As much as I would love to be a highly successful tarot reader in a face-to-face professional environment (it's where I do my best work and offer the most value), I've come to realize that my true calling is undoubtedly as a writer. In all modesty, I haven't come across much modern writing on cartomantic … Continue reading An Inevitable Conclusion
Miscellaneous
Mystics With Statistics
The title has a certain "ring" to it. This is another chapter in my ongoing inner debate over mysticism vs. empiricism. Warren Zevon once wrote a song called Desperados Under the Eaves that included the lines: And if California slides into the ocean Like the mystics and statistics say it will Although those mystics probably … Continue reading Mystics With Statistics
A Game of Thrones Tarot Cast
I decided that I'm going to do a combined tarot and Lenormand reading to see who among the remaining Game of Thrones characters (that anyone cares about) is likely to survive the White Walker onslaught. But first I had to assign significators to each of them. I will post the outcome tomorrow. Daenerys Targaryen as … Continue reading A Game of Thrones Tarot Cast
A Lenormand Deck Saga
As my Lenormand deck collection continues to grow along with my experience, I thought it would be interesting to recap my journey so far. My first deck was Ciro Marchetti's Gilded Reverie (bottom row, second from right), which I used for around a year before buying Laura Tuan's large-format Lenormand Oracle and then the poker-sized … Continue reading A Lenormand Deck Saga
Home of the Strange
Imagine an unhinged Frank Sinatra crooning: Home, home of the strange Where the seer and the astrologue play Where seldom is heard a Discordian* word And the skrys are not cloudy all day. (Sorry about that, Dr. Higley. And yes, Sinatra did record Higley's original in 1946) I finally have my reading space and occult … Continue reading Home of the Strange
The Skeptic’s Confession
It may surprise you to see an admission of skepticism in a post by the author of a divination blog. But in fact I'm doubtful about the legitimacy of much that currently passes for truth in the metaphysical scripture of the unseen. For example, I'm a non-believer in the "Law of Attraction," which as far … Continue reading The Skeptic’s Confession
Foreverquest
Back in the early "aughts," when I was still playing Everquest Online relentlessly (what can I say, I'm a throwback), my wife dubbed it "Foreverquest" (that was before her own fling with World of Warcraft). That epithet reminds me of the situation I find myself in whenever I decide it's time to chase down a … Continue reading Foreverquest
Big Words
Peter Gabriel said it best in his ironic song "Big Time:" I've been stretching my mouth To let those big words come right out I love word-craft and clever language, but sometimes that fascination can get the best of me. Those big words are my nemesis because they can spell death for any hope of creating good writing. … Continue reading Big Words
A New Wrinkle On An Old Face
As I've mentioned before, I'm presently reading Caitlin Matthews' new traditional tarot book, Untold Tarot. In it she talks about the subject of "significator" cards, and mentions that Etteilla was the first to designate a unique significator for his Book of Thoth deck, a blank card - or "carte blanche" - that he immodestly called … Continue reading A New Wrinkle On An Old Face
Lenormand Lost & Found
I have been working with the “location” guidance in astrologer John Frawley's Horary Textbook to come up with similar attributes for the cards of the Lenormand deck to be used in “lost object” readings. The following ideas are provisional and subject to change as I develop them further; because this is unmapped territory, in many cases I'm going with … Continue reading Lenormand Lost & Found
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 