This example reading describes an imaginary situation involving a negotiation between a man (the "offeror") and a woman (the offeree"). Because the objective is to show whether the participants "have luck on their side," either jointly or separately, I performed the spread twice, once for each party; I selected the Queen of Cups as the … Continue reading A Fortuna’s Spiral Example Reading: “The Negotiation”
Tarot
Fortuna’s Spiral: A “Make-Your-Own-Luck” Spread
I find inspiration for new spreads in some unusual places. While reading a long dissertation by C.S. Lewis on De Consolatione Philosophiae by 6th-Century Roman statesman/philospher Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, I encountered a passage contrasting "Fortune" (here called "Providence") and "Destiny" (or "Fate"): "That which 'in the citadel of the divine simplicity' is Providence, when … Continue reading Fortuna’s Spiral: A “Make-Your-Own-Luck” Spread
Who Killed Craig? – A Rogue’s Gallery “Whodunit” Reading
I know I said I wasn't going to do "cold case" readings any more, but this one keeps showing up in the New Hampshire news media so I decided to tackle it. The fact that it is 30 years old makes discovering anything new with the tarot highly unlikely, and in fact what I received … Continue reading Who Killed Craig? – A Rogue’s Gallery “Whodunit” Reading
The Dali Universal Tarot Deck Interview
The 1984 Dali Universal Tarot was recently reissued by German publisher Taschen, and I received a copy of the updated deck as a gift. While not as sumptuous as the original version (no gilt edges and the card stock is on the lighter side), it is still an impressive product; the large box has a … Continue reading The Dali Universal Tarot Deck Interview
“Celestial Seeping”
As I work my way through The Discarded Image, an examination of Medieval cosmology by C.S. Lewis, I encountered an observation that seems to support my long-standing assumption - not my own idea but one I read somewhere - that the Hermetic Qabalah is to a large extent grounded in the Neo-Platonism that was grafted … Continue reading “Celestial Seeping”
To Inform or Inspire?
Ever since the day last year when I was chided (gently) for my "fancy writing," I've striven to sharpen, refine and carefully prune my overly verbose descriptive style (of course, I'm not always successful because, as you can plainly see, I adore adjectives, semicolons and parentheses). In doing so, I sometimes find myself skewered by … Continue reading To Inform or Inspire?
A Step Beyond
In the last few months I've read three tarot books that have caused me to move beyond my aversion to drawing additional "clarifier" cards during my readings, although in a very specific and limited way. This situation arises due to the facing (also known as "gaze," "regard," "gesture" or "posture") of the figures on the … Continue reading A Step Beyond
A Career “Fishing Expedition” Spread
While I have a few spreads that examine career potential, all of them assume that querents have at least some idea what they want to do for work. Before today I had none that start from the perspective that some kind of employment change is crucial but the individual has no clue where that might … Continue reading A Career “Fishing Expedition” Spread
Hand Jive*
(*For those unfamiliar with it, the hand jive was a dance from the 1950s involving "a complicated pattern of hand moves." It brings to mind some of the elaborate manual maneuvers we make in preparing a tarot deck for a reading.) Last night I was reading Paul Huson's Mystical Origins of the Tarot and reached … Continue reading Hand Jive*
An I Ching/Tarot Personality Profile
I'm continuing to experiment with the Russian table of correspondences for linking the I Ching hexagrams to the cards of the tarot. By bringing the trump and court cards into the mix, this table attempts to reconcile the discrepancy that there are 64 hexagrams but only 40 pip cards to which they can be assigned. … Continue reading An I Ching/Tarot Personality Profile
