discussion in The Secrets of the Tarot: History, Origins and Symbolism. I've long felt that the quaint, folkloric descriptions that have grown up around the Minor … Continue reading Islands in the Sea: The “Gateless” Suit of Pentacles
The “In-Line Six” Answer Tune-up Spread
I'm on something of a fanciful kick with my recent spread development; here I'm using the analogy of the old "straight six" (cylinders, that is) automobile engine, and the notion that reversed cards indicate the need for a "tune-up." This one is an oddity for me; it has no "outcome" card and no position meanings. … Continue reading The “In-Line Six” Answer Tune-up Spread
Spirituality and the Tarot
"Spiritual" use of the tarot is a subject I haven't revisited often enough in my writing since I moved into "action-and-event-oriented" divination a few years ago. My own approach to spirituality is filtered through my long exposure to esoteric studies and practice; it's about as far away from orthodoxy as one can get and also … Continue reading Spirituality and the Tarot
A “New-Style” NFL Gameplay Analysis
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the last of my sports posts for a while (I promise). As the old-time TV announcers used to say after a test of the Emergency Broadcasting System: "We now return to our regular program." In my last post I did a "retake" of a reading for a game between the Buffalo … Continue reading A “New-Style” NFL Gameplay Analysis
National Football League 2022 Season: Buffalo Bills Win-Loss Predictions
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a lengthy experiment applying the "point gap" method I developed to replace the imperfect scoring technique I've used for predicting the outcome of NFL football games over the past few years. Rather than trying to project actual scores, it focuses on the point separation between the two teams at the end … Continue reading National Football League 2022 Season: Buffalo Bills Win-Loss Predictions
A New National Football League Prediction Model
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my substantive post for today; I like sports forecasting because it offers immediate and irrefutable proof of the accuracy of one's techniques. For several years now I've been using the tarot to attempt prediction of the winning team in sporting events, particularly National Football League and Major League Baseball games in … Continue reading A New National Football League Prediction Model
The “Six Chambers of Chance” Answer Roulette Spread
Here is a spread based loosely on the casino game of roulette (with a thinly-veiled allusion to a more threatening form of roulette that may be a superior analogy depending on the seriousness of any potential consequences). It uses a range of three pre-selected "answer" cards and all 78 cards of the deck in the … Continue reading The “Six Chambers of Chance” Answer Roulette Spread