AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I first encountered the concepts of "counting round" and "mirroring" in the Lenormand Grand Tableau, I noticed a strong similarity between those 18th-Century cartomantic practices and the "counting-and-pairing" steps of the "Opening of the Key" (OotK) method for working with the tarot that was developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden … Continue reading A Mini-Lesson in Card Counting-and-Pairing
Esoteric Tarot
The Astrological Trumps and the Sephiroth: A Creative Rethinking
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I've studied and worked with the pattern for over fifty years, I've never found much practical (i.e. divinatory) use for the assignment of the tarot's Major Arcana to the paths of the Qabalistic Tree of Life outside of astral pathworking (at which I'm not particularly adept). The alignment of the ten sephiroth … Continue reading The Astrological Trumps and the Sephiroth: A Creative Rethinking
The Golden Dawn’s “Opening of the Key” – Much Ado About Too Much?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First a confession: it's been years (make that decades) since I last performed all five "operations" of the Golden Dawn's "Opening of the Key" (OotK) method of divination, which can take hours to complete and yields far more information than any ordinary inquiry requires. This fact alone severely limits its application in professional … Continue reading The Golden Dawn’s “Opening of the Key” – Much Ado About Too Much?
Acceleration and Deceleration in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again I've received inspiration for a new essay from something tarot author and entrepreneur Marcus Katz said on the Tarot Professionals Facebook page. His wise counsel for those confronting a "Tower moment" is "May it bring about for you an Acceleration in those things which require Acceleration." It's common knowledge that those … Continue reading Acceleration and Deceleration in Tarot Reading
Tension and Release in the Chaldean Counterparts for the Minor Arcana
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm constantly seeking innovative ways to extract more interpretive value from the set of esoteric correspondences devised by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for the Minor Arcana of the tarot. Here is my latest attempt. In musical composition and performance there is the concept of "tension and release" by which the … Continue reading Tension and Release in the Chaldean Counterparts for the Minor Arcana
Reversed Fours: A Stumble and A “One-Point Landing”
AUTHORS NOTE: Having finished re-reading 54 Devils, Cory Hutcheson's playing-card divination book, and not yet possessed of a new tarot book, I picked up my interrupted reassessment of Paul Fenton-Smith's Tarot Master Class (which I believe has now been renamed). In it he mentions that the 4 of Wands reversed can indicate a "lack of … Continue reading Reversed Fours: A Stumble and A “One-Point Landing”
Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm aware that some diviners read the tarot as partaking of five elements: the four of Empedocles (and Zoroaster before him, apparently, although I haven't researched it) - Fire, Water, Air and Earth - with the Major Arcana as the fifth element of Spirit. As an astrologer for a couple of years before … Continue reading Tarot Elements: Four or Five?
Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Tarot Magic, Donald Tyson described a hierarchy of tarot trumps based on a Kabbalistic cosmology that places the Earth at the bottom as fixed and unmoving; the three "Primal Elements" (Water, Air and Fire in ascending order) as the first three increasingly-subtle "spheres" one encounters when rising from the Earth's surface; the … Continue reading Archetypal Gates and Elemental Focus: A Ritual Matrix and Tarot Spread
A Four-Path Attitudinal Guidance Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm fond of spreads that diverge in opposite directions along several different paths to closure. This one is designed to aid the querent in deciding whether the matter at hand should be approached assertively (Wands/Fire); compassionately (Cups/Water); thoughtfully (Swords/Air) or pragmatically (Disks/Earth). It uses all 78 cards and can be read with reversals. … Continue reading A Four-Path Attitudinal Guidance Spread
Portable Magic by Another Name
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just begun reading Donald Tyson's book, Tarot Magic, one that I've wanted to own for a long time under its original title, Portable Magic. Its premise is that tarot cards can stand in for the elaborate trappings of full-blown ceremonial magic, and we can just box up the deck and put it … Continue reading Portable Magic by Another Name
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 