By all reliable accounts, Aleister Crowley was not a nice man. Yet he fathered one of the enduring icons of modern tarot - the Thoth deck - along with its remarkable companion volume, The Book of Thoth or BoT. A revisionist attempt is afoot to give the lion's share of the credit for the excellence of … Continue reading Confessions of an Incurable Thothie
A Psycard Prediction Scenario
I recently received a set of Psycards, and have been eager to create a spread that makes specific use of their strengths. The deck contains several "archetype" cards (Father, Mother, Fool, Sage and Warrior) that can be put to good use in defining a querent's most advantageous approach to any matter of interest. There are … Continue reading A Psycard Prediction Scenario
Experimental Daily Draw #1
I'm not a fan of reading other people's daily draws. They present an overly personal and mundane inventory of dirty laundry that usually makes me yawn. I stopped doing simple daily draws for myself a long time ago since they weren't telling me much of value. But recently I find that performing more complex pulls … Continue reading Experimental Daily Draw #1
The Alchemy of Silence: A Temperance Poem
Yesterday, in the tarot and Lenormand blog My Curious Cabinet, I was reading Le Fanu's explanation for his retirement from active posting. His comments on the need to regain "silence" in his life, to fend off the intrusion of social and cultural malaise into his private space, got me thinking about my own perception of … Continue reading The Alchemy of Silence: A Temperance Poem
Cheap Shots #16: What Do You Call a Group of Virgos?
Every species of animal has its unique collective nomenclature (a gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, an obstinacy of bison, a brood, flock, cluck or peep of chickens, etc.), so why not astrological natives? Since I have seven or eight Virgos in my life, I figured that's a good place to start. (Please don't … Continue reading Cheap Shots #16: What Do You Call a Group of Virgos?
Lenormand Recidivism
When it comes to reading the Petit Lenromand, I'm an unabashed throwback to an earlier era. The traditional decks with their simple, spare images are, as a rule, more immediately readable than many of the modern decks and their symbolic revisionism, however skillfully executed. As a trained graphic artist, I do appreciate a visually sumptuous … Continue reading Lenormand Recidivism
A Cartomantic Adventure
I have a life-long devotion to tarot and astrology that began around 1970, and my fascination with Lenormand goes back to the day I first encountered it in 2011. But I'm always looking for a new challenge, which is why I took on traditional astrology and horary in particular. More recently, I've been eying playing-card … Continue reading A Cartomantic Adventure
A 2017 Fall Equinox Reading
At the Winter Solstice of 2016, I performed a Wheel of the Year spread for the coming 12-month period. This included an annual card (the Sun for this year), four quarterly cards (the Magician, the Hierophant, the Lovers and Strength), and twelve monthly cards (shown on the attached photo). For the 4th Quarter of 2017 … Continue reading A 2017 Fall Equinox Reading
A Case Study: Family Differences
The querent in this case has experienced long-standing - although veiled - disdain from her siblings over religious differences. They are either born-again fundamentalists or Catholic in their beliefs, and the querent is an unaffiliated spiritual free-thinker. Before the reading, we discussed the fact that the conservative energy of the Hierophant - with its rigid … Continue reading A Case Study: Family Differences
The “Square of Life” Lifeworks Spread
This is a "Swiss-Army-Knife" life-reading spread intended for examination of life's circumstances in four major areas: Personal Life: the individual as a self-contained entity; Family Life: the individual in relation to family; Social Life: the individual in relation to friends or partners; Work and Public Life: the individual in relation to the broader public. The … Continue reading The “Square of Life” Lifeworks Spread
