Warning: If you're bored or baffled by esoteric number theory and the numerological approach to the tarot, skip this piece. It's one of my enduring passions, but then I'm a mystically-inclined former engineer. On one of the tarot forums we have been discussing the image of the arch-demon on the Waite-Smith Devil card. One of the first … Continue reading The Devil Is In The Details
Learning
A Lenormand Topic-Card “Cheat-Sheet”
In working with my "Knights' Crossing" spread, I realized that it would be useful to have a visual cue-card (or "cheat-sheet") for my clients to choose which of the topic cards is the best fit for their current circumstances. I decided to select the keyword parameters for those cards that are most likely to exhibit … Continue reading A Lenormand Topic-Card “Cheat-Sheet”
The Knights’ Crossing: A Lenormand Experiment
One of the challenges with small Lenormand spreads when using a subject-matter "topic" card - Tree for health, Fish for money, Heart for romance, House for domestic affairs, Ship for travel, etc. - is that the assigned card may not appear in the layout at all if it isn't pre-positioned. This isn't a problem with … Continue reading The Knights’ Crossing: A Lenormand Experiment
Astrological Significators
For tarot spreads that require a "Significator" card to represent the querent or the topic of interest, the challenge has always been how to go about selecting the "right" card. The old books advised using a querent's appearance (light-haired, dark-haired, fair-skinned, swarthy, etc.), gender and relative age to make the call. This provided a rough … Continue reading Astrological Significators
Where Is Eddy? – A Missing Person Reading
Eddy Segall, a then-28-year-old Nashua, NH woman, was reported missing on June 15, 1977 and hasn't been seen or heard from since. https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-unsolved-case-file-what-happened-to-eddy-segall/26716667 Using the Joie de Vivre deck, I performed my "World of Hurt" missing-person spread to see what it might tell me about her past and present circumstances. I ran the spread twice, … Continue reading Where Is Eddy? – A Missing Person Reading
Long-Distance Travel Forecast: Return Trip
UPDATE: We did hit delays in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania, where it was extremely foggy and slushy, and the road maintenance was less than stellar. Then there was a combination of poor visibility and three accidents between Connecticut and Massachusetts that caused more minor slow-downs. We lost maybe an hour overall. Original Post: My … Continue reading Long-Distance Travel Forecast: Return Trip
The Joie de Vivre Tarot
Paulina Cassidy's second deck has been described by some reviewers as "child-like," an impression that is explicitly touted by the wording on the box, leading to the assumption that it is light-weight and not suitable for answering serious questions. This is an older deck, first published in 2011, that never caught my eye because my … Continue reading The Joie de Vivre Tarot
When Enough May Still Be Too Much
About half the time, I'm struck by a clever title for a new post and then have to go hunting for a topic to wrap it around. You can probably spot them with little difficulty, although you may have to think about a few. Here I want to talk about the trend of modern writers … Continue reading When Enough May Still Be Too Much
The Sitter’s Intent
In his abbreviated commentary on the Major Arcana at the end of The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley observed that the Wheel of Fortune describes "Change of fortune. (This generally means good fortune because the fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent.)" His point is that people who seek the advice of a diviner usually … Continue reading The Sitter’s Intent
The “Ivory Gambit” Spread
Lately I've become fascinated with using dice and tarot in combination to produce unique forms of divination. Here the gambit (opening move) is provided by rolling dice to identify four trump cards to serve as the basis for the reading. Those trump cards are then used to extract four sets of "reading" cards from which … Continue reading The “Ivory Gambit” Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 