The second array of trump-card counterparts involves the Hermit and Death on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Nine and Four. The interplay of numbers across this one is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if it repeats with the remaining eight tableaux. The Hermit, numbered … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
A Milestone Moment
I have now reached 1,000 posts on this blog since its launch in July of 2017. I've had just under 40,000 views in that time, not a lot compared to some of the blogs I follow, but it did jump more than 25% so far this year over the 2018 total. As always, I try … Continue reading A Milestone Moment
Edging Up to the Runes
I've decided to take on the challenge of familiarizing myself with the Nordic runes to the point that I can successfully divine with them, at least in a non-professional way. I bought Lisa Chamberlain's introductory book on the subject and have elected to pursue the more traditional approach of Edred Thorsson and Nigel Pennick and … Continue reading Edging Up to the Runes
Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
This post brings together a few ideas I've floated in past essays: "playing both ends against the middle" when approaching the trump-card sequence; the concept of "numerological counterparts" among the trumps; the trumps as "archetypal expressions" of the "pip" cards; and the linking of certain trumps through means other than immediate proximity. I've recently been … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
The “Keys to the Kingdom”
Somewhere in the dim and distant past I encountered the idea that astrology represents the "gold key" to unlocking visions of the future through divination, in that it is objective and rational (that is, based on visible phenomena), while the more subjective and intuitive tarot provides the "silver key." I can no longer find the … Continue reading The “Keys to the Kingdom”
Alike But Different: The Two and Three of Wands
In her book The Tarot and the Tree of Life, Isabel Kliegman goes to some length to justify why we need both the Two and Three of Wands in a pack of tarot cards when - at least in the Waite-Smith deck - they seem to be almost identical in appearance. For me there has … Continue reading Alike But Different: The Two and Three of Wands
Numerological and Archetypal Counterparts: A Visual Tableau
I decided to turn my previous post on trump-card counterparts into a graphic display. In addition to visually aligning the cards according to their numerical and archetypal values (both natural and derived), this tableau allows for drawing more imaginative correlations between cards that answer to the same number. In the case of the court and … Continue reading Numerological and Archetypal Counterparts: A Visual Tableau
A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
It took a while, but I finally got the game-board spinner necessary to try out this unusual spread. https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/the-round-it-goes-decision-making-spread/ I found it useful to select a deck that matched the height of the spinner pad fairly closely so I could lay out the cards in a uniform way that eliminated the possibility of "pointer overlap" … Continue reading A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
This layout is a spin-off from my "Rogue's Gallery" unsolved homicide spread, in which I'm using the Tower as the central "focus" card to signify a traumatic accident rather than Death, which symbolized a homicide in the original spread. I'm also using the 10 of Swords as the pointer or "finger" card because in many … Continue reading Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme
I've found over many years of working with them that single-card daily draws are more useful for showing the background "tone" of the upcoming day than for trying to pinpoint specific activities or events. They are too limited in scope to effectively convey all of the ramifying "overtones" that can accompany the main theme, which … Continue reading Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme