AUTHOR'S NOTE: It hasn't been said but I know it's been thought. I can envision John Lennon commenting with tongue firmly in cheek, "You might well arsk," although I have to admit that being a curmudgeonly mischief-maker has a certain Machiavellian appeal. I thought I would preface my next ornery rant with a modest confession. … Continue reading “Why Are You So Mean?” (It’s Not Just Attitude . . . )
Cultural & Social Commentary
The Eccentric Tarot Reader: Reaching Escape Velocity
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In thinking about the observation of James Joyce that society ("the State") is concentric while the individual ("Man") is eccentric, I began toying with the idea that modern peer-pressure resembles a social "gravity well" that exerts a relentless pull on the iconoclast (at its worst an inexorable "black-hole" form of entrapment from which … Continue reading The Eccentric Tarot Reader: Reaching Escape Velocity
“Like Water to Fishes” – Instinctive vs. Stochastic Tarot Reading
instinctive: an entirely spontaneous, non-rational and automatic response to stimulus (cognitively related to "intuitive"). stochastic: "processes in which, out of a random series, some 'intelligence' or something that can be metaphorically conceived as an intelligence, is selecting a final outcome." (Robert Anton Wilson) AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I wasn't aware of it from my previous studies … Continue reading “Like Water to Fishes” – Instinctive vs. Stochastic Tarot Reading
The “New Tarot” – Losing the Signal?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson presents semanticist Alfred Korzybski's principle of "time-binding" by which the passing of signals from one generation to the next assures that informational coherence is maintained in perpetuity (or at least until a major paradigm-shift disrupts the order of things, which used to happen once a century but … Continue reading The “New Tarot” – Losing the Signal?
The Self-Defining Diviner
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although my previous multi-decade retirement from public divination was a consequence of my rustic circumstances, this time I'm going back into relative hibernation by choice. I plan to continue blogging at my customary rate, but I've decided not to seek broader external exposure unless it finds me first. I suppose at this point … Continue reading The Self-Defining Diviner
The Structured Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've never been one to approach a tarot reading as if I'm throwing darts at a dart-board. If I'm going to roll the dice (which I sometimes do, quite literally) it will be with focused intent and not entirely dependent on serendipity and its accomplice, intuition. I owe my sitters more "beef" than … Continue reading The Structured Tarot Reading
Tarot Personalities, Influencers and Straight-Shooters: Seldom in the Same Skin
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've never aspired to be a tarot "influencer," although I have a modest population of followers and a reasonably robust number of daily views, neither of which runs into the thousands. Considering the narrow demographic I'm courting, I'm content to serve those who stick around. My formative years with divination were built upon … Continue reading Tarot Personalities, Influencers and Straight-Shooters: Seldom in the Same Skin
Prediction, Projection or Presumption: Crossing the Line into “Hornswoggling”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It may seem that I'm constantly bashing intuitive guesswork when it is applied indiscriminately to interpretation of the tarot cards, but it's not just a grumpy traditonalist's private crusade. There is enough concern in the community over preferential bias in the form of subjective projection and speculative presumption to make it a worthwhile … Continue reading Prediction, Projection or Presumption: Crossing the Line into “Hornswoggling”
Lenormand Tradition: Still Breathing or Left for Undead?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This essay has been brewing for over a year but it was finally triggered by a recent online conversation with my original Lenormand mentor-at-large from Aeclectic Tarot, Andy Boroveshengra. It arises from an unpleasant experience I had on one of the Lenormand Facebook pages. First a bit of stage-setting. When I lived in … Continue reading Lenormand Tradition: Still Breathing or Left for Undead?
“Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)”
"We got to realize that ninety-nine and a half just won't doNo, got to have a hundred, oh yeah"- from the rhythm & blues song by Wilson Pickett AUTHOR'S NOTE: Today - for the third or fourth time in nine years - I've reached 100 consecutive days of posting on this blog, which is nowhere … Continue reading “Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)”
