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
Learning
Coming or Going?
In the Golden Dawn tarot papers, MacGregor Mathers made an observation regarding the facing or directionality of the Kings and Pages when placed in a spread: "The Kings, if looking against the direction of the reading, or if meeting it, represent the coming of a person or event, or phase of an event, but if … Continue reading Coming or Going?
The Long and Short of It
As a creator of numerous tarot spreads, I find that I must walk a fine line between pursuing too much information and seeking insufficient detail in the structure of a layout. Trying to parse a reading into narrative bits that are too fine-grained risks putting too much insignificant "ground clutter" on the reader's radar screen, … Continue reading The Long and Short of It
“Cheap Shots” #23: “Random” Thoughts
The perceived need to assure a random distribution when pulling the cards for a reading often comes up in forum discussions. It's seen by some as the sine qua non for success in producing a meaningful result. When you think about it, though, it's not the mismatched assortment of cards drawn by pure chance that … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #23: “Random” Thoughts
World Series Game 7 Postmortem
It's interesting how life teaches you lessons through the tarot. The flaw in my first attempt to predict the outcome of the final World Series game was in using a coin-flip to decide which team to place in the top row of the spread, rather than following the traditional practice of putting the visiting team … Continue reading World Series Game 7 Postmortem
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 