I just posted (in the sidebar) the image I'm using as an on-line icon for this site. There's a story behind it. The "hoop-and-stick" of the old children's hoop-rolling game struck me as a perfect analogy for the Celtic Cross spread, with its circular "cross" and vertical "staff" sections (never mind that the hoop is … Continue reading Parsifal and His Wheel
“Cheap Shots” #5
"Just the facts, Ma'am." In this post-modern era of do-it-yourself psychological profiling, I firmly believe that what the practice of tarot needs is more Sgt. Joe Friday and less Dr. Phil, less "woo" and more interpretive "glue" binding our card-by-card analyses together with a minimum of intuitive guesswork between the lines. We probably have British … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #5
The “Celestial Mirror” Hopes and Fears Spread
My favorite tarot spread, the Celtic Cross - in any of its incarnations - has always dealt unconvincingly with the subject of the querent's hopes and fears. Rolling both of them together into one position, as Waite did in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, was a head-scratcher because you never knew whether you had … Continue reading The “Celestial Mirror” Hopes and Fears Spread
The Yin and Yang of It
The structure of this spread is self-explanatory. It's best used for situations that are balanced "on a knife's edge" and could go either way. Galaxy of Good and Evil Spread
Like Night and Day . . .
As an astrologer, I'm fascinated with creating tarot spreads that mimic the diurnal path of the Sun through the sky. Here are three of them. For me, the main "diurnal" spread is Eden Gray's version of the Celtic Cross (see The Tarot Revealed), in which the time line starts at "Midnight" (the "beneath" position, or … Continue reading Like Night and Day . . .
A “Yes-or-No” Spread for the Perennial Skeptic
I created a Yes-or-No spread that started out being fairly straightforward. It had only five cards plus a "wild card, it used my traveling Significator idea as well as the concept of higher cards "trumping" lower ones, and brought in the use of Elemental Dignities and reversals. Nothing could be simpler, right? Then I got … Continue reading A “Yes-or-No” Spread for the Perennial Skeptic
The “Board Game” Gambit
I've never been satisfied with the use of Significator cards in tarot spreads. They don't seem to do much of anything, like a decorative centerpiece on a dining-room table; they may look impressive but you can't eat them. Lately I've been creating positional spreads that require the Significator to be read in combination with every … Continue reading The “Board Game” Gambit
The “Troll Under the Bridge” Spread
This story-telling spread loosely follows the plot of the Norwegian fairy-tale, "Three Billy Goats Gruff." As its centerpiece it has the protagonist, "Big Billy Goat," and the villain, "Trevor the Troll," duking it out on the bridge to decide the querent's fate. I envisioned it as being suitable for introducing children to the tarot, at … Continue reading The “Troll Under the Bridge” Spread
Hop-Frog, the Ourangoutangs and the Tower of Babel: An Allegory about Jumpers
(I hope Edgar Allan Poe forgives me for pinching his story title.) Hop-Frog (the amphibian, not the dwarf) was happily riding along in the turnip truck with 77 other itinerant farm-hands from Frog Hollow. But the driver wasn't paying attention and hit a pothole. Hop-Frog was bounced out into the middle of the road. He … Continue reading Hop-Frog, the Ourangoutangs and the Tower of Babel: An Allegory about Jumpers
“Cheap Shots” #4
Sometimes a deck - even one you've owned and used for years - seems to betray you and starts "speaking in tongues." I'm not one who believes that tarot decks have personalities, only idiosyncrasies introduced by the creator's unique perspective, so I think the fault, if it can be called that, lies with the reader's … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #4
