AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been following an increasingly rancorous argument in one of the online occult forums over why the esoteric community seems so toothless of late (hey, I was going to use one of the darlings of AI writing, "pusillanimous") compared to its previous vigor. Where is the bracing "bite" of old? There is certainly … Continue reading “Another Cup of ‘Why Bother’ . . .”
Divination
The One-Card Draw as Thematic Stage-Setter
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my opinion, the one-card pull as a daily reading practice is relatively useless except as a way to show the environmental backdrop or atmosphere of the forthcoming 24-hour period. It is static and therefore can't effectively display potential developments in the situation unless we imagine (aka "intuit") them. However, I'm proposing another … Continue reading The One-Card Draw as Thematic Stage-Setter
Tarot Cards as a “Hall of Mirrors”
"One explanation for (human sentience) is that consciousness emerges as a result of the complexity and self-reflective recursion that is built into the circuits of the brain, like a hall of mirrors."- Dean Radin in Supernormal AUTHOR'S NOTE: A commonly-help opinion among tarot practitioners is that the random cards pulled for a reading "mirror" the … Continue reading Tarot Cards as a “Hall of Mirrors”
The Card Whisperer
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of the strangest questions posed from time-to-time in the online tarot community (even stranger than "Do you think the cards have personalities?") is "Do you talk to your decks?" As if we can be expected to cozy up to a pack of cards on the sofa over tea and have a meaningful … Continue reading The Card Whisperer
Deep Thoughts on Participatory Divination: People, Not Process
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is an unusually abstract theory in speculative physics (one that is dismissed out-of-hand by the mainstream scientific community) that all objects - whether in concrete form or as massless "packets of energy" - have their origin in the primordial raw material of information that is defined as binary data-bits operating in the … Continue reading Deep Thoughts on Participatory Divination: People, Not Process
Experiential Cash-Value: The Wages of Accurate Prediction
"What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms?"- Psychologist William James on the uncertain advantage that truth holds over falsehood "in anyone's actual life." AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many years ago I was taken to task in one of the online tarot forums for prizing accurate results in my divination. I was asked pointblank by … Continue reading Experiential Cash-Value: The Wages of Accurate Prediction
Peripheral Vision in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE The inspiration for this brief essay came from a Stephen Wright quote in Dean Radin's book Supernormal: "I was a peripheral clairvoyant. I saw the future, but only way off to the side." I've always been skeptical of intuitive (and, more specifically, psychic) tarot readers who claim they can learn everything they need … Continue reading Peripheral Vision in Tarot Reading
“Which Way Will It Go?” – A Situational Vector Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When confronted with a situation that can take one of several different paths as it plays out, seekers typically look to "get a leg up" on which way it's going to develop so they can establish a suitable position. Here is a spread that uses a "prepared" tarot deck that is segmented according … Continue reading “Which Way Will It Go?” – A Situational Vector Spread
“Forsooth, ’tis Futile!” – Time-Decoupled Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: If we assume that human consciousness exists outside of ordinary space-time as surmised by parapsychologist Dr. Dean Radin, and that the mental contortions of most forms of divination latch onto asynchronous coincidences in multiple subconscious orbits, then we could say that a tarot reading is a "time-decoupled" artifact. Chronologically, any predicted events or … Continue reading “Forsooth, ’tis Futile!” – Time-Decoupled Divination
Intention and Reaction: Putting Tarot to Work
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Poking a little further into the practice of setting a conscious intention when shuffling and pulling the cards, here is a spread with two parallel five-card lines, one with purposely-chosen cards to convey the querent's stated goals regarding the topic of interest and the other with a randomly-drawn series to show the reaction … Continue reading Intention and Reaction: Putting Tarot to Work
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 