This will be the last installment of my "Cheap Shots" series. My "inner curmudgeon" isn't going anywhere, of course, but I've moved on into more productive (as well as kinder) areas of expression. I've said enough already about my views on current populist tarot culture, and need to chill before the "New Age police" discover … Continue reading Cheap Shots (The Final Cut): “Is It Live or Is It Memorex?”
Esoteric Philosophy
The Pips and the 10 Points of Light
As many of you know, the 78 cards of the tarot were assigned to the 32 paths on the qabalistic Tree of Life by the esoteric thinkers of the 19th Century, beginning in earnest with Eliphas Levi and culminating with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and several of its alumni at the end … Continue reading The Pips and the 10 Points of Light
Those Useless Extra Cards
File this one in the "Don't give me any crazy ideas . . ." folder. Although printing technology may have changed to the point that it no longer happens, the production of a 78-card tarot deck used to consume two 40-card printer's sheets, with left-over space for two extra cards that were typically used by … Continue reading Those Useless Extra Cards
Pan Is In The House
I just came across another opportunity to apply Terry Pratchett's provocative observation: "YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" I've recently been involved in on-line discussions of polytheism (the belief in multiple gods), primarily among a Wiccan and pagan community for whom such deliberations are routine. We got … Continue reading Pan Is In The House
Are We Having Fun Yet?
I guess you could call me an "accidental professional." Will I read for the public, for pay? Sure, if the circumstances are right. Do I obsess about getting paid for my efforts? Not by a long shot. I learned to read the cards - and to cast and interpret horoscopes and geomantic charts - mainly … Continue reading Are We Having Fun Yet?
Pratchett’s Epiphany
In Hogfather, his amusingly cynical meditation on the nature of truth and belief, satirical fantasy writer Terry Pratchett depicted DEATH, who always spoke ominously IN CAPITAL LETTERS, arguing with his stubborn rationalist granddaughter Susan about the need for children to practice believing life's "little lies" (like the Hogfather - aka Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, … Continue reading Pratchett’s Epiphany
Further Musings on Temperance
Tarot author Tony Willis just posted a new article on auntietarot about the 14th trump card, Temperance. (https://auntietarot.wordpress.com/) Most of it is an exhaustive and well-written recapitulation of ideas that I've come across before, but I took one entirely new concept away from my reading of his observations: that of "reversibility." The thought is that … Continue reading Further Musings on Temperance
“Ars Longa, Vita Brevis”
Hippocrates was a physician who made this the opening statement in a medical text. The lines which follow: "The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate." Thus in plainer language "it takes a long time to acquire and perfect … Continue reading “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis”
The Moon, Pisces and the High Priestess
Since we've been having an interesting discussion about the nature of the High Priestess, I thought I would refresh a debate we once had on the Aeclectic Tarot forum about its astrological assignment and that of the tarot Moon. First some background that will bring this into focus. Someone asked about the difference between the … Continue reading The Moon, Pisces and the High Priestess
“Hard” and “Soft” Suits
One concept from the Tarot de Marseille "school" of interpretation - which has a meager divinatory legacy unless one can read French - that is worth carrying forward into general use is that of "hard" and "soft" suits. The former are comprised of the Wands and Swords cards, while the latter encompass the Cups and … Continue reading “Hard” and “Soft” Suits
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 