A common practice recommended to tarot beginners is to randomly pull one card each day and contemplate its meaning over the course of that day, with the goal of gradually mastering the complex art of interpretation. Unfortunately, this approach to learning can continue long after its initial usefulness fades; the "daily draw" becomes institutionalized and … Continue reading A Creative Approach to Weekly and Daily Draws
A Missing-Person “Sectional” Suspect and Location Spread
Just when you thought I'd gone off the deep end, here is a very simple layout that I will be using in connection with my other more detailed missing-person spreads. (You will need a board-game spinner or other random "sectioning" method to work with it.) As mentioned in the accompanying text, the thrust of this … Continue reading A Missing-Person “Sectional” Suspect and Location Spread
The “Reasonable Certainty” Investment Opportunity Spread
Here is a spread for you "left-brained" types who appreciate a more deductive, methodical approach to tarot reading when warranted. It can be used when the opportunity for any kind of significant investment arises; this can be a financial initiative or any other commitment involving one's time or resources. Note that if you are of … Continue reading The “Reasonable Certainty” Investment Opportunity Spread
Modern Assumptions and Attitudes About Tarot Usage
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been a while since I've posted even a mild rant on the subject of modern tarot practice. As usual, online conversations with other tarot enthusiasts light my fuse. Although some mystical purists might insist that I've gone philistine, over the last ten years I've adopted a more utilitarian philosophy regarding use of … Continue reading Modern Assumptions and Attitudes About Tarot Usage
A “Three-Ring Circus” Business Health Reading
To test this spread, I performed a reading on the corporate health of a relative's employer. I used the Retro Thoth deck with its court-card hierarchy of Princess, Prince, Queen and Knight. The Functional Effectiveness row includes the 10 of Wands reversed; the 3 of Disks; the 2 of Disks reversed; the 3 of Wands … Continue reading A “Three-Ring Circus” Business Health Reading
The “Three-Ring Circus” Business Health Assessment Spread
I spent many years as a middle-manager in a medium-sized corporation, and since my retirement I've occasionally brought that experience to bear on my development of tarot spreads for assessing corporate strengths and weaknesses. The title refers to some of the mind-boggling management methods I've seen in my time. If there aren't three middle managers … Continue reading The “Three-Ring Circus” Business Health Assessment Spread
The “Spirit-Mind-Body” Personality Matrix
Here is another complex layout that isn't a reading spread but a personality profile developed using the cards; it takes a bit of effort to set up but should be worth it. I've been looking at full-deck readings posted online recently and wanted to try that in a way that randomly "compartmentalizes" the cards into … Continue reading The “Spirit-Mind-Body” Personality Matrix
The Suit of Wands As “Arrows”
I'm currently reading Alain Bougearel's book, The Language of the Cards: An Initiation into French Cartomancy (OUROBOROS Editions, August 16, 2020), in which he equates the tarot suit of Batons (modern Wands) to the playing-card suit of Diamonds, and associates the arrowhead-shaped suit emblem with the military arrow as a weapon of ranged combat. He … Continue reading The Suit of Wands As “Arrows”
“Set the Table, Doug”
As my revisionist thinking on the significance of the Major Arcana in a tarot reading continues to churn up fresh ideas, I entertained the notion that the functional relationship between the minor cards, court cards and trump cards might be likened to the experience of dining out. The minor cards provide the "meat-and-potatoes" of the … Continue reading “Set the Table, Doug”
Buzzard Luck
"Just like a buzzard flyin' high in the skyI can't kill nothin', nothin' won't die"from "Buzzard Luck" by the Powder Blues Band AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't expect this to be an entirely coherent ramble unless I find somewhere to take it after my preliminary comments. I've always prided myself on being able to read the tarot … Continue reading Buzzard Luck
