AUTHOR'S NOTE: In esoteric number theory, Four is the number of the Square that prefigures the six-sided cube it becomes when projected into three-dimensional space, and many people relate it directly to that polyhedron. But, although it is the fourth geometric expression after the Point, the Line and the Triangle, no volume is implied since … Continue reading “Plateauing” – The Nature of the Fours
Numerology
My Inner House of Cards
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Lon Milo DuQuette's Tarot Architect, the author proposed that students build a personal "house" of knowledge and wisdom in their consciousness with the 78 cards of the tarot. I see it as a practical way to pursue Aleister Crowley's vision of "living with the cards" that is more organized than daily divination. … Continue reading My Inner House of Cards
Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A large percentage of everything that goes on in our environment is cyclical rather than linear in nature (although some cycles like the 25,800 year "wobble" of the Earth's axis are so long that it's difficult to observe their periodicity). The alternation of day and night and the turning of the seasons are … Continue reading Circular Numerology and the Revolving Tarot
“Highest in Red, Lowest in Black” (or Not)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Occasionally, playing cards and tarot cards converge in unlikely ways, as they do here. When my brother and I were kids learning to play "trick-taking" cards games from our grandmother (who was an old-school cartomancer, although she would never read for us or even talk about it), her oft-repeated mantra was "Highest in … Continue reading “Highest in Red, Lowest in Black” (or Not)
The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In his occult tarot history, The Esoteric Tarot . . . etc. (I get tired of typing the whole title), Ronald Decker theorizes that when the primordial tarot-as-we-know-it was developing in Renaissance Italy, there were only 14 numbered trump cards ending with Temperance (the unnumbered Fool was a thing apart) and they were … Continue reading The Case Against Qabalistic Trumps
The Lover and the Devil: Trump-Card Bookends
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been playing around with the 7x3 array of trump cards (minus the Fool because zero adds nothing to this exercise) by running out the numerological expressions for each row and column. I used both Theosophical reduction (adding together the digits of any sum larger than 21) and "casting out nines" (subtracting increments … Continue reading The Lover and the Devil: Trump-Card Bookends
The “Tree of Life or Strife” Mixed-Destiny Spread
In contemplating ways to bring the Qliphoth or "shells" to bear on the standard Tree of Life spread, I came up with the following 10-card "light-and-shadow" variation. It is read in two parts, first as two sub-sets according to the Qabalistic number series, and then as an "as-drawn" 10-card line with two subdivisions ("above" and … Continue reading The “Tree of Life or Strife” Mixed-Destiny Spread
“Theosophical Reduction” or “Casting Out Nines?”
I've touched on this subject before but wanted to spend some time going over the details. There are situations (particularly the "quintessence" calculation) where we add together the numerical values of all the cards in a spread to arrive at a single trump card that can provide a summary "roll-up" of the combined energies at … Continue reading “Theosophical Reduction” or “Casting Out Nines?”
When Stability Goes Stale: A Study of the Fours and the Binary Paradigm
My assumption has always been that Four is one of the "good" numbers: it is the doubling of the binary (Two), which is the root of conciliation and harmony, as well as the source of the term foursquare, which means "standing squarely and solidly." It is synonymous with stability and anything in a steady-state condition. … Continue reading When Stability Goes Stale: A Study of the Fours and the Binary Paradigm
Transitional Cards
I use two different numerical models in my work with the minor (or "pip") cards of the tarot: the Pythagorean sequence that exhibits an increasingly complex geometric progression, and the Qabalistic numeration based on the descent of the sephiroth on the Tree of Life. Both explain the emergence of formless "archetypal energy" from a primal … Continue reading Transitional Cards
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 