AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently began reading Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising. I've dipped into his published work sporadically and randomly over the years with no clear chronology in mind, but as the old advertising slogan goes, you "can't eat just one," and in Israel Regardie's introductory comments I encountered the food for thought that inspired … Continue reading “Midpoint Mash-up” – The Role of Mediation in Tarot Reading
Tarot Techniques
Divination as a “Last Resort”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just returned from Italy after a seven-day Mediterranean cruise and a destination wedding outside of Pisa (for the record, I'm convinced that Italy lived through its cultural glory days in the 15th and 16th Centuries and I have no intention of going back even though the Tuscan countryside, the country people and … Continue reading Divination as a “Last Resort”
The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the approximately fifty percent of my followers who read reversed cards, this is for you. The rest can take it however they choose. Over the years I've come up with over 200 discrete interpretations for the phenomenon of tarot-card reversal sorted into 15 broad categories, independent of the nature of the cards … Continue reading The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
". . . the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study."- from a Wikipedia analysis of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media The Extensions of Man AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been having an energetic but mostly unproductive online conversation about whether the cards in a tarot spread should be approached as a … Continue reading The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my essay on self-reading I mentioned that I had already spent 40 years "doing the psycho-spiritual thing with both astrology and tarot." That pursuit was mainly philosophical navel-gazing aimed at uncovering my theoretical "true nature" apart from my observable attitudes and behaviors. After all that time, when I returned to professional tarot … Continue reading Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
Self-Reading with the Tarot: Dual-Channel Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Anxiety over the intrusion of emotional bias that might sabotage the accuracy of self-reading with the tarot is epidemic in the online community, to the point that some novices avoid it completely. This risk appears most often in romantic forecasts and similar scenarios where wishful thinking looms large. Such avoidance is unfortunate because … Continue reading Self-Reading with the Tarot: Dual-Channel Divination
Conquering Inertia: The Prosaic Truth Behind “Empowerment”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's not uncommon that seekers who resort to a professional diviner have reached a dead-end in their personal affairs. Either they have come up against the proverbial "brick wall" and feel like they can go no further without help, or they have not yet found their way to that barrier and are floundering … Continue reading Conquering Inertia: The Prosaic Truth Behind “Empowerment”
Blended Trends: Card-Wrangling with Dice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been getting a bit bombastic lately, so here is a "palate-cleanser." I often employ both tarot cards and dice in what I call mixed-media readings. While I use the odd-and-even faces of the dice mainly as binary "pointers" in multi-path spreads to indicate which of two or more series of cards should … Continue reading Blended Trends: Card-Wrangling with Dice
Tapping the Power: A Self-Realization Matrix
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a third adaptation of Benebell Wen's Lo Shu Square, this time applied loosely to her feng shui tarot model. I've created my own theme and position meanings for this purpose and did not adopt her spread design. (See her book Holistic Tarot for background details.) Another inspiration was the Lenormand 9-card … Continue reading Tapping the Power: A Self-Realization Matrix
Further Thoughts on the Art of Tarot Spread Creation and Use
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A popular opinion among mystical tarot readers is that formal (aka "positional") spreads are too rigid and therefore hamper performance of the fluid, freestyle interpretation those practitioners favor. As a long-time creator of such spreads, I can confirm that it doesn't have to be that way. Pursuing their oracular muse, they prefer pulling … Continue reading Further Thoughts on the Art of Tarot Spread Creation and Use
