AUTHOR'S NOTE: Along with pictorial iconography and suit-and-number theory, color symbolism plays a major role in our interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards, and some TdM authors have gone on at length about the significance of the different pigments used by 17th Century printers. I decided to stick my oar in the water. The … Continue reading The Colors of Compromise
An “Upside/Downside” Situational Reading
"I've got a feeling, and I know I'm rightThat tomorrow will bring the darkest night.I've been around too long,I've got to get away."- from I've Been Around Too Long by Marmalade AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is an example reading to test the spread I posted yesterday. I inquired about a situation that has been vexing me … Continue reading An “Upside/Downside” Situational Reading
The “Upside/Downside” Situational Roadmap: A Cartomantic Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the cinematic cartography of the buccaneers favored by Hollywood, treasure maps invariably displayed an "X" where the prize could be found (i.e. "X marks the spot"). On a different arc, there have been many tarot spreads that use the "best case/worst case scenario" to indicate how a situation can be expected to … Continue reading The “Upside/Downside” Situational Roadmap: A Cartomantic Spread
The Less-Traveled Byways of Tarot: Knowledge and Inspiration Meet Insight and Wisdom
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whenever I contemplate the unstructured psychic or purely intuitive approach to tarot reading as currently practiced in "live" settings, on internet platforms and via telephone-hotline "prediction mills," my skeptical nature goes into overdrive. I summon a fanciful vision of a youngish mystical diviner (who is largely untutored and inexperienced in the historical roots … Continue reading The Less-Traveled Byways of Tarot: Knowledge and Inspiration Meet Insight and Wisdom
Degrees of Balance: Unitary and Binary Numbers in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Pythagorean and Qabalistic systems of occult numeration that I use in my metaphysical work were formed around the first nine "whole" numbers or integers, One through Nine, while Ten was an outgrowth of their progressive development. (Zero represents an absence of quantity and Ten is the first "complex" multi-digit number that the … Continue reading Degrees of Balance: Unitary and Binary Numbers in Tarot Reading
The Trump-Card “Playbook” – An In-Depth Look at Counterparts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A number of tarot writers have explored the concept of "numerological counterparts" for the Major Arcana. Here I will examine their ideas and expand them to include the Minor Arcana and the court cards in instances where a direct numerical correlation exists or where arithmetic manipulation reveals similarities. Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm did … Continue reading The Trump-Card “Playbook” – An In-Depth Look at Counterparts
Patriarchal and Matriarchal Bias in the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the early 1980s, I departed the urban tarot scene for a couple of decades to study and practice privately in the country, and when I returned via the internet in 2011 a full-blown controversy was underway over masculine bias in the cards. The online community was awash in hand-wringing, finger-pointing and self-righteous … Continue reading Patriarchal and Matriarchal Bias in the Tarot
What Tarot Does Best: An Opinion
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been said that the tarot can be tasked with answering any question, but in my own predictive work it has proven to be better for some inquiries than for others. This compilation offers an overview of my experience in reading the cards since I returned to active practice in 2011. The categories … Continue reading What Tarot Does Best: An Opinion
A “Close Encounter” Triskelion Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a concise spread that is aimed at exploring the general characteristics, consequences and dynamics of a new human contact or other opportunity that has recently entered (or is about to enter) the seeker's life. (If it addresses a situation rather than a specific individual, those attributes will reflect the querent's own … Continue reading A “Close Encounter” Triskelion Spread
An “Overt-and-Covert” Situational Development Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread that is designed to follow the progress of an initiative, enterprise or project from its inception to the "first milestone" of self-sustaining viability. (The "story arc" is structured so it can be repeated for later phases of a strategic game plan.) It includes a public (or "overt") arc and … Continue reading An “Overt-and-Covert” Situational Development Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 