UPDATE: We did hit delays in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania, where it was extremely foggy and slushy, and the road maintenance was less than stellar. Then there was a combination of poor visibility and three accidents between Connecticut and Massachusetts that caused more minor slow-downs. We lost maybe an hour overall. Original Post: My … Continue reading Long-Distance Travel Forecast: Return Trip
The Joie de Vivre Tarot
Paulina Cassidy's second deck has been described by some reviewers as "child-like," an impression that is explicitly touted by the wording on the box, leading to the assumption that it is light-weight and not suitable for answering serious questions. This is an older deck, first published in 2011, that never caught my eye because my … Continue reading The Joie de Vivre Tarot
Original Kipperkarten: First Thoughts
I recently received the Original Kipper Wahrsagekarten from Germany and have been scouring the internet for information on its use. (I'm aware of Toni Puhle's book, The Card Geek's Guide to Kipper Cards, but the consensus seems to be that it is best used with her own deck.) Kipper is a system of cartomantic divination … Continue reading Original Kipperkarten: First Thoughts
Home of the Strange
Imagine an unhinged Frank Sinatra crooning: Home, home of the strange Where the seer and the astrologue play Where seldom is heard a Discordian* word And the skrys are not cloudy all day. (Sorry about that, Dr. Higley. And yes, Sinatra did record Higley's original in 1946) I finally have my reading space and occult … Continue reading Home of the Strange
When Enough May Still Be Too Much
About half the time, I'm struck by a clever title for a new post and then have to go hunting for a topic to wrap it around. You can probably spot them with little difficulty, although you may have to think about a few. Here I want to talk about the trend of modern writers … Continue reading When Enough May Still Be Too Much
The Skeptic’s Confession
It may surprise you to see an admission of skepticism in a post by the author of a divination blog. But in fact I'm doubtful about the legitimacy of much that currently passes for truth in the metaphysical scripture of the unseen. For example, I'm a non-believer in the "Law of Attraction," which as far … Continue reading The Skeptic’s Confession
The “Hamlet Defense”
In my previously constrained magical life, which persisted for many years after we moved to rural New Hampshire in 1979 and our early attempts to start astrology and Qabala groups came to nothing, I never encountered scoffers and skeptics. Eventually, my only public exposure in the esoteric field was to the like-minded people at the local … Continue reading The “Hamlet Defense”
So You’re a Professional Tarot Reader?
In a local "commerce-and-culture" magazine, I came across an interview with a professional "Certified Life Coach" and began pondering how I would respond to such questions if they are ever presented to me as a tarot reader. Here is my version of a hypothetical interview that aligns more closely with the practice of divination. What is … Continue reading So You’re a Professional Tarot Reader?
The Doctor Is Out
. . . but the curmudgeon is always in! I'm inclined to approach a tarot session as I would a surgical emergency room rather than as an updated 19th Century parlor pastime: "We're going to perform a little triage here, not just exchange polite pleasantries. It could get bloody!" But I'm suspicious that many newcomers … Continue reading The Doctor Is Out
The Sitter’s Intent
In his abbreviated commentary on the Major Arcana at the end of The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley observed that the Wheel of Fortune describes "Change of fortune. (This generally means good fortune because the fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent.)" His point is that people who seek the advice of a diviner usually … Continue reading The Sitter’s Intent
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 