If I were writing pulp fiction, I could not come up with a juicier scenario: sentence has been passed (Justice), the perpetrator has been hung (Hanged Man) and the unfortunate soul has been laid to rest (Death). Of course, we all know that tarot is not Lenormand, and these things never play out so literally. The Hanged … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Hanged Man and Death
Learning
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Wheel of Fortune and Justice (or Strength)
These cards straddle the midpoint of the 22-card sequence of trumps. In the allegorical tale of the Fool's Journey, that divide represents a new "jumping-off place" into a more complex world. The Wheel of Fortune is commonly held to indicate a major change of some kind, auspicious or ill-fated according to the context of the question; its … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Wheel of Fortune and Justice (or Strength)
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: Strength (or Justice) and The Hermit
This will be a split analysis because of the swapping of Strength and Justice that was performed by Arthur Edward Waite for reasons of astrological continuity. The Tarot de Marseille (TdM) that formed the model for later esoteric decks had no occult correspondences, so there was never an issue with the fact that Justice (Trump VIII) … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: Strength (or Justice) and The Hermit
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Lovers and The Chariot
The Lovers and the Chariot together signal a departure or a new phase, an opportunity leading to decisive movement that brings optimistic tidings. The Lovers is one of the most misrepresented trump cards in modern tarot art, with many artists seeing only "ecstatic love" in it, a kind of "soul-mate connection" (or is that "twin flame" these days?). But the … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Lovers and The Chariot
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Emperor and The Hierophant
These cards depict the twin pillars of patriarchal authority, one secular and the other spiritual: the State and the Church. Taken as a pair, there is an undeniable aura of "Father knows best" about them. In less flattering terms, we might say they've "got you coming and going." I once created a simple allegory about … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Emperor and The Hierophant
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Acana: The Priestess and The Empress
Stacking these up a bit, but I'm afraid if I sleep on this I'll lose the inspiration. Here we have two dramatically different expressions of the feminine archetype. The Priestess has her head to the sky while the feet of the Empress are firmly rooted in the earth. The Priestess is virginal - even crystalline - … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Acana: The Priestess and The Empress
Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Fool and The Magician
Now we dive into a card-by-card examination of the Major Arcana, which I'm taking two at a time since they are brief "thumbnail sketches" (supported by links to my previous posts). Since my approach to the tarot is esoteric in the main but with a practical slant, I've decided to begin each sub-section with commentary on the … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Major Arcana: The Fool and The Magician
Tarot 101, My Way – Card Reading for Beginners
The first impression that newcomers to the tarot cards often receive, if they're serious about learning, is "These things are complicated" (and they would not be wrong). You aren't going to digest them at one sitting (or even 100, for that matter), you have to approach them as you would eating an elephant, one well-chewed … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – Card Reading for Beginners
Tarot 101, My Way – The Minor Arcana
In my experience, the numbered suit cards of the tarot provide the "meat" of any reading aimed at examining the eventualities of day-to-day existence. The Waite-Smith deck and its ilk even have prosaic scenes on their Minor Arcana that suggest - for better or worse, as we shall see - ready-made narrative vignettes. One of the best ways to … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – The Minor Arcana
Tarot 101, My Way – The Court Cards
The court cards of the tarot can be an elusive enigma for beginners. Nineteenth-century descriptions of the courts as defining the physical characteristics of people who may appear in a situation didn't help by encouraging the "tall, dark stranger" mode of fortune-telling prediction that has since fallen out of favor. The context of a particular question may not even admit the active … Continue reading Tarot 101, My Way – The Court Cards
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 