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 . . . )
Divination
Metaphysical Syncretism: Runes, Tarot Cards and Dice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just bought a set of Elder Futhark runes and decided to experiment with them in combination with tarot cards and standard dice. In this reading I've used six randomly-selected runes to show the "Foundation of the Matter," and six randomly-pulled tarot cards to provide "Anecdotal Commentary." A single six-sided die was rolled … Continue reading Metaphysical Syncretism: Runes, Tarot Cards and Dice
“Step Lively”- A General Health Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just created this new health-related spread and decided to test it on my own status. (It would work just as well for any other situational-awareness scenario.) None of the cards came up inverted, although I didn't intentionally suppress reversed orientation. The court cards in the suit of Wands suggest a sprightly constitution, … Continue reading “Step Lively”- A General Health Reading
The “Three Perfections” in the Suit of Swords
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few years ago I read that the numbers Three, Six and Nine represent the "Three Perfections" of Greek philosophy as espoused by Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. I finally pinned down where the idea came from, and it isn't a direct quote from any of them. While an argument can be found in … Continue reading The “Three Perfections” in the Suit of Swords
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 Past/Present/Future Tarot Reading in Euclidean Space
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his book Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson discusses three-dimensional "Euclidean space," observing that every human experience displays not only a perceived* temporal shift from the Past to the Future (conventionally graphed as left-to-right) and a non-temporal "chaotic-to-concrete" organizing principle that devolves from top-to-bottom (my Qabalistic take, not his), but also a psychological … Continue reading The Past/Present/Future Tarot Reading in Euclidean Space
The Devil and the Vulgar Pursuits of Earth
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the opinion of Aleister Crowley, about the best that can be said of the Devil card is that it represents "creative energy in its most material form." He goes on to relate it to the zodiacal exaltation of Mars in Capricorn ("the fiery material energy of creation") and even more vividly to … Continue reading The Devil and the Vulgar Pursuits of Earth
Tarot Profiling: “Don’t Need No Gypsy to Tell You Why”
- from Ain't Wastin' Time No More by the Allman Brothers Band. AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a classical astrologer I don't agree with the elemental assignments for the four "humours" (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic) presented in a slightly different form by Robert Anton Wilson in Prometheus Rising, but his fourfold model of human sociopolitical behavior … Continue reading Tarot Profiling: “Don’t Need No Gypsy to Tell You Why”
