In agriculture, threshing a wheat harvest means separating the kernels from the chaff, after which winnowing removes the hulls, leaving behind only the edible part of the grain. Facing the bounty of new, old and restored tarot decks on the market today, I feel like a lucky farmer confronting a bumper crop. The phrase “So … Continue reading Culling the Herd
Horary on Hold: Strictures Against Judgment
Horary astrology has a self-limiting feature that doesn't appear anywhere else in the practice of astrology: the concept of "strictures against judgment." There are certain conditions pertaining to a horary chart that render it "unfit for judgment;" in his 17th-Century English, William Lilly called this "decisions before judgment" and described it thus: "All of the … Continue reading Horary on Hold: Strictures Against Judgment
A Horary “Journeyman’s” Test Case
I'm close to believing that I now merit the title of "journeyman astrologer" in the practice of horary divination. I've been working with John Frawley's methods for a few years now, slowly whittling down my more inclusive and holistic natal delineation style to zero in solely on the status of the "quesited" (the thing being … Continue reading A Horary “Journeyman’s” Test Case
“Cheap Shots” #14 – Tough Love
I generally prefer decks that hand out unvarnished truth rather than affirmative pleasantries (which excludes many oracle decks, and especially "angel cards"). The Thoth is the granddaddy of them all in that regard, and each of its various clones is no slouch either. For example, unlike the ambivalent 8 of Cups in the Waite-Smith deck, … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #14 – Tough Love
Wilt or Want? That is the Question
"Do what thou wilt." Arguably the four words in Aleister Crowley's vast esoteric oeuvre that are at the heart of his repugnance to polite (that is to say, religiously - and now also politically - correct) company because they seem to fly in the face of the hallowed Golden Rule. Not, of course, that he … Continue reading Wilt or Want? That is the Question
Expanding Your Reach
A brief article in the latest issue of The Cartomancer quarterly posed the question of whether anyone should feel inadequate for being a "one-trick pony" in the divinatory arts, only focusing on a single branch of the tree when the public seems to expect a well-rounded "gypsy fortune-teller" repertoire. This has me thinking about my … Continue reading Expanding Your Reach
The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
This is an earlier and more complex 15-card version of the "active-or-passive" decision-making spread I previously posted as the Balance of Forces spread. It is a study in its own right, in that it uses a qabalistic Tree of Life format with my own take on Adam Kadmon, the "Heavenly Man," standing within the Tree … Continue reading The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
This is a slightly cheeky poke at workplace dynamics (and by extension, politics). The "boss" (Fool) is at the center of the corporate universe, and there are up to twenty options to represent co-workers, either as second-level supervisors (Aces) or peers (court cards). The idea is that you only need to populate as many of … Continue reading The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
This is a "Majors-Only" spread in which only four of the cards are drawn from the 22-card deck; the rest are derived from the card first drawn in each row. It adopts the concept that all of the Major Arcana cards except the Fool as "0" have one or more "numerological counterparts" based on the … Continue reading The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
“Cheap Shots” #13 – 2150 or Bust
There is a thread on the Astrologers' Community forum titled "Is Anyone Else Tired of Waiting for the Age of Aquarius to Take Effect?" Consensus among the numerous commenters is that the poor, benighted OP missed the boat somewhere. Personally, I'm not so sure. I understand that, sidereally, the Age of Aquarius will begin around … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #13 – 2150 or Bust
