AUTHOR'S NOTE: Most of us have felt the quandary expressed in the trope "I know the name but I can't put a face to it." I'm often asked whether the court cards of the tarot can be used to reliably describe the physical characteristics of someone involved in the querent's life. Here is my answer … Continue reading “Putting A Face To It” – Physical Profiling with the Tarot
tarot-reading
Breaking Into Spreads: A Beginner’s Syllabus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another essay prompted by a "frequently asked question" from the online tarot community. Tarot beginners who follow the conventional wisdom of learning the cards one-at-a-time, both in a sequential "card-a-day" manner and via single-card pulls, are often unsure how they can break out of that narrow box and into more complex … Continue reading Breaking Into Spreads: A Beginner’s Syllabus
Harbingers of Change
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Every tarot card, no matter how static-seeming, is a harbinger of some kind of change, good or bad and great or small. In combination, the cards convey a "state of becoming" in the form of tendencies and trends rather than one of merely "being." Otherwise there would be no reason to include all … Continue reading Harbingers of Change
Lines, Circles and T-Squares: The Three-Card Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dreams have a way of bringing things to your attention that would have never crossed your mind. This one sharpened my view of the three-card spread. A few days ago I dreamed I was having a conversation with a former subordinate (someone I haven't supervised in over twenty years) about the nature of … Continue reading Lines, Circles and T-Squares: The Three-Card Reading
Subconscious Bias in Remote Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a companion piece to my essay of yesterday. I've been spending some time on the r/seculartarot Reddit sub, where nobody believes in the power of divination. The difference between them and me is that I'm firmly convinced of French author Joseph Maxwell's premise that "coming events cast a shadow before them" … Continue reading Subconscious Bias in Remote Tarot Reading
“Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The more I read The Tarot of the Bohemians by Gerard Encausse ("Papus"), the more respect I have for his wisdom (at least until he wanders off into Theosophy and loses me). When - in his discussion of science - he says that "observation and experience are only instruments" of intuition (the cognitive … Continue reading “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
Super Bowl LVIII: San Francisco vs. Kansas City
UPDATE: Well, this certainly turned out to be an interesting reading. It was right about the game going into overtime for only the second time in 58 Super Bowls but slightly wrong about the score, entirely due to the fact that the NFL changed the overtime rules this year. In past seasons it was a … Continue reading Super Bowl LVIII: San Francisco vs. Kansas City
Hope-Based Questions: “Be Careful What You Wish For”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just read an old blog post by Bjorn Meuris that struck a chord with me. In his advice for asking a proper question of the Lenormand cards (or any cards for that matter) he said "Don't ask for what you do not hope for to be confirmed" by casting your question in … Continue reading Hope-Based Questions: “Be Careful What You Wish For”
“Ankle-Biters” – A Brief Meditation on Reversal
AUTHOR'S NOTE: While writing my essay on the occurrence of reversals in the Celtic Cross spread, I hit upon the idea that a reversed card (in its emulation of the Hanged Man's inverted perspective) enters the situation at "ankle height" rather than at shoulder level where we can handle it directly in the way we're … Continue reading “Ankle-Biters” – A Brief Meditation on Reversal
The Virtue of Extemporizing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent r/tarot thread, someone advised beginners - once they've diligently jotted down their initial thoughts about each card - to "put this notebook away and don't look at it again. You've done the basic work of learning the meanings, and even if you think you don't remember, that knowledge is now … Continue reading The Virtue of Extemporizing
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 