AUTHOR'S NOTE: Following up on my previous post, I did a reading on the crisis in Iran that applies the "n x 9/n2 - 5" numerological-reduction model shown therein. I used my favorite sociopolitical deck, Brian Williams' PoMo (Post-Modern) Tarot, to explore what will become of the Islamic regime over the next month in the … Continue reading “Banishing the Clerics” Reading – Tarot Looks at the Iran Crisis
Numerology
Banishing the Clerics: A Numerological Twist on the Calculated “Essence” Card
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome to geek world! Here is an oddball notion that may appeal to the numerologically-inclined tarotist. It aligns with my earlier exploration of the "numerical essence" concept but with a couple of twists. For context, see my previous posts on that subject and the "quintessence" calculation. When discussing the particulars of telepathic research … Continue reading Banishing the Clerics: A Numerological Twist on the Calculated “Essence” Card
A Multi-Path Progression: Occult, Cartomantic and Numerological Number Theory
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been using a combination of Pythagorean and Qabalistic number theory with the minor (or "pip") cards over the entire span of my five-decade tarot journey, but more recently I came across a new model (which is not all that different from my old one) in playing-card divination. I thought it would be … Continue reading A Multi-Path Progression: Occult, Cartomantic and Numerological Number Theory
The Twos: “Walking a Knife’s Edge”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As the root of the binary series 2, 4 and 8, the number Two was described by French author Joseph Maxwell as representing "harmony and equilibrium;" however, compromise may also be required, and compensatory or reciprocal action that "plays both ends against the middle," enabling a poised stance that would do a tightrope-walker … Continue reading The Twos: “Walking a Knife’s Edge”
“Plateauing” – The Nature of the Fours
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
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