AUTHOR'S NOTE: The accuracy of timing in divination is one of those perennial topics that has come up once again in the online tarot community I frequent. While there are ways to finagle the answer by cleverly wording the question, here I'm going to tackle it head-on as comprehensively as I can from a literal … Continue reading The Problem of Tarot Timing
Tarot Techniques
The Story of a Life: Past-Life Reading with the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A question occasionally arises in the online divination community regarding whether anyone has attempted to explore past lives with the tarot cards. I have a couple of existing spreads for this purpose, but I'm currently reading parapsychologist Dean Radin's book on yoga, Supernormal, in which he makes a case for reincarnation and past-life … Continue reading The Story of a Life: Past-Life Reading with the Tarot
Reversal As Out-of-Sync Energy
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The r/tarot sub-reddit feed is turning out to be a gold-mine of inspiration now that I've dumped my Facebook account. Here is an essay based on a thread about reading reversed cards in an integrated way that looks at their interaction with the rest of the cards in a spread. First a condensed … Continue reading Reversal As Out-of-Sync Energy
The Slippery Slope of “Truth According to Tarot”
"This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."- Wolfgang Pauli AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll preface my remarks by noting that tarot's field of operation - the subconscious mind - can itself be a "slippery slope" that tilts away from where our conscious intentions want to go. We have no immediate control over its orientation and can only … Continue reading The Slippery Slope of “Truth According to Tarot”
Empowerment as “Mental Induction”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is no concept more widely endorsed in the divination community than that of peppering (aka empowering) a sitter with encouragement during the conduct of a tarot reading. We don't merely want to hand our clients relevant information about their future circumstances, we attempt to make them feel like they are (or will … Continue reading Empowerment as “Mental Induction”
Inflection in Tarot Reading: Not “No,” Not “Yes,” But Maybe “Not Yet”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For post number 2,800, I decided to revisit the subject of subtlety in the art of prediction. My inspiration was a comment made by actress Rachel Dratch, the commencement speaker at the 2026 Dartmouth College graduation ceremony: ". . . sometimes a 'no' is just a 'not yet.' Maybe it’s just not the … Continue reading Inflection in Tarot Reading: Not “No,” Not “Yes,” But Maybe “Not Yet”
The “Liberating” Tarot and the “Locksmith’s” Portion
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Tarot Currents, Paul Hughes-Barlow recently observed that the true aim of tarot reading is not solely the telling of fortunes but rather the delivery of relief from suffering and liberation from a feeling of entrapment. In Paul's words: "The proper use of TARO is not simply to predict events. Its purpose is … Continue reading The “Liberating” Tarot and the “Locksmith’s” Portion
A “User Profile” Spread and Table: Stalking the Wild Sociopath
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In a recent post I explored the subject of "using" and "being used" in a socially-manipulative way. Here I'm making good on two "oh-by-the-way" suggestions I made in that essay. One was to create a spread to examine the social priorities of a target individual (or entity) and the other was to bin … Continue reading A “User Profile” Spread and Table: Stalking the Wild Sociopath
‘Tis O’er the Hills and Far Away: Clairvoyance as a Hedge Against Cold Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: First a disclosure. Ever since the day I returned to public tarot reading in 2011, I've been a vocal critic of remote divination in general, and especially of that offered by online practitioners in the form of "psychism-with-props" (cartomantic clairvoyance or precognition). But here I'm approaching it a bit differently, beginning in the … Continue reading ‘Tis O’er the Hills and Far Away: Clairvoyance as a Hedge Against Cold Reading
“Predisposition” in Tarot Reading
"Now, what if - as magical lore suggests - intention bypasses the ordinary flow of time, manifesting the goal in the future and thereby causing events unfolding in the present to be pulled toward that goal? This (referring to one of his experiments) suggests that some intentional effects may involve processes that - from a … Continue reading “Predisposition” in Tarot Reading
