AUTHOR'S NOTE: I sometimes encounter people online who will only read a random cluster of cards with no formal spread positions. I've created a few layouts that embrace that kind of neutrality and here is the latest one, although it goes from scattered to structured in three operations. It owes its premise to two-thirds of … Continue reading The “Scattershot” Spread: Shotgunning the Tarot Reading
Divination
A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While reading Michael Snuffin's The Thoth Companion, I encountered one of the most lucid explanations of the goals and methods as well as the advantages of performing divination with the tarot cards that I have ever seen in print. I'm summarizing it here since so much of it agrees with my own beliefs. … Continue reading A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
Ashley’s Disappearance: A Missing-Person Case Closure
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ashley Turcotte, who went missing from Barnstead, NH in early January, was just found deceased in dense woods not far from where she was last seen. Here is the news release:https://patch.com/new-hampshire/concord-nh/missing-barnstead-found-dead-after-extensive-search-wooded-area?fbclid=IwAR0RZsQKJ1PTgsHDRC1DYhUcj-tRGOktdbu6gmWJ2QgM5wJjGnZmrv9Muik I performed three readings on this matter: a horary astrology forecast and two tarot readings. The horary reading, while indicating that she … Continue reading Ashley’s Disappearance: A Missing-Person Case Closure
The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was just reading an interview with Robert de Niro in which the actor observed that every dramatic character has a "rhythm" that must be internalized in order to convincingly master the role. It struck me that a competent tarot reading exhibits a similar rhythm that is often a function of the spread … Continue reading The Role of Rhythm in Tarot Reading
The 3 of Swords: Where’s the Blood?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm endlessly annoyed by the popular opinion that the 3 of Swords is a card of devastating emotional suffering and heartbreak. C'mon, people, it's a low-numbered Air card; any pain will most likely be short-and-sharp, more a flesh wound than a disemboweling gash, and more commonly mind-centered than heart-centered. I've even seen it … Continue reading The 3 of Swords: Where’s the Blood?
Riffing on Reversals: An Instructive Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently performed a reading that provided excellent insights into how reversed cards can alter the thrust of a prediction. The client graciously allowed me to post this narrative as long as anonymity is preserved. The question involved the long-range consequences that might result if the client continues taking the medications she has … Continue reading Riffing on Reversals: An Instructive Reading
The Daily Reading in Three Parts
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Consider this the "club sandwich" of tarot spreads, or maybe the "lasagna;" it breaks the daily reading into three distinct tiers of interpretation. Within the field of behavioral conjecture it's a well-established premise that the human personality exhibits three characteristic modes of response to circumstances: automatic or unplanned (the "knee-jerk reaction"); conditional or … Continue reading The Daily Reading in Three Parts
Lottery Draw for the Week of March 4, 2024
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I used my new spread for selecting the best day of the week to buy a lottery ticket. This requires removing the court cards and shuffling the rest of the deck to populate the "days of the week" row, left-to-right, then shuffling and laying the court cards left-to-right above them until the chosen … Continue reading Lottery Draw for the Week of March 4, 2024
The State of the Art
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In light of the schizophrenic persona that modern tarot culture displays, you might call this my "State of Disunion Address." The tarot as most English-speaking diviners know it today is largely a product of the British Occult Revival of the late 19th Century, which was itself a further iteration of the work of … Continue reading The State of the Art
2,001: A Tarot Odyssey
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The adventure of the title began in 2017 when I started this blog and reached a zenith with post #2,000 at the conclusion of my "tarot alchemy" series two days ago. Yesterday, post #2,001 - although little different from the 242 consecutive daily essays that preceded it - opened what I intend to … Continue reading 2,001: A Tarot Odyssey
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 